Fairview Park construction continues as county awaits state action plan for former landfill; community presses for soccer and trails

County staff updated a joint board work session on Feb. 17 about the Fairview Park project and the county’s long-running landfill remedial investigation.

Asset‑management staff said the consultant’s summary report has been conveyed to the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) and that the agency will prepare an action plan. That action plan will be subject to a public‑notice and comment period, including a 45‑day window, and DEQ will schedule a public hearing. County staff said the timeline for DEQ review is uncertain — it could be weeks or several months — and that the state’s final action plan will identify required remediation steps and any implications for park development on the former landfill area.

Park staff said construction of three additional tennis/pickleball courts at Fairview is under way and expected to open in spring weather permitting. County parks staff and community representatives discussed short‑term, low‑cost options that could expand active use while the landfill remediation process proceeds. Fairview Youth in Action and Fairview Community Watch representatives urged three short‑term priorities: improved pedestrian access between the Fairview neighborhood and the park (including a Homont/Rainey connection), rehabilitation of existing playground and picnic amenities, and temporary, rollable soccer goals to allow informal use of the outfield while preserving organized baseball programming.

County staff noted existing license agreements that allocate use time for courts and ballfields (for example a licensing agreement with the Orange Tennis Club and with the Hillsborough Youth Athletic Association for the baseball/softball field). Staff said those agreements help pay for maintenance but reduce free unreserved access; they agreed to provide copies of current license agreements and to discuss whether interim community uses can be accommodated while protecting organized-league needs.

On the landfill, county staff asked DEQ for higher-resolution maps and said they would pass along clearer documents to community groups once received. They warned that final remediation prescriptions depend on the state action plan and that most final decisions will await DEQ direction.

Fairview community members said they want to be included in the phase‑2 master‑planning work and the parks advisory and capital‑planning conversations, and county staff said they will involve the community as the next phase is scoped and funded.