Agenda - 02-11-2025; 1 - Boards and Commissions – Annual Work Plan Summaries

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6 courts continues to be a concern raised to the Council and staff on a regular basis. While the new tennis/pickleball courts at Fairview will help address this, other courts exist and could be made available to meet demand. In particular, the Council notes the 14 tennis courts that exist at Orange High and Cedar Ridge High. It is our understanding these courts have been largely unavailable for public use since the pandemic. Allowing these courts to come back into public use during specified timeframes that do not conflict with school uses would be desirable. Moving ahead with the expansion of the Soccer.com Center and Millhouse Road Park (soccer center) would also help address the paucity of public soccer fields in central and northern Orange County. The Council understand the many financial constraints the County is faced with but would encourage finding a way to increase the soccer field inventory in the next three to five years. • The need for indoor recreation and gymnasium space also continues to be a major concern, and the Council is appreciative of the acknowledgment of this in the CIP. The County's Ione recreation center, the Central Rec Center on West Tryon Street in Hillsborough, is now 67 years old, and the Council hopes that the new project can stay on track to meet the significant demand that exists for indoor gym space. The current Central Rec Center continues to be "maxed out" in terms of space, with the County unable to serve the existing demand from our residents. We encourage the planning for the new center to continue to take into consideration not just the replacement of the 1957 facility but needed additional space to accommodate existing and future demand. • As noted in last year's plan, and mentioned above, there are many opportunities for facility sharing with the Orange County Schools. This topic has been discussed at length in years past, with efforts undertaken to attempt to address the potential. In many counties in North Carolina there is a robust system of facility sharing between school needs and public recreation needs. With the passage of the Schools Bond, the Council would like to suggest that future school planning/construction (and existing facilities) look for ways to make these facilities available for public usage. • In a similar vein, the potential for the County and towns to work together on new joint parks and facilities is more appropriate than ever before. There are scheduled projects in the CIP that offer the opportunity to pursue joint initiatives. • The County is receiving increased interest in nature programs at our parks, both from partner organizations and individuals. The County should look to ramp up its nature programming to meet this demand, and such programs would have the double benefit of being cost-neutral and improving the community's health and quality of life.