Chad you bring up some good points and while i am far from an expert i can at least share what i know with everyone jsut to get the information out there.
You are correct that the Arrowhead Park project as well as the new Smith Creek Park construction are part of the Park Bond New Hanover County was awarded in 2006. However with the awesome Economic down turn the world has expereinced for the last 2 and a half years the funds were frozen to help the county stay a float. Apprently the county is opperating on a 14 million dollar a year deficit in 2009 and 2010. this is why sales tax was jsut raised from 7.75% to 8% as well as your property taxes getting hiked for 2011. This was actually voted on and approved by the New Hanover county population?????
Now why smith creek park is under construction and arrowhead has been dead in the water since 2006 i can't explain. i am guessing that the park bond project must have at some point been prioritized (one project at a time kind of thing) and i guess who ever allocates that money deemed smith creek park more important than arrowhead. This is jsut my guess and i have no facts to back this up.
I did however find out that county parks are not mandated...meaning they are not a necessity. things like fire departments police etc are mandated to be paid for by the county. parks are an added benifit. non mandated services are the first thing to lose funding for when the money gets tight and that is where we are. New Hanover County govt. is hemeriging money and there is not enough to go around so for now peace out arrowhead. this stinks on our part but all we can do is work with the county in the long run to eventually get the thing going again.
On an unrelated note we should have 9 holes of disc golf in Kure beach within the next 2 to 3 weeks. the course shoud be installed with baskets and the fairways cutt very soon. the tee pads will probably take a little longer to get in but the course will be playable hopefully sometime in June. Of course i will keep everyone informed as i get info.
thanks everyone for the interest this is the best discussion on this forum in a while....i like it!!
wow this was a long post
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