Forest Creek Golf Club and the town of Southern Pines will swap land near the N.C. 22 and Airport Road residential development, paving the way for construction of Nicks Creek Parkway.

The planned east-west road would be designed to divert some traffic from N.C. 22 at Ray’s Bridge Road to U.S. 15-501 north of the traffic circle. It is also expected to generate more development along its route, enhancing Southern Pines’ tax base.

The town will get 30.35 acres from Forest Creek that will be used as open space north of the planned Nicks Creek Parkway, which will run through what up to now has been Forest Creek property. Forest Creek will get 51.01 acres located south of the parkway route.

The Southern Pines Town Council discussed the transaction at a recent workshop and is expected to approve it at its April meeting..

Forest Creek will also pay Southern Pines $57,700 to round out the transaction, according to a memo from town officials to the council. The town’s property is appraised at $86,700, and the Forest Creek land at $29,000. The payment will make up the difference.

“We’ll have a continuous open space along the north side of the road,” said Town Manager Kyle Sonnenberg. “We’re north of Nicks Creek Parkway.”

The land swap is the culmination of an agreement reached when the town approved earlier development plans for the upscale golf club/residential development. The club is planned for 745 residential lots, and 390 have been developed so far, developer and Manager Barton Tuck said.

“We end up losing 15 lots, because of the land the town is taking, but we are going to be able to build two golf holes,” Tuck said. But the golf club is also losing two golf holes, so it will come to a net loss of 15 buildable lots, he said.

Some people disagree with construction of another road through the vast acreage that runs between N.C. 22 and U.S. 15-501, arguing that the new road will extend urban sprawl through previously undeveloped territory.

Advocates of the new road, such as Town Planner Bart Nuckols, say the town’s planning policy all along has been to build alternative roads as areas develop instead of expecting existing roads to handle the additional traffic.

The construction of Nicks Creek Parkway fits in with that philosophy, Nuckols said.

“It’s part of our land use plan for that area,” he said. “We don’t think the parkway will impact (water quality) at Nicks Creek (source of Carthage’s drinking water). We stop at Nicks Creek.”

Mayor Pro Tem Mike Haney said town policy is to encourage diversity in its tax base, so that the town will not be entirely dependent on residential construction.

“The town will be developing in that direction,” he acknowledged.

Nuckols said devoting some of the land to open space and non-development under the town’s ownership will help prevent pollution.