That was the consensus of an overwhelming majority of people attending the first of several meetings that will be held this month to develop a recreation plan looking 10 years into the future.

Tonight's meeting in Halifax was held under the auspices of the county and Site Solutions, a company contracting with the county to develop the master plan.

“It tells me there is great interest in this issue in this county,” said Derek Church Williams, president of the Charlotte-based park planning company, after 67 people at the meeting raised their hands indicating there is a great need for more recreation opportunities in the county.

(The next meeting will be in Enfield Monday from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the municipal complex at 200 Whitfield Street.)

Williams described the meeting and the upcoming ones across the county as a planning process, and the company has already taken an inventory of what is available in the county — from the facilities and parks in Roanoke Rapids to smaller parks in Scotland Neck and Enfield. The inventory also includes golf courses and Sylvan Heights Waterfowl Park. It includes Medoc Mountain State Park as well land in the public domain that could be a potential resource, Williams said. “We've got to figure out how to bring opportunities to everyone in the county. Medical facilities are an important aspect as we try to determine how do we make the community more healthy.”

Williams leads the meeting.

Williams said the aim of the meetings is not to put parks all over the county, or to even have a county recreation department. “We're trying to find out where is the balance between towns and unincorporated areas and looking at how other counties are meeting their parks and recreation needs.”

One of the factors that will be identified following the series of meetings are capital costs. “We're looking at needs over the next 10 years,” he said.

Needs identified by attendees this evening included horseback riding opportunities; more access to water; paddle boats and laser tag. They also included more piers; camping and hiking sites as well as walking trails, skating rinks and skateboarding parks.

Attendees indicate with stickers what facilities they use and what they would like to use more.

An affordable fitness or wellness center was also mentioned.

When the question of who should be responsible for these facilities came up, the response was not only the county, but volunteer groups and civic organizations.

Senator Angela Bryant told the group business and industry could take a role as well as the faith-based community.