Lake Wylie is waiting for its new park. York County isn’t ready to play ball.

The long list of sports envisioned for Lake Wylie’s pending park on Crowders Creek never included hurdles, but the process of getting the park to construction can’t stop hitting them.

York County Council deferred second reading Monday night on creating the special recreation tax district Lake Wylie voters approved last November. The county ordinance has to pass three readings to become official. It would create a five-member board similar to other special tax districts in the county, many of them for fire service.

Council deferred the decision to allow planning staff to make amendments. Council is looking at running the tax district as an agency of York County, including the five-member board. The decision follows votes in recent months to bring Lake Wylie’s special fire tax district under county control, too.

Oddly, the main reason given for why Lake Wylie needed to set up its own special recreation tax district to put a park on county-owned land along Crowders Creek — the county’s repeated disinterest in forming its own parks and recreation department — is now holding up the district.

“I am very concerned that this is a back door way to create a parks and rec program, and that’s exactly what’s about to happen,” said Councilman Michael Johnson.

“Someone is going to have to close the fence every night, lock the gate. Someone’s going to have to cut the grass. Someone’s going to have to make sure the lights are on. Someone’s going to have to schedule every tournament.”

All those concerns were part of why the county allocated $2.45 million in hospitality tax money toward the park project only if Lake Wylie residents would petition for and approve a special tax district to pay remaining construction and maintenance costs. Community organizers partnered with Clover School District, Lake Wylie Athletic Association and others. The tax district likely would pay for a position or two to manage the park.

Councilman Chad Williams said changes to define roles on the tax district do not mean the county wants its foot in the door to a parks and recreation department.

“We’re not talking about going into the parks and recreation business in the back door,” he said. “I think that a lot of citizens want us in it, but I think we need to go in the front door (if we do it).”

Williams still sees the new tax district process as a positive in Lake Wylie.

“Short of incorporation Lake Wylie couldn’t do anything for their own parks and recreation,” he said. “This allows them to do it. How we get there is not nearly as important as that Lake Wylie is able to provide themselves with parks and recreation.”

Lake Wylie is unique in York County where a large population of people mainly is served not by municipal recreation departments, but by the private Lake Wylie Athletic Association. That group serves thousands of youth annually. It was set up as relying on Clover recreation, but that became difficult in recent years to to high growth in Lake Wylie.

Getting participation hasn’t been an issue for the group, but without municipal backing it has relied on school, church and even rented field space outside the county.

Johnson said there are positives to putting more control in county hands.

“I agree with us having more control over the tax part of it,” he said. “I’m just concerned with how the county runs this once we’ve set it all up.”

The recent deferral wasn’t the first, and several Council meeting agendas have come and gone in recent months without mention of the recreation tax district. Community members who want to apply for the five-member board can’t until the district is established. The tax can’t be collected, a park can’t be approved formally and construction can’t begin as soon as park planners hoped it would, potentially by mid-year.

Councilwoman Allison Love, who represents the Lake Wylie area, asked her colleagues to narrow focus on the existing plans to move forward.

“I’m not asking for this to be a back door to a parks and rec department,” she said. “Selfishly, I’m not asking for that. What I would like to have is the county focus on this one particular park. If the discussion needs to be had as far as having a rec department in York County, that’s a separate discussion in my opinion.”

Love said she believes the county can be helpful to the park, as will the five-citizen board which still is involved in the process.

“In looking at all possibilities, I feel county oversight that allows for five residents of the tax district to assist in administrative functions as directed is the best option,” she said. “My goal is to utilize county resources along with the knowledge and experience of the committee who advocated for our park.”

The recreation department discussion would be for another day.

“This is not about a recreation department,” Love said. “The focus is one park and the opportunities it brings to the area.”

This story was originally published March 15, 2017 at 2:02 PM with the headline "Lake Wylie is waiting for its new park. York County isn’t ready to play ball.."