Preservation in the News

A PASSION FOR PARKS

Steve Little steps down after 23 years of developing Cabarrus parks

By: Lena Warmack

For more than two decades, Kannapolis native Steve Little has helped develop partnerships with area agencies to create more park facilities throughout Cabarrus County.

He retired this week after 23 years as director of the Cabarrus County Parks and Recreation Department.

Little helped advocate for the North Cabarrus Park expansion project, construction of the Cox Mill Elementary school park, and the expected opening of the new Pharr Mill Road Park this fall.

"With every development and the population growth, people need to have places to recreate and to reduce stress," said 53-year-old Little.

As director, Little has managed a $1.2 million annual operating budget and about a $5 million construction budget this year. He's overseen eight employees, the county's four parks and 39 school park locations.

Little said his greatest challenge was picking and choosing projects such as the need for more greenways, bike trails, athletic fields and aquatic facilities.

During his tenure, Little said, the county has partnered with municipalities, schools, agencies and nonprofit groups on joint projects. Those include a year-round park at Camp T.N. Spencer Park, developing portions of the 90-acre North Cabarrus Park and 40-acre W.W. Flowe Park, and using $1 million to buy land and design a future park in Midland.

Balanced concerns and need

Little said he's learned how to balance residents' concerns and the need for county parks.Residents had expressed concerns about encroaching development on the area's swampy wetlands, which are home to a great blue heron rookery. They also worried about the effect on the area's natural resources and wildlife habitat from potential stormwater runoff and bright lights from a planned ballfield, concession stand and park complex behind Cox Mill Elementary.

Little said his department made adjustments to plans, which included adding plants for buffering and working with residents to resolve their concerns.

"You have to be sensitive to your citizens as well as the community leaders and come up with solutions and compromise, and that's what we've done over the years," he said.

Pushed for construction

C.D. Lyons, former director of Concord's Parks and Recreation Department, said Little helped the county's department move away from the role of programming to focus on park construction.

"Steve was very innovative in his way of thinking about parks and recreation," Lyons said. "He felt like that county's role was to build parks and then let another agency run (programs)."

"I knew that parks and recreation changes people's lives," Little said.

Little pushed for the construction of new parks including Frank Liske Park and Soccer Complex, North Cabarrus Park and Bakers Creek Park in Kannapolis, Lyons said.

Kannapolis native

Little grew up in Kannapolis and earned a bachelor's degree in parks and recreation administration from Appalachian State University in 1977.

He became interested in parks and recreation as a child when he got involved with the YMCA in Kannapolis, he said. But realized that the community needed more programs for kids.

The county's Parks and Recreation Department had formed in 1974, he said. After finishing college, Little said, he returned to Cabarrus County to take a job as its first athletic director. He became parks and recreation director in 1984.

At that time, he said, the county had only two to three parks and about 20 to 30 youth baseball teams. Now the county's youth athletic programs have expanded to include 8,000 to 9,000 children and more than 600 sports teams, he said.

Little helped reorganize his department by focusing more on facility development than on programming. He organized the area athletic associations, allowing their volunteers to help coordinate and supervise the programs.

Little said he's retiring to spend more time with his family and to travel. He plans to work part-time for an insurance company in Charlotte.

Londa Strong, the county's park development manager, was promoted to the position of parks and recreation director about two weeks ago. She starts her new job Friday.

"It's going to be very hard to replace him," Lyons said, "because he had the pulse of the county within his grasp."