County parks get seed money from bonds
The Greenville News - Greenville, S.C.
Author: Jason Zacher
Date: May 8, 2003
Start Page: B.2
Section: Suburbs
Text Word Count: 389
Document Text
$1.8 million in sales will fund improvements, new playing fields
By Jason Zacher
STAFF_WRITER
jzacher@greenvillenews.com
Eight Greenville County parks will receive a total of $1.8 million in renovations and additions in an effort to ease the strain caused by their popularity.
The sale of the bonds was tentatively approved by the county council Tuesday night, and the plan was unveiled Wednesday.
Seven of the parks getting upgrades are: Pittman Park, Westside Park, the Pavilion, Southside Park, Lakeside Park, Butler Springs and the Sterling Community Center.
The bulk of the money will go to the eighth park: new fields in the Blue Ridge area, where the Greenville County Recreation District will spend $500,000 to develop playing fields for the Blue Ridge Youth Association.
Another half-million dollars will go to Pittman Park.
The bonds were sold after Greenville County voters said "no" to a sales tax increase to improve the parks.
A year ago, the county spent about $100,000 on a parks study by the Woolpert consulting firm that concluded that the county has too few parks and recreation facilities to meet the growing demand from suburban residents and youth sports clubs.
If the proposal had been implemented, the county would have received 12 new parks, 30 miles of greenways and $10 million in renovations for a total price tag of $97 million.
"The voters were clear that we weren't ready to bite off that much," said Phyllis Henderson, chairwoman of the Greenville County Council.
Wednesday's bond money will be used to construct 10 new fields.
"The Woolpert study showed there was a really dramatic shortage of fields, but we are doing what we can with the resources that we have," said Daniel Rodgerson, director of the Greenville County Recreation District.
Other major projects include:
+Additional soccer fields at the Pavilion and Westside Park.
+Replacements of playgrounds at the Sterling Community Center, Westside Park and Butler Springs.
The bonds will be sold by the county and will count against the county's debt limit.
A homeowner with a $100,000 home will pay 80 cents each year for the next 20 years to pay off the bonds.
"At the end of the day, we need money," Henderson said. "We're just going to have to figure out a creative way to do it."
Jason Zacher covers Greenville County and can be reached at 298-4272.
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