U.S. National Whitewater Center

[Raintree21]

I heard last night that they are going to be offering memberships soon so you can pay a monthly fee and have unlimited access to all amenities. Pricing for the memberships have not been set yet though. An announcement should be coming out in the next month or two. The rumors about charging for parking are true also but for now the plans are for a small fee along the lines of $2.

[Andyc545]

I heard last night that they are going to be offering memberships soon so you can pay a monthly fee and have unlimited access to all amenities. Pricing for the memberships have not been set yet though. An announcement should be coming out in the next month or two. The rumors about charging for parking are true also but for now the plans are for a small fee along the lines of $2.

Memberships would support a lot of people that use it- especially those that are kayaking and preparing for big events like the Olympics. Right now, however, they do have a yearly pass available, but it was really expensive, and certainly you'd have to be there on a weekly basis to get your values worth.

[rockhilljames]

I hate that they are charging for parking, but I'm sure that's targeting the hikers/bikers not using the WhiteWater facility. I'd be OK with a fee to park for those facilities and a validation for parking if you use the center.

[Raintree21]

They've got the channels drained now and are performing maintenance on the all of the facility. Bet they are losing a pretty penny on being shut down. I was there today and noticed some signs along the road directing you to the center which were helpful (they were about 3x3 green highway signs with white letters) but still nothing on the interstate to draw anyone but locals who already know its there.

[reverbandwhiskey]

I hate that they are charging for parking, but I'm sure that's targeting the hikers/bikers not using the WhiteWater facility. I'd be OK with a fee to park for those facilities and a validation for parking if you use the center.

The problem with charging people to park there to use the trails is that they didn't build or maintain those trails. The Tarheel Trailblazers did.

http://tarheeltrailblazers.com/

I think it is a bad move on their part to start charging for parking. Will they provide security since they are charging me to park in a poorly constructed gravel pit they call a parking lot?

I'll just park down the street and ride my bike to the trails.

[Raintree21]

The residents of Hawfield Road have taken to blocking the road with a gate again. They are letting visitors to the whitewater park through but are closing a gate anytime a construction vehicle tries to come through in order to build the whitewater parkway. Residents state that their deal to let the park use their road does not apply to construction vehicles and the center is arguing the opposite, that the signed agreement states that any vehicular traffic attempting to get to the whitewater park will be allowed access. The protesters are asking for $1,500 each ($6,000 total) to allow full access.

[Charlotte_native]

The residents of Hawfield Road have taken to blocking the road with a gate again. They are letting visitors to the whitewater park through but are closing a gate anytime a construction vehicle tries to come through in order to build the whitewater parkway. Residents state that their deal to let the park use their road does not apply to construction vehicles and the center is arguing the opposite, that the signed agreement states that any vehicular traffic attempting to get to the whitewater park will be allowed access. The protesters are asking for $1,500 each ($6,000 total) to allow full access.

So...they won't allow construction trucks through to finish the construction so their road won't have to be main road for this any traffic any longer?

[Raintree21]

Pretty much. The trucks are using Hawfield so that they can work on the parkway from both ends and finish faster so the longer the homeowners delay construction, the longer people will be using their road for access to the park.

[Raintree21]

A judge has ruled in favor of the USNWC and issued a restraining order against the residents of Hawfield Road stating that they are not abiding by the agreement they signed in 2006. The restraining order will last for 10 days.

[swampfox43]

Does anyone know exactly where Whitewater Parkway will be? Will it be accessible directly from I-85? Looking at the Virtual Earth aerial below, I see a direct path to the Whitewater Center from the truck weigh station exit (in red) but I am trying to determine where the path of this new parkway is in relation to Hawfield Rd (in blue). None of the reports I've seen have given the location.

Anyone know?

[eastsider]

^ I believe that it is supposed to come out somewhere around the 485 - Moores Chapel Rd. intersection.

[Raintree21]

You need to move your picture north about 1/2 mile. The development and parkway will be going north of Hawfield Road.

[swampfox43]

OK, that does at least give me some point of reference. On the photo below, yellow is Hawfield Rd, the current entrance road, and red is Moores Chapel Rd. You can see I-485 to the far right.

There is a lot of undeveloped wooded area so my guess is that the parkway is going through there somewhere. Duhhh. I'm just curious as to where you will enter the parkway from, I-485 or Moores Chapel, or some other road. Maybe I'll go check it out this weekend to get the lowdown.

[Raintree21]

Whitewater Parkway will actually come out on Belmeade Dr. which runs between Mt. Holly Rd and Moores Chapel Rd.

[monsoon]

The Whitewater Center will now start charging $5/car to help pay for expenses. It's losing a lot of money.

[Appetite for Construction]

Link to an Observer article about the $5/day fee.

This fee feels pretty steep to me and seems like it will have an adverse affect on folks going out to the park to just hang out and go to the restaurant. The article does not mention it, but it will be interesting to see what an annual parking pass costs ...

Also mentioned in the article is a coming attraction (open by the Olympic trials in April) of a "mega zip line" although no more detail is given about where on the grounds it will be.

[monsoon]

^Well actually the Observer again simply lets the director of the facility spin it in terms that he has $1.9M in cash flow but neglects to mention this includes $1,741,384 in governmental handouts. This is why I don't post links to the O anymore.

Basically they taking in $9M in but spending $10.1M. Their answer to the short fall is to try and collect fees from car drivers. Can they make a $1M/year in car fees? I am not so sure. This is a lot of cars.

[Raintree21]

We all knew it was coming but I hate to see it. It will definitely turn some people off from going there and using the facilities, especially those wanting to use the "free" bike trails. If they charge $5 per car, that works out to 200,000 cars to get $1 million. If you go with their 600,000 visitors figure that works out to 3 people per car so I guess that is feasible.

[mad_park]

We all knew it was coming but I hate to see it. It will definitely turn some people off from going there and using the facilities, especially those wanting to use the "free" bike trails. If they charge $5 per car, that works out to 200,000 cars to get $1 million. If you go with their 600,000 visitors figure that works out to 3 people per car so I guess that is feasible.

Wonder if they will charge members of the Tarheel Trailblazers when they come out there to do free maintenance on the trails? The center spends $0 on the creation and upkeep of the bike trails...all done by volunteers and were there since the early 90s.

[JRNYP2C]

^Well actually the Observer again simply lets the director of the facility spin it in terms that he has $1.9M in cash flow but neglects to mention this includes $1,741,384 in governmental handouts. This is why I don't post links to the O anymore.

Basically they taking in $9M in but spending $10.1M. Their answer to the short fall is to try and collect fees from car drivers. Can they make a $1M/year in car fees? I am not so sure. This is a lot of cars.

That is exactly right. They have already received tax money from us in Gaston and Mecklenburg County, and now they are basically trying to extort more money (for lack of a better term) from those that use it.

This is a crystal clear example of how to increase the red ink to your bottom line. The $5 fee just to pull into the parking lot is going to keep people away - or at the very least, keep those who frequent it a lot less. I doubt a yearly pass will have any kind of big net savings in the big picture.

Pretty sad.

But being the eternal optomist, maybe down the line, when they reach those lofty attendance figures, they can stop charging to walk in the door. Maybe they should just rename it a "Priveledge Fee".......

I have a kayak, but you won't see me taking it there. I'll stick to the rivers - which are free!

[Andyc545]

I really at least wish that they would reimburse you if you are paying to use their whitewater rafting or mountain climbing, or even the restaurant. They could just give you a waiver when u pay to use when exiting. I know it's not an ideal situation and the 5 dollar fee came on extremely strong. At least if you are paying for the facilities, then it would continue to attract paying customers instead of the 5 dollar additionally deterring them away. I am really eager to take a lot of people here that are visiting, but the 5 dollars have certainly made me a little more skeptical.

[reverbandwhiskey]

Wonder if they will charge members of the Tarheel Trailblazers when they come out there to do free maintenance on the trails? The center spends $0 on the creation and upkeep of the bike trails...all done by volunteers and were there since the early 90s.

As a Trailblazer, I can say that yes, we are getting charged as well. I want to know if they are going to provide security now that we have to pay to park there.

[Appetite for Construction]

The Meck. County finance director is calling the USNWC director on the carpet for saying that the center made a profit last year. She said that the center has a $1.3 million dollar shortfall for the year ending Oct. 31.

Also, the $5 parking fee begins on March 24th; an annual pass will be $35.

Paying the fee will get you (drum roll please), a free serving of cobbler at restaurant or $5 off a purchase of $25 or more at the retail shop.

Observer article about the finance director's comments if you are intersted.

[Andyc545]

The Whitewater Center is hiring a marketing agency out of NYC called Amplify Sports and Entertainment. This means we should get more special events taking place there as well as hopefully some advertising, which is long overdue.

[Raintree21]

Jeep announced that it will be the main sponsor of the N.C. Adventure Racing Series at the whitewater center. This should bring in a new revenue source to the center and help out quite a bit.