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Ramsey Creek Park on Lake Norman could become the first Mecklenburg County-run park since the late 1970s to allow lake swimming.
Mecklenburg county commissioners voted 7-0 to reverse the longtime ban late Tuesday. But because commissioners Bill James and Harold Cogdell were absent for the vote, the board will have to vote again at its next meeting. Such a change requires full board unanimous approval, according to county attorney Marvin Bethune.
The county has prohibited swimming since several drownings at McDowell Park.
It will take two or three years for public swimming to open at Ramsey Creek Park, off Nantz Road in Cornelius. The plan still needs federal approval.
Lake Norman business and political leaders have led the push to reverse the ban at county parks, saying it hurts local merchants each time they have to send visitors north to Lake Norman State Park in Iredell County, which has the lake's only public swimming beach.
It's inexcusable that the state's largest man-made lake offers so little public swimming, said Lake Norman Chamber of Commerce president Bill Russell, who has pushed for years to restore public swimming at the lake.
Commissioners agreed to lift the ban after a more than yearlong county study showed where swimming areas could be opened and where they shouldn't.
Ramsey Creek Park proved best, in part because it has enough parking and its restrooms are near the proposed swimming area, officials said.
The park is leased from Duke Energy, whose staff has preliminarily approved the concept of a swimming area there, county officials said.
Latta Plantation in Huntersville should be considered next for a public swimming area, while other parks in the study aren't a good fit, officials said, including McDowell Nature Preserve, Blythe Landing, Jetton Park and Col. Francis Beatty Park.
Among the problems, those parks lack amenities or it would be too expensive to develop swimming areas, the study showed. The swimming area in Jetton Park in Cornelius, for instance, is too small, officials said.
Before residents can swim at Ramsey Creek Park, the county will host community workshops, hire a consultant to design the beach and apply to Duke Energy, since the beach would be on Duke Energy land.
The Duke Energy application will take up to six months, because various local agencies must review it.
Duke Energy would then have to apply to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for approval. Duke Energy manages the lake under federal license. FERC's study and approval of such projects typically take a year to 1 1/2 years, county officials said.
Several Ramsey Creek Park visitors on Tuesday said it's about time a swimming area opens. Josh Shipplett, 20, of Huntersville said a lake patrol boat ordered him and other people out of the lake at Ramsey Creek Park this summer.
“It's crazy they don't already have it,” Shipplett said as he rested with his dog, Riley.
David Priestor said the “no swimming” sign at Ramsey Creek Park surprised him when he moved here from Charleston three months ago. In Charleston, he said, “no one owns the saltwater.”
Ramsey Creek and any other park that's approved for a public swimming beach would have lifeguards, and designated swimming areas would be shallow, said Jim Garges, Mecklenburg County Park and Recreation director.
Duke Energy is also considering public swimming areas at Island Point in Catawba County, Beatty Ford access area in Lincoln County, and The Riverbend and South Point access in Gaston County.
