KANNAPOLIS — The Kannapolis City Council voted to approve the 2024-2034 Parks and Recreation Comprehensive Master Plan at its March 25 meeting. Parks and Recreation Director Gary Mills said a master plan is completed every 10 years and that staff has been working on this one in particular since late 2022. Mills also said the master plan is significant in applying for grants. 

Jon Wood, senior project manager with Benesch, the consulting firm hired to contribute to the plan, led the presentation to the council. 

“This plan is a tool for you as the city council to work with parks and recreation and to decide where these priority projects really land for the next 10 years. You won’t do all of them, but it helps guide you as to which ones you will do,” Wood said. 

Based on altering the current plan, surveys, focus group findings, and community input meetings where residents listed what parks they frequent most, what aspects of parks and recreation are most important to them, and where they would prioritize funding, Wood listed out the plan’s main recommendations for facilities and programming. 

“Certainly, the biggest one is to continue on with the greenway program,” Wood said. 

This included improving overall trail connectivity, putting together ideas for what to do with the “horseshoe property” in front of the city hall building, upgrading all parks and facilities to be ADA compliant and accessible, and expanding existing parks. 

Other recommendations for the master plan involve a feasibility study for a “multi-use/community recreation center,” constructing Eastside and Westside Parks, creating options for “areas underserved by parks,” and forming different kinds of parks that Kannapolis does not already have like a skate park, a park for pickleball, or a dog park. 

Operationally, Benesch advocated for partnering with “other recreation providers” like nearby municipalities and organizations for future projects, prolong park quality, have parks and recreation access for all Kannapolis residents be 10-15 minutes away by walking or driving, adequate funds for the parks and recreation department, and confirm the master plan falls in line with other plans, strategies and ordinances. 

In terms of price, the overall “vision plan” would cost $125.4 million and the “priority projects” would just be $79.4 million. 

Kannapolis Mayor Darrell Hinnant clarified that the city council was not ratifying the budget that night, only the master plan.

“We’re not approving the budget, we’re approving concept of the plan itself and do we believe that those planned items that Jon mentioned are going to be integral to what we’re going to be needing in the future?” Hinnant said. 

Grant application 

During the same meeting, the Kannapolis City Council gave formal approval for staff to apply for the $500,000 Parks and Recreation Trust Fund grant (PARTF) to go towards establishing the Eastside Park. 

In 2017, Kannapolis bought 33 acres off of Midlake Avenue as the site for the park. The Eastside Park master plan was approved in 2019 to have picnic shelters, walking trails, access to area lakes, playgrounds, a dog park, a splash pad and open space. 

Given the multiple services the park will offer and the fact that the city has not applied for this grant since 2005, Mills believes this puts Kannapolis in a strong position to obtain it. 

“Quite honestly, we really haven’t had a project that has really been suitable enough that we think it would score well,” Mills said. 

The park is going to cost roughly $5.2 million, though Kannapolis will only be on the hook for $4.7 million if they are awarded the grant. Mills clarified this is a reimbursement grant where the city will be responsible for the amount upfront, but will be paid back as the project progresses. 

Recipients of the PARTF grant will be chosen in late summer and its terms state the park needs to be finished within three years. In the coming months, the city will proceed with site surveys, project designs, and environmental studies before the recipients are announced. 

Mills said bids will go out by late fall and the 9- to 12-month construction period will start at the end of this year or the beginning of 2025.