Durham voters approve bonds for parks, streets and sidewalks improvements

DURHAM, N.C. (WTVD) -- Mark Schaffner said he's looking forward to Merrick-Moore Park where the City of Durham plans to build an "aquatic wonderland" with plans for a lazy river, water slides and a climbing wall in four years.

"It's really nice to be able to take them in the middle of the summer and have access to that kind of cool, like, play-in-the-water-type stuff," Schaffner said Thursday.

The project will be funded by a bond approved by Durham voters on Election Day.

The bond will allocate $85 million toward park projects including the new aquatic center at Merrick-Moore Park and a new pool, connecting trail and new play areas at Long Meadow and East End parks.

MORE | View a concept of the aquatic center (.pdf)

The other bond that was approved by Durham voters will allocate $115 million for better roads and sidewalks throughout the city.

Although the bonds mean increased property taxes, Schaffner said he voted "yes" as he thought about the future amenities as a parent of an almost 2-year-old son.

MORE | View a concept of improvements at East End and Long Meadow parks (.pdf)

"I'm glad that they're wanting to take care of the city and improve the ability to walk around and have that infrastructure to support more people," Schaffner said.

Durham Mayor Leonardo Williams said they're doing what they need to do to take care of the Bull City, although some areas of the city's parks are still closed off as of November after lead was detected in the soil in 2023.

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"We are going to have safer streets. We're going to have safer sidewalks. We're going to have more parks and enhance parks," Williams said.

Durham Parks and Recreation Department Director Wade Walcutt said cleaning up those five parks is still on their minds as they look to an overall future vision of better infrastructure in the city.

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"The state continues to be a great partner," Walcutt said. "They're continuing to be in all of our parks and continuing to get more analysis and doing more soil samples, so the city and the community can understand what we're dealing with."

As for the park projects, Walcutt said they hope to have the upgrades at Merrick-Moore Park and Long Meadow and East End parks available to residents in 2028.

"Working again, reaching back out to the community ... doing those fine-tuning and those tweaks on it to make sure it's exactly what they want," Walcutt said. "Then, it's about developing those plans and those construction documents and starting to make things happen."