By Mackenzie Edwards, Staff Writer

$878,142.44 is a lot of money. What would someone do with this much money? They could go on any vacation they wanted or buy that dream car they’ve been dying to get. There are so many possibilities. But in this case, you could renovate a whole park.

Meekins Field is located behind the Kill Devil Hills water tower. It was funded by the Land and Water Conservation Fund, and constructed in the late ’80s to early ’90s. The field originally had a softball field and tennis courts, which were the only ones on the northern parts of the Outer Banks.

Meekins Field was still in good shape after all those years, but in January of 2019 the field’s surroundings began a big project – the replacement of the Kill Devil Hills water tower. 

“The park has been closed for nearly two years because the water tower project did extensive damage to the site,” Kill Devil Hills Planning Director Meredith Guns said. “The Board of Commissioners took this opportunity to create a park that meets the needs of the community.”

In order to get Meekins Field back into the condition the town wants, the plans had to go through a long process starting with the Westside Recreation Group. The Westside Recreation Group is a group of KDH citizens and officials who help decide when a change or addition to a recreational facility is needed. At one of their meetings in November of 2019, it was ruled that Meekins Field would receive the makeover it needed. 

“I was on the board a long time ago when we came up with the recreation facilities plan. I remember that there were a lot of ideas that got bounced around, and some of them went through and some of them didn’t,” Kill Devil Hills Commissioner Terry Gray said. “The Meekins Field renovations are lightyears ahead of what we did when we formed the Westside Recreation Group. This is really state of the art.” 

Before the Board of Commissioners met, KDH residents had the opportunity to give their input on what they would like to see at Meekins Field. Kill Devil Hills Assistant Planning Director Cameron Ray sent out a survey through email, Facebook and their websites to get public input on the park renovation plans.

“We do this because the people who are on the Board of Commissioners and the Westside Group are there to represent what the people want,” Ray said.

After receiving public input on the project, the Board of Commissioners approved the plans on Sept. 14, 2020. 

But what features were approved for almost a million dollars? The plans are to have a multi-purpose field, practice field, two picnic shelters, tennis courts, restrooms, a sidewalk around the perimeter of the park, a playground area, art wall and a splash pad.

Some of these features are particularly unique to the town of Kill Devil Hills.

“At the moment, Kill Devil Hills doesn’t have a single park with a picnic shelter. Anywhere else you see them in the county, people always have birthday parties and a place to watch your kids while they’re on the playground,” Ray said.

The picnic shelters aren’t the only things unique about Meekins Field. Once the renovations are complete, the field will be home to the only splash pad in Dare County. The art wall is also the only one of its kind to KDH. In addition to those features, the park will have a roundabout drop-off area, which doesn’t exist for any other park in the town, and two overflow parking areas separate from the main parking lot.

The park is going to have to factor some of its surroundings into the cost of the project as well. Because it is located in close proximity to the KDH Fire and EMS stations, the road next to the park is going to be widened to help prevent traffic in emergency situations.

With all of these amenities for the park, the cost is $878,142.44, which is a lot of money for a small town to come up with. In order to pay for the renovations, the project leaders applied for grant money.

“There’s all sorts of grants you can apply for towards recreation, but finding one that applies to your project can be kind of difficult,” Ray explained. “The one we applied for is through the Outer Banks Tourism Bureau.”

The Tourism Impact Grant, which is through the Outer Banks Tourism Bureau, is designed to help draw more tourism into the area, and help give the local community some relief from some effects of tourism, like the crowded beaches.

“If we get all the grant money we applied for, we’re going to be so excited to build as fast as we can,” Ray said. “But if there’s still some money that we need to find, we let the Board decide what elements they want to see the most and what we need to do first. Once we have all that figured out, the board will approve contracts so we can build this thing and get it done.”

If the project ends up receiving a partial amount of the money applied for, officials will begin construction in phases, giving them time to apply for more grant money in the next phase. The project planners are hoping for a reopening during summer of 2021.

Regardless of when the project is going to be finished, it will be enjoyed by many Dare County residents.

“It’s going to be a showpiece that the Kill Devil Hills citizens can be proud of,” Commissioner Gray said. “It’s going to offer a little bit of something for everybody, and that’s a neat thing.” 

Sophomore Mackenzie Edwards can be reached at 23edwardsma78@daretolearn.org.