6/3/04

Town and High School to Share Facilities
Joint-Use Agreement First of its Kind

The Town of Holly Springs and the Wake County Public School System have adopted a first-of-its-kind joint-use agreement that shares access to particular outdoor recreation facilities at Holly Springs High School, to open in 2006. In exchange for financial assistance in building the fields and maintenance services for those fields, the Town of Holly Springs will have the exclusive use of outdoor recreation facilities during the hours of 6-11 p.m. on weeknights and during weekends when the facilities are not in use by the school.

The Town and Wake County are to contribute funds – $350,000 and $250,000, respectively – for lighting and irrigation of two multipurpose fields, a softball field and a baseball field, as well as six tennis courts, and parking for the facilities. These facilities are to be available to the Town for scheduled activities when they are not in use by the high school. The Town may use additional money to construct infrastructure to reuse wastewater for irrigation of the fields.

“This is the first agreement of this type giving a Town exclusive after-hours use of Wake County Public School facilities,” said Len Bradley, Holly Springs Parks & Recreation Department director. “In past agreements, municipalities have been given the opportunity to use facilities on a case-by-case basis, but not to schedule ongoing activities.

“The agreement allows the Town to utilize facilities that did not require us to purchase property,” Bradley said. “And, to be able to do a good portion of the development work on the fields, the Town will only enhance the project. It’s a good deal for the Town, and it’s a good deal for the school.”

Reaching an agreement with the Wake County Public School System Community Schools Division was a process that lasted about a year for Bradley and Holly Springs Town Manager Carl Dean. Dean said that he expects that other municipalities will use the agreement as an example for future shared access to public facilities. Town councilmen adopted the agreement at the June 1 meeting.

“This is quite an accomplishment,” Holly Springs Mayor Dick Sears said at the meeting.

Town staff will meet three times per year with the high school staff to coordinate scheduling for the fields. Bradley said that, easily, 500 to 1,000 Holly Springs recreation participants will use the facilities during the calendar year. In addition, Bradley said that he expected the facilities to be open to limited public access for unorganized activities, as well.

Town of Holly Springs - PO Box 8 - 128 South Main Street - Holly Springs, NC 27540 - (919) 552-6221 - Holly.Springs@hollyspringsnc.us