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Not-So-Hidden Gem<\/strong> \u201cI wasn\u2019t too thrilled when I found out Raleigh bought it, because I\u2019m afraid they\u2019re going to come in and turn it into a typical city park,\u201d Jonathan Brenner said. \u201cWe like the fact that it\u2019s wide and open, and we can take the dog, let him run around.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAnd while you\u2019re here, you can watch the [radio-controlled] planes, and there\u2019s usually a golfer,\u201d Christine Brenner added. \u201cEveryone has their own activities.\u201d<\/p>\n James Borden<\/p> A group of people fly some planes at Dix park. Photo by James Borden.<\/p><\/div>\n [media-credit name=”James Borden” align=”aligncenter” width=”450″][\/media-credit]<\/p>\n Steps to Park Planning<\/strong> Although the city is free to build upon any portion of the land not in use by the state, leaders must first decide what to build.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have our parks planning process,\u201d Allen said. \u201cFirst, before the master plan at all is designed, you engage your various stakeholders in the community.\u201d<\/p>\n John Hoal is the principal of H3 Studio. His firm has been involved in the design and revitalization of a number of parks across the country, and was brought on by the Dix Visionary Group to do early conceptual work for the Dix property.<\/p>\n The master planning of a park, Hoal said, has never taken less than 18 months to complete and tends to follow roughly the same trajectory, regardless of its size or city of origin.<\/p>\n The first step often begins with public feedback. Although an ongoing part of the process, Hoal explained that it plays a crucial role in establishing an overall vision for the park.<\/p>\n Once this has been established, the various architects, engineers and outside consultants working on the project begin to look much closer at the physical characteristics of the land.<\/p>\n Dix could be a bit more complicated than usual, Hoal said.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s some environmental issues that you have to deal with, and you\u2019ve got a lot of buildings that have to be surveyed,\u201d he said. \u201cI think the actual physical master planning of this is going to take a while.\u201d<\/p>\n In Hoal\u2019s experience, the first step \u2013 engaging the community \u2013 is often the most time-consuming.<\/p>\n For example, the master planning of Forest Park in St. Louis, Mo. took two and a half years and included 50 community meetings.<\/p>\n \u201cBy the time we really got through everything, it was three and a half years of work before we even could sort of put a shovel in the ground,” he said. \u201cAnd then we\u2019ve been putting shovels in the ground piecemeal and based upon funding for the last 15 years.”<\/p>\n \u201cI think it\u2019s really important for a community that is taking on, effectively, a brand new 300-acre park to realize how long it\u2019s going to take,\u201d Hoal said.<\/p>\n In an email to The Record, Capital Improvements Program Manager Stephen Bentley said the Raleigh City Council has not yet determined a framework for Dix\u2019s planning process.<\/p>\n Until that framework is adopted, Bentley explained there is no way to estimate how long the process may take.<\/p>\n Raleigh\u2019s Park Planning Past<\/strong> During the next two years, Counts Studio developed an official Master Plan \u2014 a rough draft of the drawings that will be used in the construction phase of the process.<\/p>\n The final stages of design will begin following an environmental study of the soil and existing greenery on the property, which is scheduled for completion later this year. With these phases will come more public input and information sessions. City officials estimate the entire process through construction will take seven years.<\/p>\n According to city officials, it is too early to say whether the Dorothea Dix planning will follow a similar process as Moore Square. Bentley said at this point, he can\u2019t even say whether the process would line up with the city\u2019s established park master planning guidelines, which adhere to national best practice standards.<\/p>\n In conjunction with the Moore Square master plan and a number of individual park renovations, Raleigh\u2019s Parks and Recreation Department is in the process of developing a new long-range system plan. The plan\u2019s stated purpose is to \u201cshape the direction, development and delivery of the city\u2019s parks and recreation services over the next 20 years.\u201d<\/p>\n Dorothea Dix is not included in the current draft of this plan.<\/p>\n James Borden<\/p> Gil Whitten takes his ‘Swamp Boat’ out for a spin at Dix. The boat is assembled out of a sled and R\/C airplane parts and capable of traveling on streets, fields & streams. Photo by James Borden.<\/p><\/div>\n Dorothea Dix Today<\/strong> \u201cMy favorite part,\u201d said Jonathan Brenner, \u201cis that it\u2019s not overly regulated, and the fact that, generally, everybody keeps to themselves, and everybody\u2019s safe.<\/p>\n \u201cYou don\u2019t have to worry about being hassled for, say, the dog being off leash,\u201d he added, gesturing to a panting Ziggy patiently awaiting a new game of fetch.<\/p>\n Whatever changes park planning may bring to Dix, some hope that freedom and open space remain.<\/p>\n Justin Jones and Hobert Orton are former members of the flying club Regular Dudes R\/C. They heard about the open space at Dix through word of mouth and began piloting their collection of planes and helicopters on the land nearly two years ago.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a beautiful place for this kind of stuff,\u201d Orton said. \u201cYou don\u2019t find fields like this too often, you know, the trees are far away, it\u2019s a beautiful view, a nice place to be.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a public field,” he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Dix property is now a city park, but it will likely be years before there are any major changes to the land.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24061,"featured_media":17244,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[15,23],"tags":[693,167],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17239"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24061"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17239"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17239\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17244"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17239"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17239"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17239"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nJonathan and Christine Brenner have been taking their German shepherd Ziggy to Dix several times a week for the past five years.<\/p>\n![\"Dix](\"http:\/\/www.raleighpublicrecord.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/DixRCGuys-e1359382431385-450x600.jpg\")
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\nAccording to the lease agreement, the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services has up to 15 years to relocate the offices it maintains at Dix. In the meantime, the state will remain responsible for the maintenance of all buildings and grounds on the property it uses.<\/p>\n
\nIn 2009 the City started a master planning process for Moore Square. Planning began with a host of public information sessions and a design competition put together by the city and the state Historic Preservation Office. Christopher Counts Studio of Charlottesville, Va. was eventually selected to oversee the project.<\/p>\n![\"Gil](\"http:\/\/www.raleighpublicrecord.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/gilwhitten-e1359382368567-450x600.jpg\")
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\nAlthough Dix Hill is more state land than city park at this point, locals have grown fond of the large, open vistas spread across its 325 acres. The largest and most popular is a field located off the campus\u2019 Barbour Drive. On a recent Sunday afternoon, it hosted a range of visitors \u2013 runners, dog-walkers and radio-controlled plane enthusiasts among them.<\/p>\n