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10-6 Orange County Comprehensive Parks and Recreation Master Plan CHAPTER 10 - Goals, Objectives, and Recommendations 10 Recommendation #2: Build the Planned Future Parks Orange County has been very prescient in its approach to parks planning by incorporatfng a progressive, even visionary, component of its program – the acquisitfon of future park sites through the award-winning Lands Legacy Program. The foresight shown by this and previous Boards of Commissioners has likely saved millions of dollars by acquiring antfcipated park sites between 2000-2005 at prices considerably less than subsequent or future market value, using both local voter-approved bond funds and leveraging state and federal grants. Because of this foresight, the County is poised to move straight into final design and constructfon at five land-banked sites strategically-located across the county. The acquisitfon of these sites included a thorough analysis of the locatfon for transportatfon, land use planning, and other factors. Funding to construct these facilitfes is programmed in the adopted CIP for the period 2014-2023. The 2001 Parks and Open Space Bond resulted in constructfon of several new parks between 2005 and 2010. The tfme has now come to begin to construct the other needed facilitfes as planned, and open these parks for the enjoyment of Orange County residents. Recognizing that the cost of opening these facilitfes is substantfal, phasing of constructfon may be prudent to ensure financial sustainability in the context of the County’s total capital needs. Efforts should also be made to ensure that the facilitfes are multf-generatfonal in appeal, in ways that meet needs of different age and ethnic groups and also offer opportunitfes for community-building. Parks should also, unless specifically targeted for special use (such as soccer centers), contain a mix of actfve and low-impact recreatfon amenitfes. Sensitfve natural and cultural areas should be protected in park design and constructfon (and identffied by the use of biological and archaeological surveys, using where possible the volunteer services of the local experts in this field), and sustainable landscaping practfces should be used during park operatfon. An ecologically—sensitfve approach should be the guiding framework for all park designs. Many of these facilitfes have been identffied as needed parks since 1988, and others have emerged as promising new opportunitfes. In some cases, there are opportu- nitfes for interlocal collaboratfon for park construc- tfon, such as at the future Twin Creeks Park and Mill- house Road Park. State and federal grant funds may also be available to establish certain parks. It is suggested that Orange County commit itself to constructfng and opening the new parks shown in Table 10-1 within 10 years (by the year 2024), and opening two of the parks within five years (by 2019). Recommendation #3: Complete the Protection of Identified Nature Preserves and Create Public Access Areas and Trails Through the Lands Legacy Program, working with a number of other conservatfon partners, Orange County is often predicted to be the “green” corner of the Triangle. These efforts to date by all of the conservatfon partners have created three locatfons where nature preserves either exist or have the potentfal to grow: Upper Eno Preserve – along the upper segment of the Eno River and its main tributaries (such as Sevenmile Creek and McGowan Creek), in conjunc- tfon with Duke Forest, the Eno River Associatfon and Eno River State Park; New Hope Preserve – along the New Hope Creek corridor adjoining and in conjunctfon with Duke For- est, Triangle Land Conservancy, Durham County, the City of Durham and other conservatfon-minded neighbors (including the Hollow Rock site); and Jordan Lake Headwaters Preserve – in the south- eastern corner of the county incorporatfng significant natural heritage areas, the Corps of Engineers Jordan Lake gamelands, and other conservatfon lands owned by University of North Carolina and the Botanical Garden Foundatfon. 114