home

Oriental won’t be seeking money from CAMA for the Duck Pond in the current round of grant applications. The Town Board voted on February 21 to instead have a newly formed Duck Pond Committee continue its work and potentially seek a professionally engineered feasibility study.

Among the subjects mentioned for the Duck Pond Committee were: stormwater runoff from beyond the Schoolhouse Condos on Church Street; dredging the duck pond; addressing the Hodges Street end to see if a wider opening and perhaps even a bridge might be put in to place there: and potentially replacing the Main Street asphalt and car traffic with a footbridge for pedestrians and bikes only. Those last two might make the body of water accessible to kayaks and small boats.

The Town Board said it did not know how long a feasibility study might take.

The commissioners had met in a special session on February 21 because of a February 29 deadline for CAMA grant applications.

Commissioner Kathy Kellam proposed that even as the Duck Pond Committee worked on a comprehensive plan for the body of water, the town could still seek CAMA money to purchase three lots for sale across from the Duck Pond at the intersection of Factory and Neuse Streets. Parks and Rec Board member Christie Foster also appealed to the board to seek that land as parkspace while it still was available.

In discussion, some on the board said that the town could seek grant money in future rounds of applications.

Kellam’s motion failed. The other three board members present, Candy Bohmert, Dave Cox and Nancy Inger voted against it. Inger said that there already two parks within a few blocks of the site.

Posted Thursday February 28, 2008 by Melinda Penkava

email this story | back to top