Last chance upcoming for public say on 100-acre park

Next Wednesday will be the final opportunity for New Kent residents to have their say on what recreation uses should be incorporated into a 100-acre site that will become home to a centrally-located county park.

Since October, New Kent’s Parks and Recreation Advisory Commission has been entertaining public comment during the group’s monthly meetings. The fourth and last public input session is scheduled for the commission’s Jan. 9 meeting. The group meets at 6:30 p.m. in the county administration building’s boardroom.

County officials are aiming at a report on New Kent’s recreational needs. The findings will serve as the basis for a master plan for what is now dubbed Criss Cross Park, 100 acres donated to the county by New Kent Vineyards and located off Criss Cross Road, just north of the westbound Interstate 64 rest area.

Public input from all four commission meetings is to be included in the report. County public services director Jim Tacosa is scheduled to present the report for commission members’ review during the group’s February meeting.

“Then we can start developing what the citizens really say we’re in need of,” county parks and recreation director Matt Spruill said.

Public comment during the commission’s October and November meetings weighed heavily in favor of playing fields for baseball and softball along with equestrian uses and paved, well-lit trails for walkers/joggers, Spruill said. Surprisingly, he noted, few people spoke in support of playing fields for soccer or football.

Equestrian supporters were the only speakers during the Dec. 12 commission meeting. One horse enthusiast, Debbie Middleton, said equine attractions at Criss Cross Park could enhance the county’s goal of attracting tourism.

“Virginia is the ninth largest state in the U.S. in horse population,” she told the commission. “We can tie into that and make money off it. Lots of people in New Kent own horses, and they can pitch in to help.”

Building a riding ring in the park would enable 4-H horse clubs to host shows. Those clubs now have to travel elsewhere and spend money in other localities, she said.

“If you get a ring, a ring is all you need to do those activities,” she said.

Another horse enthusiast, Sue Ellen Martin, said riding trails should be included in the park.

“Places where we’ve always ridden are being developed,” she told the commission, adding that the trails could become multipurpose, meaning shared with bicyclists and pedestrians.

Spruill said that after the commission reviews Tacosa’s report in February, the next step is to determine how much space is needed and can be utilized. Not all of the 100-acre site is conducive to park development.

“We’ll have a survey done on the property to tell us how much can be used and for what purpose,” he said.

The goal, he said, is to have a draft master plan in the hands of commission members at the group’s April meeting. Final approval of a master plan rests with the county’s Board of Supervisors, but no date has been set for the board to consider the matter.

Remaining on the back burner, meanwhile, is an $11.8 million bond referendum proposal brought before supervisors by parks and recreation commission members back in June. The money would have been targeted for Criss Cross Park development, but supervisors quickly backed away, saying the county’s recreation needs first must be identified and then a concrete park plan put in place before any consideration is given to laying out a spending proposal before county voters.

Spruill said, “We could revisit [a referendum] one we get a master plan in place, and if the commission still wants it.”

The county, meanwhile, has made no financial commitment toward developing the park beyond $100,000 placed in the current budget for GPS work and determining an access route to the park site.