‘This land is not fallow.’ RDU hears pleas to leave Lake Crabtree park alone.
Raleigh-Durham International Airport’s governing board held a meeting Wednesday to hear ideas for redeveloping part of Lake Crabtree County Park. Instead, for more than 3 1/2 hours, the board mostly heard why people think the park should remain as it is.
RDU is looking for ways to generate income from the park, which it controls and has leased to the county for $1 a year since the 1980s. Last summer, the airport began seeking interest in developing 136 acres closest to Interstate 40, a forested area that contains a network of hiking and cycling trails.
What the Airport Authority board heard Wednesday were pleas to leave the trails as they are or find ways to enhance them. Some of those improvements could generate revenue for the airport, people said, such as paid parking, corporate sponsorships or leasable space for events or food trucks.
“We have the opportunity to improve what is already a great public park,” said Reeves Peeler, a Raleigh planning commission member. “Let’s not make the mistake of ruining more of the assets that make the Triangle such a great place to live.”
RDU officials say they are compelled to generate revenue from the property by changes in Federal Aviation Administration rules. They say airports that receive federal grants are now required to get fair market value for property they lease to outside businesses and organizations.
Ellis Hankins, who heads the Airport Authority board, said RDU envisions some combination of recreational uses, retail, food establishments and perhaps a boutique hotel that would complement the rest of the park. The area identified for development does not include land closest to the lake, which has boat rentals, fishing, picnic areas, playgrounds and two volleyball courts.
But Dave Anderson of Triangle Off-Road Cyclists or TORC said the vast majority of visitors to the park are there to ride the off-road biking trails. Anderson said the park is the hub of the region’s greenway system and said TORC has invested $200,000 and thousands of volunteer hours building and maintaining trails there.
Anderson questioned whether the income the airport could generate from the land would be worth degrading such a popular park and losing the goodwill of the community.
“It’s hard to imagine anything there that would move the needle revenue-wise that would do anything other than just totally decimate the park or at least the utility of the park,” he said.
Overflow crowd turns out for hearing
The Airport Authority did not anticipate the crowd that showed up for Wednesday evening’s hearing. Every spot in the parking lot was full, forcing some people to leave before the meeting started. Dozens of people stood outside the building because the meeting room was at capacity.
Many who spoke simply want the park left alone. Brittany Richards said two of her four children had attended camps at the park and asked whether the airport had exhausted all the options to maintain it as it is.
“This land is not fallow. It is not under-utilized,” Richards said. “It is already providing essential services, satisfying essential needs for our community: natural beauty, outdoor recreation, animal habitat, tree canopy.”
Others suggested cycling-related activities that would generate income, such as classes, competitions and festivals. They cited the National Whitewater Center in Charlotte and the Nantahala Outdoor Center in Western North Carolina as examples of recreational areas that make money.
Others asked RDU to reconsider a proposal made by cyclists and friends of nearby Umstead State Park several years ago. The RDU Forest Village concept called for the airport to lease land north of I-40 for restaurants and other businesses to serve hikers and cyclists using Lake Crabtree County Park and other forested airport land near Umstead.
Jennifer Shetler of the TUFF Run Club, a group of trail and long-distance runners, suggested creating a place to host art shows, weddings, concerts and festivals or creating a Friends of Crabtree membership program. Shetler ended by reading a poem she wrote about the park and why she thinks it should remain as it is.
It read in part: “We do not need another store. We have restaurants and shops galore. Why trade the trails for steel and glass. These forests must be left to last.”
When the crowd had thinned and the meeting came to a close, Hankins indicated that leaving the park alone is not an option.
“Some of the suggestions that were made are easy and simple but have the impediment of being, not necessarily wrong, but unlawful and things we cannot do,” he said. “I know some people do not believe us when we say that. And some folks do not trust this board to make sound decisions in the public interest.”
But Hankins pledged that the board would consider what it heard Wednesday and continue consulting with Wake County, nearby towns and groups such as TORC and The Umstead Coalition.
“And we will make the most sound decisions that we can in our judgment that are in the overall best interest of everyone,” he said.
This story was originally published January 30, 2025 at 12:10 PM with the headline "‘This land is not fallow.’ RDU hears pleas to leave Lake Crabtree park alone.."
