Farm / Passive Park

[rstevens]

Below find the link to one of the farm parks mentioned on the main Ezell Park website.

www.pruschfarmpark.org/

[debby]

The overwhelming opinion of 99% of all attendees of the park planning, consisting of at least 6 meetings over multiple years, was in favor of the passive and farm plans and adamantly opposed to the active concept consisting of multiple lighted competitive ball fields. These fields already exist at other parks, both local and citywide,including the Mint Hill Sports Complex on Brief Road and the parks on Fairview and Wilgrove. These fields are generally taken by the Mint Hill Athletic Association and not available to other groups who wish to play ball games. The fact that the MHAA has signed up many more players than they can accommodate with fields, should not mean that other town residents can't have a park including different amenities, excluding competitive ball fields for the MHAA. Many opportunities for children to play on all types of ball teams locally also exist within the church communities which have a number of ball fields and wonderful, competitive, educational play within a supportive, Christian atmosphere. The persons who attended the advertised planning meetings for this park over the last 2 years or so, brainstormed what they wanted in the park, which culminated in the current plan, which is also largely the product of the Park and Rec ideas, especially the agriculture and education components. There is no such park in the county, and similar parks nationwide have been very popular. Residents living close by the park look forward to having a place to walk, ride bikes, free play frisbee and ball, fish, enjoy natural areas, performances, etc. The farm and rural atmosphere will be retained, while accommodating the special characteristics of the marshy Goose Creek watershed.

[minthill]

Debby, your comments regarding the Mint Hill Athletic Association being the only group that has access to fields at Fairview and Wilgrove are false and misleading. We clarified your misconception at the most recent meeting, yet you still made the decision to post inaccurate information on this message board.

Please don't find fault with the Athletic Association because Mint Hill parents and kids want to be involved in structured and competitive athletics The bigger picture is the demand in Mint Hill for structured athletics. Regardless of where these families decide to play, they want to play! (If you've seen any of the recent figures on child obesity and inactivity, we should be celebrating the fact that our Mint Hill parents support their children being outdoors and active, and we need to be encouraging this behavior!)

There is a need for more athletic fields (baseball, soccer, softball, lacrosse, football, etc..) in Mint Hill to meet the demand of the youth of Mint Hill and that need is not being addressed with the current passive/farm concept. The fact that your group could not get a field at one of the local parks in Mint Hill underscores the need for more athletic fields. Unfortunately, the "overwhelming opinion" that you cite in your posting is not the voice of Mint Hill but simply the voice of a select few who live in close proximity to the project.

The best question from the last community meeting was, "why is parks and rec training people in farming when the people who have been farming for years can't even stay in business?" I too have trouble understanding why parks and rec would devote 6 acres to 12 people for a period of 3 to 4 years? Talk about addressing the very few...


With all that land, I don't see why we couldn't devote the Northern section to the Athletic concept, while keeping the passive/natural areas in the Southern Sections. You could have plenty of walking and biking trails throughout the entire project, and at the same time address a real need for Mint Hill.

[PreserveTheFarmFeeling]

I have not attended all 6 meetings about the park, but at the ones I attended the overwhelming majority requested first for a meeting place that we don't have, then for the "Farm," open space, and beautiful open land and forest be preserved for walking, biking, and enjoyment by those who don't want the glaring lights, traffic, and sounds of the ball fields that already exist all over the area. My children had plenty of places to play while they grew up on church ball fields - Hickory Grove Baptist Church has a huge one in our area, as do others. I wasn't the one requesting the farm feeling be preserved - I simply heard the vast majority of people there asking for it as well as for a location for indoor activities. It's not out of line or selfish for the other people in our area to have a DIFFERENT kind of park! GO FARM! ;D

[Rick Linda Mullis]

We voted for the passive/farm concept at Ezell Community Park. As residents of Well Rd., we would like to thank the Mecklenburg County Park & Recreation Commission for listening to those of us who have faithfully attended all of the meetings and have given our wishes for this park to remain a passive/farm park. We urge you to continue with the plans as presented rather than the bright lights, noise and traffic issue that goes along with athletic fields. Thank you.