On last night's public forum on the possible park

Two news stories about the Flat Rock Park Exploratory Committee's public forum Thursday night to hear suggestions/concerns about the village's possible purchase of the Highland Lake Golf Club for a park, one from the Times-News and one from the Hendersonville Lightning.

For those who missed the meeting or have more to tell the committee, the committee's email address is park@villageofflatrock.org. This email is active until December 1 and then it will be closed, so if you want to comment, do it now!

From the Times-News:

The majority of 75 residents attending a public input meeting Thursday seemed to favor the idea of the Village of Flat Rock buying Highland Lake Golf Club and making it a municipal park.

The Flat Rock Park Exploratory Committee, charged with examining the feasibility of a new park and what it would entail, held the meeting at the parish hall of St. John in the Wilderness Episcopal Church on Greenville Highway.

Ginger Brown, chair of the exploratory committee, stressed that the meeting was the public’s chance to tell village officials what they would like to see in a municipal park, should it come to pass.

“We’re not here to advocate for the park, for or against,” Brown said.

Village council will make the final decision, she said, based on committee recommendations, which should be complete by late December. Council could decide whether to move forward with a park “within the next few months or so.”...

Read it all.

And from the Hendersonville Lightning:

FLAT ROCK — Speakers invited to express their opinion about a proposed Flat Rock park on the Highland Lake Golf Club property came out mostly in support of the idea Thursday night.

Two residents cautioned about costs and unwanted intrusions that could come with public park development, and others said they were concerned about traffic and nighttime use.

People interested in the park idea filled the parish hall of St. John in the Wilderness Church Thursday night. About 15 spoke, mostly in favor. The committee gathering information for the Village Council described the meeting as a "listening session" and "not a meeting (for the committee) to advocate for or against a park or the use of public funds." No decisions were made and the committee made no comments in reaction to the audience....

Read it all.