The complex at Marion Diehl Park will include softball and baseball fields, a field house, tennis courts, trails and a championship-style field for soccer, lacrosse and track.

It will also be the county's first park that is 100 percent accessible for disabled people.

"People with disabilities are too often left out of the details of such projects," said Monica Jackson, who uses a wheelchair. "I want to be able to use every inch of the park you use, and this project looks to be a step on the road to making me equal, not special or different."

She was among almost two dozen advocates of the disabled community who urged county commissioners to adopt the plan Tuesday.

Queens will pay $12 million to build the park on county-owned land off Tyvola Road, adjacent to the Marion Diehl Center and Charlotte-Mecklenburg Senior Center. The space-strapped university will use the complex for 11 of its 16 varsity sports; the rest of the time it will be operated as a regular park.

Currently, Queens has only one athletic field, which it shares with Myers Park Traditional elementary school.

Mecklenburg County commissioners unanimously approved the project Tuesday night, calling it the ideal public-private partnership.

"It's wonderful when we can do something like this without affecting taxes," said commissioner Dan Ramirez.

Queens and Mecklenburg County will share the maintenance and operation costs of the park, officials said.

The county has owned 59 wooded acres at Marion Diehl since 1992 and always planned to develop it as an athletic complex, said parks director Wayne Weston.

To complete the park, the county plans to use land bond money to buy 15 adjacent acres along Tyvola Road. County officials would not name the asking price because negotiations are ongoing. The parcel's tax value is $431,600.

The 15-acre addition allowed planners to revise the design to ease neighbors' concerns. Among the changes: a wider buffer between the complex and nearby homes, and making the tennis courts border Tyvola Road. Before, the courts backed up to a residential area.

"If we had seen these plans to begin with, there would have been practically no opposition," said Lamar Gunter, who has lived in the community since 1976. "We're all very happy about these changes."

He and other residents, however, stressed the importance of maintaining security and controlling noise at the park.

Construction is expected to start next summer, with the first phase slated to open in spring 2005.

Once finished, the complex will one of Mecklenburg's largest developed parks. At 75 acres, it would be about the same size as Park Road Park, but smaller than Freedom Park, which has 105 acres.