The value of green

To hear business leaders and major investors speak in favor of the need for greenspace as density increases gave me hope.

At the Eggs With Elected Officials gathering on April 18, sponsored by the Chapel Hill-Carrboro Chamber of Commerce, the topic of what to do with the 36 acres the town had purchased from American Legion came up at one of the tables I rotated to. I touted my opinion of wanting to preserve the entire parcel as a public gathering space.

Quite honestly, I did not expect anyone to agree with me. Sitting with me at the table were business owners, representatives of major corporations that donate to nonprofits and otherwise invest in the community, and another council member who holds a different view from me.

Here were people who look at land as opportunities to make money, and yet they said, in one way or another, that the highest and best use of that parcel was to keep it green.

A week or so later, I heard an apartment building manager tell how much he wanted a cement-capped former building site in front of his property reclaimed as greenspace. It would make his units more desirable to prospective tenants, thus making his building more competitive, if they had access to greenspace right outside their door.

Study after study shows the myriad reasons why greenspace is important as urban areas become more densely populated. Access to greenspace makes you smarter, happier and healthier, both physically and mentally, the studies say. Having greenspace nearby boosts property values, and customers are drawn to businesses close to greenspace.

Neighboring cities understand the importance of parks. Last fall, voters in Apex, a town with an operating budget of $107 million, approved a $48 million bond for parks. A few years ago, Raleigh spent $52 million to buy some 300 acres to save Dix Park.

In 2016, a majority of Chapel Hill’s Town Council passed a resolution to sell off some of the land to recoup some of the nearly $8 million taxpayers had spent on the purchase. But the community had a different opinion. The American Legion Task Force that collected ideas last year on how to use the land heard from more than a thousand residents, a solid 90 percent of them urging council to keep the land as greenspace.

Since then, newly elected council members have wanted to use some of the land for affordable housing. That makes a good political soundbite, but the town has other parcels it intends to use for affordable housing that are better suited.

The town has no land more suitable for a park than the American Legion acreage. An earlier land use map designated that property as parkland. Other sizable properties the town owns – the 14 acres on 2200 Homestead Road and the several acres where the Parks & Rec office now sits – are both within walking distance of a large park, and the town has designated those two parcels for subsidized housing.

If we are going to preserve greenspace for future generations, the American Legion property is our only option. And business leaders join many others in the community in recognizing the value of safeguarding that land as a park.
— Nancy Oates