Fuquay-Varina to advance $10 million athletic complex plan

Fuquay-Varina leaders moved to put $10 million toward the Hilltop Needmore Town Park Project, a budget action that would turn the former Crooked Creek Golf Course site off Hilltop Needmore Road into a much larger athletic complex for town families.

The plan sits inside a fiscal year budget of more than $83.3 million and calls for a nearly 100-acre buildout known as Hilltop Needmore Town Park Athletic Fields & Armed Forces Memorial. Town materials and project descriptions call for two baseball fields, two multipurpose fields, parking, public restrooms and a memorial for U.S. service members.

Town officials say the need is coming from the size of the youth sports system itself. Fuquay-Varina says it serves nearly 11,000 children through one of the largest youth sports programs in North Carolina, a number that has grown 154% over the past decade. Baseball, softball, soccer and flag football all have waiting lists, giving the project a direct roster-based rationale rather than just a quality-of-life pitch.

The town has already built out part of the site. Hilltop Needmore Town Park Community Center is complete, and town materials list it as a 76,950-square-foot, two-story building on 5.14 acres with 202 parking spaces. Officials have also said the town is using land it already owns and controls, a choice that limits the need for new land purchases while keeping the project tied to existing public property.

The push also comes with political baggage. Fuquay-Varina previously sought a $60 million parks and recreation bond, but voters rejected it in 2023. About 59% of voters said no, a result that helps explain why town leaders are now advancing the complex through the budget instead of returning immediately with a larger referendum.

Town officials said they gathered questions about the project from the May 19 budget public hearing and the Let’s Talk FV platform, underscoring how closely residents have scrutinized the proposal. The broader funding picture is also tight across Wake County, where county commissioners approved $23.5 million in February for sports, arts and cultural facilities in nine municipalities.

For Fuquay-Varina, the decision is a clear test of priorities: whether taxpayers want a phased public investment that opens more field space now, or a larger recreation package with broader amenities that has already failed at the ballot box.