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Garner seeks public input on Lake Benson master plan; boathouse relocation prioritized
Summary
Parks staff presented two master‑plan concepts for Lake Benson Park on April 28, driven by the South Garner Greenway alignment that requires relocation of the boathouse; council prioritized Veterans Memorial access and emergency egress and asked staff to pursue summer engagement and return with a recommendation in August.
Parks staff asked Garner town council April 28 to endorse a community engagement plan for a Lake Benson Park master‑plan update driven by the incoming South Garner Greenway and the need to relocate the existing boathouse.
Maria Munoz Blanco (Parks & Rec) and Matt Baird walked council through two refined concept layouts that shift driveways and reallocate amenities. Staff said environmental constraints — jurisdictional wetlands and impervious‑surface limits inside the Swift Creek overlay — narrow feasible locations for a boathouse and limit the scale of new shorefront improvements. The staff recommendation included two on‑park concepts (concepts A and B) and an option to explore an off‑park boathouse site if council wishes to pursue adjacent properties.
Key design elements staff emphasized: preserving tree cover where possible, providing a 10‑foot multiuse path connecting to Hay River Street, clustering amenity ponds and locating stormwater measures outside undisturbed buffers, and rerouting the Veterans Memorial trail to improve event circulation and emergency access. Staff noted the possibility of permeable paving for trail sections to mitigate additional stormwater controls.
Councilmembers praised the focus on emergency access and Veterans Memorial improvements and cautioned about the project cost and near‑term budget constraints. Councilmember Singleton said the town should prioritize only those changes it can realistically fund in the near term (restroom repairs and emergency access) while continuing master‑plan work to seek grants or private partners for larger amenities. Councilmember Matthews and others urged staff to pursue community engagement and to design the boathouse location to support fishing, viewing and seasonal use.
Next steps: staff will run a summer outreach program (on‑site office hours, online polling and attendance at events) to collect resident input, return to council with compiled feedback in August, and present a draft master plan for adoption in the fall.
