Staff photo Brian Freskos
Greensboro Street mini-park in Wrightsville Beach is in sore need of repair.
The rear fence of the Greensboro Street mini-park is tied shut with a white telephone cord. The swing set is dusted brown and black from the rust that rots the chains. Any child who plays on the yellow jungle gym will do so against a backdrop of clear plastic bags of gravel piled against a decaying chain link fence.
Having noticed the state of the Greensboro Street mini-park, Kim Wilt, a member of the Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee, was prompted to call on fellow committee members to clean up the park, add new landscaping and facilities.
Her lead-in was met head-on by similar calls from chairwoman Brenda Olson at the committee's Monday, Dec. 7, meeting, making possible a sweeping initiative to revitalize some of the facilities around Wrightsville Beach.
For Olson, much of the focus was directed at the South Channel Drive mini-park. It faces the waterway with a clear view of the Causeway Drive Bridge.
During the flotilla, a number of vehicles had run over the curbing and onto the park, killing the grass.
Olson said one woman put a towel on the grass so she and her family would have a place to sit during the boat parade, until someone ran over it with their vehicle.
At Greensboro Street, the committee is considering a number of options: installing a new swing set, painting the fence, placing more picnic tables around to encourage lunching, landscaping, asking neighbors to clean their side of the fence, planting a community garden or inviting the North Carolina Aquarium to create a touch-and-feel marine science exhibit to attract school field trips.
Most of these options could be achieved by forming partnerships, Wilt said, and with very little out-of-pocket expenses.
"We're trying to get anybody to use it, and what are the economical ways to do that?" Wilt said.
Some members offered themselves as voluntarily labor, but before any action can commence, the committee will travel the proper channels, consulting with the parks department and perhaps the board of aldermen.
South Channel Drive is in lesser need of repair, and more in need of upkeep. Landscaping, a picnic table, or steps into the waterway so kayakers and other watermen can utilize it as a launch, would market the park as a go-to spot.
As a reference point, the committee is studying the Island Drive mini-park, which is awash in beautiful landscaping, colorful flowers and green grass. It also has posts connected by rope along the outer edge to prevent vehicles from driving in it.
But parks aren't the only facility weighing on the minds of committee members. There are efforts afoot aimed at widening pieces of the John Nesbitt Loop, a highly utilized exercise and recreation facility that wraps around Wrightsville Beach.
Vegetation and lack of funding may root out some loop efforts, but leveraging New Hanover County to kick in some money could prove a beneficial possibility, committee members said Monday.
