RDU has plans to develop 136 acres, most of the forest and trails at Lake Crabtree County Park.  We have an important opportunity Wed Jan 29 @ 5 PM to show the RDU AA board how much this park means to the public - please attend if you can.  Here’s the event on Facebook and the announcement on the RDU site.  There’s a closed session from 4-5, and public session starts promptly at 5 PM.

If you can’t make it, we encourage you to submit comments online.  See What Can be Done for links to submit comments to RDU AA board, county commissioners, and city council.

At this meeting, public input will be solicited for development ideas and restrictions or limitations for 136 acres of land now in forested mountain bike and pedestrian trails. RDU AA is proposing private commercial development of this tract into some sort of "entertainment development' which includes hotel, restaurant(s), retail, similar. Due to a confidentially agreement, the public is not being told what the unnamed developer proposes.

There’s more background and discussion on the RDU Forest Community Group

Here’s our take on the importance of Lake Crabtree County Park

Decades of public planning and investment have made the Lake Crabtree / Old Reedy Creek / Umstead recreation district the most used, most accessible, most centrally located forested recreation area in the Triangle.  These public investments have paid off - the forested trails at Lake Crabtree County Park are heavily used by the mountain biking, trail running, and hiking communities - providing much needed health benefits close by.

We recognize that RDU needs funds to support airport infrastructure and their Vision 2040 plan.  Those plans should build upon the success of the Lake Crabtree forested trails - not develop and destroy them.  This recreation district is a unique, irreplaceable asset that supports quality of life in the fast growing Triangle region.  The forested trails in Lake Crabtree Park are heavily used today, and those recreational demands will only increase.

We encourage local governments to find a solution that both preserves the forested trail system in Lake Crabtree Park and strengthens RDU.  Our growing region needs both forested outdoor recreation AND a strong airport.  It’s unfortunate that RDU’s LCCP lease plan has unnecessarily placed those goals in conflict.  Instead, we encourage RDU to monetize other land they control in ways that complement existing recreational assets instead of harming them.  We’re not the only ones suggesting this.  As part of accepting federal funds, the FAA grants obligate RDU plans to be “reasonably consistent with public agencies … of the area surrounding the airport”.  The 2020 RTA AID report suggested similar - “RDU has the responsibility to leverage its property for compatible and complementary uses”.  That RTA report went so far as to suggest that RDU “Hire a master developer to review the entire airport for strategic development opportunities”.  Instead of destroying LCCP for marginal revenue gains, develop a plan that leverages the existing park by monetizing other nearby lands controlled by RDU.

RDU’s claimed goal of developing the 136 acres in a way “compatible with the park” is simply unrealistic.  Those 136 acres represent about 3/4 of the forested land of the park.  What is a forested park without the forest and trails?

Destroying this asset is an affront to decades of public planning and investment in the recreational value of this area.  To name just a few public projects:  Cary’s Black Creek Greenway and Old Reedy Creek trail access and parking, Morrisville Crabtree Creek greenway, Umstead State Park and connecting Raleigh Greenways, East Coast Greenway, the planned Triangle Bikeway along the I-40 corridor, and Lake Crabtree Park.

Those public investments have succeeded.  Lake Crabtree Park is arguably the most used, most effective, most accessible park in the county.  Let’s not destroy it when other options exist.