EVALUATION OF EXISTING AREAS
Following is a brief description of areas and facilities currently available for recreation. Improvements proposed for these areas are shown in Chapter VI.
1. Brown-Penn / Ridgeview Center Complex
This 9.6 acre park contains adult and youth recreation centers as well as a senior center. The youth center is in good condition, the adult center is in poor condition, and the senior center is in fair condition. A child day care center is located adjacent to the park and a new library is scheduled for construction. Other facilities include a swimming pool and bathhouse, three lighted tennis courts, playground, fenced tot lot, lighted softball field, two basketball courts, an asphalt slab and basketball goal, four horseshoe pits, a small shelter, a picnic shelter, and a variety of picnic tables, grills, and benches.
The pool, bathhouse, and tennis courts receive very little use at this time and are in fair to poor condition. The slab of the 2 basketball courts has settled and contains numerous cracks.
The two tennis courts closest to Ridgeview Center are in poor conditions. The courts have settled and large cracks have developed.
Parking is a problem at both centers. Land has been purchased next to the softball field to help relieve this problem.
Ridgeview Center now has no windows. The windows have been bricked and boarded up and the brick walls have a white residue left after the removal of spray paint. The Center has no aesthetic appeal. Also, the Center has no distinguishable main entrance where access can be controlled.
2. Civitan Park
This 7.5 acre park is a small neighborhood park located on a hill. This separates the park into several developed levels. The facilities are in generally good condition but the grounds are not. Erosion is a problem and maintenance of the hillsides between levels is labor intensive. An agreement with an adjacent property owner allows a skate board ramp to be located in the parking lot. Facilities include a shelter with tables and grills, 2 picnic tables with roofs, a wood/chain climber, a tire apparatus, 2 spring animals, an 80 yd. youth football field, a toilet building, an adult lighted softball field, 2 tennis courts and a basketball court.
3. Cliff Teague Park
This 8.1 acre park is located in a stream valley and has a pleasant natural atmosphere. The play equipment and swings are not in good condition. Facilities in the park include a shelter, a tennis court, a horseshoe pit, a basketball court, a play area, and a variety of benches, and picnic tables.
4. Cloninger Mill (20 acres)
Undeveloped - The principal future use is as a passive area.
5. Fairbrook Optimist Park
This 6.66 acre park is located in an industrial area. It contains a civic club meeting facility and an adult softball field. The facilities are in good condition. Other facilities include a piece of play equipment, 4 picnic tables and grills, 7 benches, and 2 picnic tables with roofs.
6. Geitner / Rotary Park
This 96 acre park is located on the shore of Lake Hickory. The park is passive in nature with no active recreation facilities. Heavy use by patrons and a hillside location has resulted in erosion and wave action has deteriorated the docks and the lake wall. The boat launch ramp cannot be used by the majority of boaters because of the steep incline. Unscreened dumpsters reside in one corner of the parking lot. The large multi-purpose building is in need of renovation. The toilet building has been vandalized as has the shelter. Facilities include a multi-purpose building, a shelter with picnic tables and grills, a gazebo, a toilet building, a boat launch ramp, 2 boat docks, a fishing pier, a BBQ pit, picnic tables and walking trails.
7. Grayfield (6.97 acres)
Undeveloped. This park is mostly in flood plain and should remain undeveloped.
8. Hickory Optimist Park
This 6 acre park is in good general condition, however, several facilities need maintenance attention. Facilities include a lighted youth baseball field, a shelter with tables and grills, a tennis court, a basketball court, a play complex, and a storage building.
9a. Hickory City Park
This 15 acre park is located between Jaycee Park and Geitner / Rotary Park and contains the maintenance center. Maintenance facilities are in poor condition and should be relocated. Space needs for the maintenance department must be addressed because the site has been reduced by approximately 1/3 because of expansion of the Army Reserve Unit. Facilities include 8 lighted tennis courts and a storage building / shelter, a shelter with toilets, a new 1/6 mile paved bike / walking path, and 3 picnic tables with roofs.
9b. Jaycee Park
This 5 acre park contains the administrative offices of the Hickory City Park System. The park office building is in generally good condition. There are upgrade and maintenance needs in the buildings and on the grounds and some older equipment should be removed or replaced. Space needs for the maintenance department and the office staff must be addressed. Facilities include 20 pieces of play equipment, a basketball court, a junior league baseball field, and a shade shelter.
10. Highland Center
This 6 acre park contains a community center. The center is a converted school cafeteria and gymnasium. It is heavily used in the evenings by a wide variety of socio-economic classes and ethnic backgrounds. It exhibits a wide variety of maintenance, operational and aesthetic problems typically associated with old school buildings. The small park associated with the center is heavily used and needs some redesign to meet demands. The park contains a volleyball court, a basketball court, a shuffleboard court, a T-ball practice field, a play equipment complex, a youth soccer field, and a horseshoe pit.
11. Hilton Park
This 59.5 acre park is located at the site of an old sewer treatment facility on a creek/inlet of Lake Hickory. The park is in generally good condition. It has a wide variety of activities and is one of the most heavily used parks in the system. Facilities include a canoe launching ramp, a gazebo, 9 picnic tables with roofs and grills, a small play complex, a large play complex with 16 pieces, 26 picnic tables, 2 horseshoe pits, a climbing wall, a toilet / storage building, a volleyball court, trails, and a butterfly garden.
12. Kiwanis Park
This 16 acre park is intensively developed with a four field youth baseball complex. The facilities are new or are generally in good condition. Other facilities include 2 picnic shelters with tables and grills, a paved walking track, a variety of play equipment, a basketball court, a tennis court, an activity building, 2 horseshoe pits, a concession stand with toilets, a toilet building, a spray pool and a roofed picnic table.
13. Neill Clark Recreation Park
This 22.73 acre park was a private school which has been converted to public use. It contains a variety of indoor and outdoor activity spaces and a four field soccer complex. While still attractive, the multi-purpose building shows signs of wear and tear and the effects of cleaning up after a fire. Many improvements are needed to accommodate the great variety of uses this building receives. Other facilities include a gymnasium with weight room, game room, and snack bar, a play ground, 4 basketball goals in the parking lot, and 2 horseshoe pits.
14. Sandy Pines (13 acres)
Undeveloped. This park can be developed in the future as a neighborhood park.
15. Southside Heights Park
This 12.66 acre park is a small neighborhood park. Facilities are in fair condition and include a T-ball practice field, a basketball court, a shelter with tables and grills, and 8 pieces of play equipment.
16. St. Stephens Park
This 7 acre park is a small single purpose park with a swimming pool. The park is an extra territorial acquisition. Associated with the pool is a small shelter and 3 pieces of play equipment and an open field. The park is closed when the pool is closed. The pool and bathhouse are in fair condition.
17. Stanford Park & Bumbarger Property
This park, of 47.7 acres, is located adjacent to the National Guard Armory. The facilities are in good condition. This park has the potential, because of geographic location and the availability of land, to be developed into a district park which can serve the entire City. Current facilities include 3 adult softball fields, 2 concession stands with toilets, a tennis court, 4 pieces of play equipment, a shelter with tables and grills, a basketball court and a variety of benches, tables and grills.
18. West Hickory Park
This 5.6 acre park contains a small swimming pool. It is located in an industrial area and across the street from the West Hickory Senior Center. The pool is showing signs of age and receives very little use. The park facilities are generally in good condition. The facilities include a lighted youth softball field, a 1/2 court basketball court, 6 pieces of play equipment, 9 benches, 2 grills, 1 picnic table.
19. Westmont Center / Senior Citizen Center
This 3 acre park has an old school gymnasium and classroom building converted to recreation purposes. Two tennis courts are located across a residential street from the center. The senior center is in good condition; however, the youth recreation center exhibits a wide variety of maintenance, operational, and aesthetic problems typically associated with old school buildings. Other facilities include 2 horseshoe pits, 2 picnic tables and a grill, 2 shuffleboard courts, 1 basketball court, and 18 pieces of play equipment.
20. Winkler Park
This 50 acre park contains a 5,100 seat professional baseball stadium which dominates the park. A new playground with 6 activity complexes and 2 sets of swings are under construction. Most of the facilities are new or are in excellent condition. Other facilities include a restored home place, a museum, a multi-purpose building, 2 nature trails, and a group shelter with toilets. With the large play complex and stadium, an opportunity exists to develop a large group shelter to complement these facilities.
21. Caldwell County Site (+/- 50 acres)
This site has been studied as a potential golf course site. Because of its location and topography it is of limited recreation use, and should be reserved for future golf or open space uses.