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1—2 Orange County Comprehensive Parks and Recreation Master Plan CHAPTER 1 - Summary of the Plan 1 the fulfillment of some of the vision from 1988 with a dramatfc increase in new park facilitfes, acquisitfon of public open space for future parks and nature preserves, and increases in recreatfon program opportunitfes. Before Efland-Cheeks Park opened in 1998, Orange County operated no true parks. Only a few individual playing fields/playgrounds at County- owned sites were in use. The 1997 Parks and Open Space bond provided funds for the constructfon of Efland-Cheeks Park and two parks in Chapel Hill. Between 2001 and 2010, Orange County acquired 1,000 acres of future parkland, nearly erasing the 1,245 acre “parkland deficit’ identffied in a key 1999 report. Over that same period, six new parks were opened. Chapter 3 of The Master Plan includes an in-depth assessment of all Orange County existfng parks, recreatfonal facilitfes, and future parks or nature preserve sites. More than a million visitors (many return patrons) are welcomed each year into Orange County parks, programs or facilitfes. As a county with four municipalitfes within its borders (a very small portfon of a fifth, Durham, also slices inside the County line), any planning for the future of parks and recreatfon needs must include a parallel view with the context of system master plans of the towns of Carrboro, Chapel Hill, Hillsborough and Mebane, and a synopsis of these community’s facilitfes and plans is provided in Chapter 2. Fortunately, each of the jurisdictfons has community master plans that are fairly recent. Through coordinatfon efforts and multf-jurisdictfonal planning groups such as the Intergovernmental Parks Work Group, towns and County are more aware of each other’s facilitfes and plans than in previous decades, and the County’s new plan included here is developed with the knowledge and projected future actfvity from these town plans - to avoid duplicatfon of services and offer opportunitfes for coordinatfon going forward. Inventory of Facilities & Recreation Programs/ Services As noted, at present Orange County owns and operates six (6) parks (including the Eurosport Soccer Center) as shown in the inventory of facilitfes in Chapter 3. One of the parks, Little River Regional Park and Natural Area, is a unique joint venture with neighboring Durham County. Orange County operates this park owned by the two countfes, which includes 391 acres in both countfes, under an interlocal agreement. The County also operates and Armed with informatfon and needs assessments from a series of four reports on parks and open space needs and opportunitfes created between 1996 and 2000, the stage was set for the single largest catalyst for creatfon of a parks system in the county - the County’s most-aggressive effort to acquire and develop its park system – a $20 million Parks and Open Space Bond, which was approved by voters in November 2001. It is worth notfng that the passage of this bond – less than two months after the shocking natfonal tragedy of 9/11/2001 – serves as a testament to county resident’s strength of commitment to parks and open space as important functfons in the community. The 2001 bond provided funding for a variety of different projects – and enabled creatfon of such diverse places as Cedar Grove Park, Fairview Park, Eurosport Soccer Center, the Adams Tract Preserve in Carrboro and the Homestead Aquatfc Center and Southern Park in Chapel Hill. 16