Park opens on site of closed North Wake Landfill

Raleigh, N.C. — The new North Wake Landfill District Park at 9300 Deponie Drive in Raleigh opened to the public Saturday.

The park is located on the site of the North Wake Landfill, which closed in May 2008 after 22 years of use.

“This one-of-a-kind facility will provide safe, recreational opportunities for park users, preserve the natural environment and protect the public, as well as the landfill’s monitoring systems," Wake County Board of Commissioners Chair Tony Gurley said in a statement.

The park has a playground, picnic shelter and walking trail that connects to the Neuse River greenway.

It sits on one of the highest points in Wake County, because the final elevation of the landfill was 468 feet above sea level. The park is built over approximately 5 million tons of waste.

Further development of the site includes a Wake County EMS station, which is expected to open by 2010. Raleigh is seeking a consultant to design a community center and athletic fields.

A recycling and solid-waste disposal center remains at the site and is undergoing a re-design by Wake County.

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The park is safe and very nice. Thousands of people have paid top dollar for years to buy homes in Falls River and Bedford, with their backyards literally up against this landfill, while it was still open as a trash dump! (very fragrant some days I might add, but not a hazard) If you want to worry about an environmental hazard, get upset about how polluted Falls Lake is (where all our drinking water comes from, remember)and what we can do about that. AND reduce, reuse, recycle so we don't have to have so many millions of tons of garbage!

bikely
July 13, 2010 11:40 a.m.

LOL, funny how people are saying they won't go or allow their kids to go, but people allow their kids to play at Chick Fil A, McDonalds btw they rarely wash the equipment, if they say they do they are lying, I have two kids that work at both places. People allow their kids to go a regular park and play where I've seen people urinating, dogs urinating, ducks leaving droppings behind, kids barefoot in sand boxes etc. You allow your kids to go to amusement parks, water parks the list goes on. Germs are every where. Just because it's a landfield, it's supppose to be worst...Get a life people!

Dale
July 12, 2010 1:15 p.m.

"ratherbnnc" very well said. Sad to see so many are ready to make such uninformed assumptions and conclusions. Actually, this landfill follows many others across the country, which in turn followed the tremendous success, as a park, of "Mount Trashmore" in Virginia Beach, which opened over 30 years ago--everyone who visits the area wants to go there! So, it is not "one of a kind" --- maybe in NC? What we need now is a better name --- it too can become a "tourist destination", touting it as an ecological achievement and tax dollars well spent. With the budget shortfall, I would expect them to start charging admission any day!

WXYZ
July 12, 2010 12:08 p.m.

"For all of you who lack knowledge. Hazardous waste and materials were never allowed at this site. This was only for household garbage. Garbage decomposes. There is nothing hazardous about the site except the word of mouth that it could be. - ratherbnc"

You are correct assuming that people didn't put things in their trash that they weren't supposed to.

They didn't inspect the garbage for hazardous waste before dumping it at the site and covering it with dirt.

My bet is that there is a lot paint, metals, cfl bulbs, florescent bulbs, motor oil, home cleaners, and various other hazardous waste stored at this site.

DontLikeTheSocialistObama
July 12, 2010 12:04 p.m.

For all of you who lack knowledge. Hazardous waste and materials were never allowed at this site. This was only for household garbage. Garbage decomposes. There is nothing hazardous about the site except the word of mouth that it could be.