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Richmond Hill moves ahead with new park
Sterling Creek Park
This aerial photograph shows the citys proposed park behind the Sterling Creek Plantation subdivision (at bottom). To the upper right is Interstate 95, to the lower right are the train tracks that cross Harris Trail next to Richmond Hill High School. The solid pink line shows a proposed running trail, while the solid and dotted blue lines show bike trails. The blue rectangle within the lake is the proposed location of a fishing dock, and below that is where a playground and walking path would be located. - photo by Photo by Ted O'Neil

A new 187-acre park to be built by the city of Richmond Hill behind the Sterling Creek Plantation subdivision off Harris Trail could have a groundbreaking as early as mid-September.

A steering committee charged with designing the park held its initial meeting Monday to discuss the first phase of what will be considered a “passive park” that eventually will include running, mountain biking and walking trails, primitive camping and fishing. It is termed a passive park because it will not include facilities for organized team sports such as baseball, softball or soccer.

Groundbreaking might be held Sept. 15 in conjunction with the Wetlands Adventure Relay being hosted on the property by the Richmond Hill High School cross country program.

The committee decided that phase 1 of the project will include the construction of a parking lot, restrooms and a fishing dock at a small lake that is considered the centerpiece of the property. Running and biking enthusiasts are mapping out locations for trails and determining the materials needed to construct them. Swimming will not be allowed in the lake unless it is part of an organized event, such as a triathlon, and participants would be required to sign liability waivers.

The committee hopes to finish that phase by early 2017.

City Councilman Russ Carpenter said the city will also have to start considering names for the park.

“So far I’ve been referring to it as ‘Sterling Creek Park’ because of the location, but council will have to come up with an official name,” he said.
Carpenter said he would also like to pursue a community garden where people could rent plots — perhaps 20 feet by 20 feet — to grow their own produce.

The city purchased the land five years ago from a bank for $700,000.

“There was some interest from a developer who wanted to put homes in there, but that would have led to some real access problems,” Carpenter said. “It would be a great location for a park because J.F. Gregory is pretty much maxed out and is more of an event venue than a recreation site.”

The steering committee is scheduled to meet again at 10 a.m. July 25 at City Hall.

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Later yall, its been fun
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This is among the last pieces I’ll ever write for the Bryan County News.

Friday is my last day with the paper, and come June 1 I’m headed back to my native Michigan.

I moved here in 2015 from the Great Lake State due to my wife’s job. It’s amicable, but she has since moved on to a different life in a different state, and it’s time for me to do the same.

My son Thomas, an RHHS grad as of Saturday, also is headed back to Michigan to play basketball for a small school near Ann Arbor called Concordia University. My daughter, Erin, is in law school at University of Toledo. She had already begun her college volleyball career at Lourdes University in Ohio when we moved down here and had no desire to leave the Midwest.

With both of them and the rest of my family up north, there’s no reason for me to stay here. I haven’t missed winter one bit, but I’m sure I won’t miss the sand gnats, either.

Shortly after we arrived here in 2015, I got a job in communications with a certain art school in Savannah for a few short months. It was both personally and professionally toxic and I’ll leave it at that.

In March 2016 I signed on with the Bryan County News as assistant editor and I’ve loved every minute of it. My “first” newspaper career, in the late 80s and early 90s, was great. But when I left it to work in politics and later with a free-market think tank, I never pictured myself as an ink-stained wretch again.

Like they say, never say never.

During my time here at the News, I’ve covered everything that came along. That’s one big difference between working for a weekly as opposed to a daily paper. Reporters at a daily paper have a “beat” to cover. At a weekly paper like this, you cover … life. Sports, features, government meetings, crime, fundraisers, parades, festivals, successes, failures and everything in between. Oh, and hurricanes. Two of them. I’ll take a winter blizzard over that any day.

Along the way I’ve met a lot of great people. Volunteers, business owners, pastors, students, athletes, teachers, coaches, co-workers, first responders, veterans, soldiers and yes, even some politicians.

And I learned that the same adrenalin rush from covering “breaking news” that I experienced right out of college is still just as exciting nearly 30 years later.

With as much as I’ve written about the population increase and traffic problems, at least for a few short minutes my departure means there will be one less vehicle clogging up local roads. At least until I pass three or four moving vans headed this way as I get on northbound I-95.

The hub-bub over growth here can be humorous, unintentional and ironic all at once. We often get comments on our Facebook page that go something like this: “I’ve lived here for (usually less than five years) and the growth is out of control! We need a moratorium on new construction.”

It’s like people who move into phase I of “Walden Woods” subdivision after all the trees are cleared out and then complain about trees being cut down for phase II.

Bryan County will always hold a special place in my heart and I definitely plan on visiting again someday. My hope is that my boss, Jeff Whitten (one of the best I’ve ever had), will let me continue to be part of the Pembroke Mafia Football League from afar. If the Corleone family could expand to Vegas, there’s no reason the PMFL can’t expand to Michigan.

But the main reason I want to return someday is about that traffic issue. After all, I’ll need to see it with my own eyes before I’ll believe that Highway 144 actually got widened.

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