Parks panel hears update

Fayetteville has 54 acres set aside

FAYETTEVILLE — The city has about 54 acres of land dedicated for future park use and potentially up to $1.8 million in fees generated from ongoing developments to put toward park construction or land acquisition.

The resident-led Parks and Recreation Advisory Board on Monday got an overview of how much money and land the city’s parkland dedication ordinance has generated in the last few years. The city gives developers of 24 or more new residential units the option to dedicate land to use as a park or pay a one-time fee instead.

The amount for the fee is based on a formula using the land value per acre, park acres per person and number of people living in a unit. The rate is $1,089 per unit for a single-family development and $952 per unit for multifamily.

Money from the fee can be used for park construction or to acquire land to use for a park, but not for park maintenance. Money can only be used in the quadrant of the city from which the fees were generated, and has to be spent within five years.

Parkland dedication fees are one of the Parks and Recreation Department’s sources of revenue. Other sources include half of the city’s 2% hotel, motel and restaurant sales tax, money from a voter-approved parks bond issue in 2019, general sales tax, grants and donations.

The city has received 15 pieces of land from developments to use as a park since 2016, said Zach Foster, park planner. Four pieces of land out of the 15 remain to be developed as a park. Those four are at Mount Comfort Apartments, Markham

Hill, Chandler Crossing and Underwood Park. The combined land totals nearly 54 acres. Underwood Park makes up about 27.5 of those acres, plus another 38 acres it has that were donated to the city.

There are 60 residential developments ongoing that could bring in about $ 1.85 million in fees generated from the parkland dedication ordinance, Foster said.

“These ongoing projects could go on a few months, a few years, before all that money is finally realized,” he said. “The projects could terminate early. That’s why it’s potential.”

Since 2016, the city has received more than $3.6 million in parkland dedication fees and interest, Foster said. About $2.5 million of the total came from the west side of town.

Board Chairman Will Dockery asked if the city is considering redrawing the lines for the quadrants.

“The west side of Fayetteville is disproportionately carrying a lot of the newer construction,” he said.

Park Planning Superintendent Ted Jack said staff hasn’t looked into changing the lines specifically, but is considering larger changes to the ordinance as part of its overall strategic master plan, which is still in development. Parks board members have discussed in the past shifting to a fee-only system, which would allow the city to more strategically select the land it wants to use for parks.