There’s a public input meeting for the Plaza and Play planning tonight at 6:30.
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I hope Dorothea Dix planners take notes on what Downtown Cary just put together for their planned downtown park expansions. Looks amazing
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I think the plans for Dix Park are better especially since we have well known designers from across the country helping
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I’m really excited for the land bridge and revamped waterways
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Agree if they execute on funding / building all those elevated pathways / water features…
Nice looking design, Caryland.
It’s also adding to an existing park / features over 6-ish acres, right? So folx here might actually see it in our lifetimes.
Don’t get me wrong, Dix should be nothing less than transformational regionally (if not exceptional nationally) but it’s a multi-decade project. Patience required…
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Did anyone watch or participate in the session last night? I wasn’t able to. Any new info?
Any updates on what happened with the land lease part of the Dix plan?
I know that was heavily debated early on. Some of the purists didn’t want to see development on the Lake Wheeler side which I understand, but the tradeoff is that it would have helped pay for the park to operate and expand…which I thought was worth the tradeoff.
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I, for one, would LOVE to see development along Lake Wheeler to add to the city grid to the south and truly connect Dix park to a walkable, urban environment.
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I am requesting some info on that. I’m sure it’s in the master plan, but I want to get the inside scoop as that was definitely the biggest sticking point for the naysayers right at the end of the public comment period. Will report back
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Thanks! and please do
I understand wanting to keep the park pure and free from the development that is happening everywhere else in the city, but I also think it’s a bit short-sighted.
If you don’t have the park funding itself, then you must trust the local gov’t to fund it. That means it will become a political talking point every year. It will force plans to be scaled back bc of ‘budget’ and certain phases halted or removed because of any amount of external factors, including whatever the hot topic ‘new priority’ is during a given year.
If you want Dix to be fully realized as a true asset to our city and a real destination that sets us apart, then there is no doubt the land lease way of funding it is of the utmost importance IMO.
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Link to the plan presentation for Dix Park entry plaza.
The main plaza rendered with DTR circled, looking NE.
Overview plan with Bike routes highlighted. Lake Wheeler along the bottom, DTR to the right.
This is all proposed right around the current temporary dog park area. Existing Satellite view:
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Dix Edge Study survey is live: https://publicinput.com/Y5054
City staff would love for you to be as detailed as possible in your responses.
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I know this is being extra critical, but it depresses me that one of the first moves with a new big park is to put in a big old parking lot so that people can drive there. Not that I am up in arms about people driving there, but because it is literally turning park into parking lot lol! The proposal to current map view made me think about that
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Yup. I had the same reaction.
If that map was the entirety of Dix Park, then yeah, that would be a depressing change. But the whole idea of the Dix Park master plan is to invest in the perimeter first and work “inwards” towards the renovated hospital and concert space. From that perspective, isn’t this exactly what we want: having parking concentrated on the outside so most of the actual park is car-free?
Besides, the parking space is planned to be a temporary thing, in the long run. This is the Phase 1 plan in the master plan’s executive summary:
Emphasis on “interim”. Compare this to the final roadway/parking plan within the full master plan, which does not include the site we’re talking about:
If we believe this plan (y’know, the one already adopted by the City and is winning state grants), then this sounds like just a necessary evil to me.
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Very good points, and I admittedly I am not plugged in on all of the plans.
I totally recommend that you read it! It’s long, but it’s really visual and accessible (so there’s a lot you can appreciate even if you don’t understand planner jargon). Beats the New York Times for your daily reading over coffee or wine, if you ask me.
I mean, the way they thoughtfully plan out all the amenities, respond to cultural and environmental criticisms before NIMBYs can even think of them, walk through how to make all of this happen etc. is almost more fascinating than the park itself!?
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On the one hand I hear you and it is a bit of a bummer. On the other hand Raleigh public transit is poor and the vast majority of people using this park will drive to it. If you want people to use the park, convenient, free parking is absolutely critical.
I suspect this is especially the case for families. IMO a young, non parent is much more likely to walk, bike, or take a bus from a greater distance. Most families are going to pack up the car/SUV and drive.
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I’d love to see the ‘survey’ results for those that drive in to access the park versus those that can access it on foot. As a person who doesn’t live adjacent to the park, I already do drive in / park and see lots of folks doing the same. I understand the ‘trouble with cars’ but seems the planning thus far for creating a place to ‘park and amble about’ through the park is trying to find some balance. Maybe I’m off / biased since my time / travel / usage basis does not benefit from direct proximity ?
Part of my thinking when I saw it was if you need parking lots or if people can just park on the shoulder of existing roads. So not even the cars vs other. More the parking lots vs other uses. It is a great example of how people from far away driving somewhere drives the land use of even a park though.
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