CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Mecklenburg County commissioners engaged in a heated debate Tuesday night about funding for a new Discovery Place nature facility.
The commissioners, while in agreement about the educational value of a new nature center, were in disagreement about the inflated costs that the county would need to provide to make it happen.
The nature center was first approved in 2017.
It would be a brand new facility – an expansion and redesign of the current Discovery Place Nature museum in Freedom Park.
The county first approved the project’s $16 million budget for the building. It has since jumped to $36 million, even after making cuts to the building’s size.
District 1 Commissioner Elaine Powell says a $20 million ask of the county is "offensive" and would be unfair to taxpayers –- especially when so many other projects have been downgraded because of a lack of funding.
"I am the Chair of environmental stewardship, I was Chair of the park commission, I don't think you can find a person that cares more about environmental education than I do," Powell said. "But when it comes to county dollars and nonprofits, we cannot have champagne wishes and caviar dreams and $20 million extra rescue when $16 million was such a sacrifice."
Other commissioners expressed similar concerns about the high costs and eventually settled on a $10 million contribution to the construction of the nature center.
It’ll be up to the county manager next to orchestrate the capital project funding for the new facility.
Contact Destiny Richards at drichards5@wcnc.com and follow her on Facebook, X and Instagram.