City officials: 2016 parks bond projects on schedule to be completed in 7 years

WILMINGTON, NC (WECT) - Wilmington's community services director said Friday all 15 projects under the 2016 parks bond are on schedule to be completed in five to seven years.

Amy Beatty said six of the 15 projects are underway in the planning, design, or soon-to-be construction phase. She said two gymnasiums on the list at the MLK Community Center and Derick Davis Community Center are in the works.

"The City of Wilmington currently only has one public indoor gym, so we knew that was a great need," Beatty said. "We felt it was important to get these gymnasiums started as soon as possible."

The list also includes $20 million for North Waterfront Park, a 6.5-acre parcel of land along the riverfront in downtown as well as $10 million for a soccer complex to address what staff calls "a current deficit in field inventory" to meet the growing number of youth soccer players. 

"Because we issue debt with these bonds, we can't do all the projects at once," Beatty said. "That's why they're spread out between five and seven years."

Beatty explained that some of the projects require special permits and land easements, which factors into how the projects are ordered.

"We try to provide a really diverse array of improvements, upkeep to existing parks as well as providing new parks," Beatty said. "We tried to look at what our greatest needs are as well as the complexity of the project when we try to order those."

A full list of the projects can be found here.

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