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Raleigh staff report progress, funding gaps and new dashboard for $275 million 2022 parks bond
Summary
City staff told council the 2022 Parks Bond — $275 million for 23 parks and greenway projects — is moving through design and permitting, but faces a roughly $20 million funding gap; staff said it has secured about $10 million in outside funding and will pilot an internal project dashboard before public rollout.
Raleigh Parks Department staff updated the City Council at a work session on progress implementing the 2022 Parks Bond, a $275,000,000 package that funds 23 parks and greenway projects.
The bond update matters because the originally proposed package approached $300 million and the adopted $275 million left a funding gap staff said they are actively closing with grants and partnerships. Shoshine Baker, Parks Department, told the council, “since the beginning of the bond process about a year and a half ago, we have conducted over a 20 engagement events,” and described work with advisory boards and community partners.
Staff said they have secured roughly $10,000,000 in outside funding to date. Baker identified $8,600,000 from the U.S. Department of the Interior for Smoky Hollow Park and a $1,500,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for the South Park Heritage Trail. Baker said the HUD award was part of a $3,000,000 allocation secured with Congresswoman Deborah Ross’s office, with the other half originally intended for the Chavis Dix Strollway project. Staff also reported a partnership contribution of “over $400,000” for neighborhood connections on the Crabtree Creek Trail.
On project delivery, Engineering Services staff presented a status grid that traces each bond-funded project through planning, schematic design, construction documents, permitting, bidding and construction. Byron Sanders, Engineering Services, said one parks project is already under construction — the Dorothea Dix Gibson Play Plaza — and is on schedule for spring 2025 completion. Several projects were described as in permitting (Biltmore Hills tennis expansion; Green Road Park improvements; Lakeland Trail West Loop and the Crabtree Creek neighborhood connection partnership), while others have advanced from schematic design into design development (including John Chavis Historic Park, Top Green and Walnut Creek Greenway improvements).
Baker and engineering staff emphasized the interdepartmental nature of delivery and repeated that many projects are co-managed with Parks and Engineering Services, and reviewed with the Parks, Recreation and Greenway Advisory Board before coming to council. On grant status, Baker said the DOI and HUD awards have been awarded but “the grant contracts have not been executed” and remain in Q&A stages; once federal partners accept the city's responses the contracts will be brought to council for execution.
Information-management work was also highlighted. Staff released an internal version of a parks-bond dashboard in December to track schedule, budget and cash flow across projects and the bond overall; Beth Stagner, Information Technology, told council the team is working to “slim that down and streamline it” for public release and anticipated an external launch “sometime this summer.”
Staff closed by saying they will continue to pursue grant and partnership funding, complete design and permitting milestones, and bring bid awards and contract items to council as projects are ready. Council members asked for clearer timelines for the dashboard and for confirmation of grant execution steps; staff said contract execution is pending federal responses and that council will see contracts at the time of execution.
