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Mecklenburg commissioners to develop Lake Norman swimming plan

McClatchy Tribune Wire Service

Published: August 5, 2009

A panel of Mecklenburg County commissioners voted this afternoon to bring a plan for public swimming at Ramsey Creek Park on Lake Norman before the full board in September.

Commissioner Karen Bentley, who lives in Huntersville, said the 4-0 vote by the commissioners' natural resources committee means a board majority appears to back bringing public swimming to such county-run parks, since she supports the measure, too. "I'll say 'yes' right now," Bentley told the committee, which includes commissioners Chairman Jennifer Roberts and commissioners Vilma Leake, Neil Cooksey and Dan Murrey.

Leake said she was concerned that every part of the county have access to the public swimming beach at Ramsey Creek on Nantz Road in Cornelius, given that the beach could fit only 200 or 300 people at a time. "My concern is accessibility," she said. "If people come from other parts of the county, will the welcome mat be put out?"

Bentley and Jim Garges, Mecklenburg County Park and Recreation director, assured Leake that it would.

Garges said such concerns are why it's important that other beaches at lakeside parks on county- and Duke Energy-owned land eventually be opened, too. A more than year-long study by his department showed that other sites could accommodate swimmers, including Latta Plantation Park in Huntersville. The study also revealed which parks wouldn't be able to accommodate public beaches, including Jetton Park in Cornelius, where the beach is too small, Garges said.

It would take at least two to three years from the full board's planned Sept. 1 vote for children and adults to be swimming at Ramsey Creek Park, however, Mecklenburg County Park and Recreation officials told the committee.

That's in part because the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in Washington would also then have to study and approve the measure, and the county would have to hold public workshops to receive input from residents.