From pipe dream to park: How a city can build a new sports park on the Catawba River.
Tega Cay may have to tighten its belt in places, but its mayor says the time is at hand to make Catawba Park more than just a dream.
“Getting this off the ground is the hardest part,” said Mayor David O’Neal.
Tega Cay City Council got a picture of just how hard last week, during a workshop to crunch financials. Walter Goldsmith and Amy Vitner with First Tryon Advisors outlined funding scenarios for the more than 60-acre park planned along New Grey Rock Road and the Catawba River.
Phase one is a 12-month construction estimated to cost more than $6.2 million.
“Phase one, in its totality, is primarily the baseball complex, the open play meadow as well as the maintenance facility that would service the entire park. It also includes the main driveway entrance and loop,” said Charlie Funderburk, city manager.
Phase two is the soccer complex.
“That phase is contemplated at $6.7 million,” Funderburk said.
In addition to sports events, a large gathering area would be available to host city festivals and events. Significant acreage at the park also would remain for trails and views of the water.
The city has some funds set aside for the park. First Tryon financial advisors looked at cash on hand and projected revenue from the city fund balance, parks and recreation impact fees on new residences, the nonprofit Tega Cay Forever that solicits corporate donations and other sources.
Vitner looked at a five-year projection for the first phase using those sources along with borrowing money, not wanting anything longer since projected impact fees on homes become uncertain beyond that point. Based on present and projected money, based on approved homes, the city would do well for two years but face an almost $200,000 annual deficit the final three years at current tax and fee rates.
“You have basically a $582,000 hole at the end of that,” Vitner said.
Goldsmith told council his team worked with communities like Greenville, Fountain Inn and Florence on park projects and the high cost outlook in Tega Cay is similar.
“It’s always an exercise of, how do we trim project costs and identify other revenue sources?” Goldsmith said. “And what kind of growth assumptions do we want to use?”
Goldsmith doesn’t see current financials holding up the park project.
“I wouldn’t approach this as an insurmountable hole,” he said.
Funding options
Councilwoman Heather Overman said even the first phase appears daunting.
“Looking at these numbers they appear a little scary, right?” she said. “Any time you try to borrow essentially $4 million...it’s a little nerve-wracking.”
Councilman Gus Matchunis added the projections involve impact fees on all new residences already approved, when new homes don’t always go up on schedule. Yet, council members say, the park is worth the effort and the nearer it comes to completion, the more funding options they may have.
“This has kind of been a little bit of a pipe dream for over a decade now,” Overman said.
Paid naming rights, for instance, may be easier to secure as the project nears, compared to the earliest discussion of Catawba Park from back in 2007, Funderburk said.
“Once there’s dirt moving, it gets a little bit easier to attach somebody’s name to something,” he said.
Some options include impact fee changes, or delaying additions to the park. Funderburk told council at Wednesday’s workshop he’d spoken with the engineer who drew up Catawba Park plans earlier that day. Funderburk said he’ll soon have new figures on further options.
“There’s some parts in the phase one that aren’t as critical, and can be shifted into the phase two,” Funderburk said. “So delayed, not eliminated.”
The sidewalk around the baseball field, and loop, are examples. So are bleachers at ballfields, at a time when many spectators bring their own collapsible chairs.
“Nobody uses bleachers anymore, and they’ve got $100,000 worth of bleachers out there,” Funderburk said. “Well that’s something we can add down the road.”
Some of the areas where park plans have grown in recent years involve the biggest revenue-generators.
“The baseball complex has gotten bigger,” Funderburk said. “It went from two fields to now four-and-a-half. It also includes the soccer fields themselves. Initially they were just as grass fields. The pricing that this includes is with the artificial turf fields.”
Those turf soccer fields are one area that came up for potential cost savings. Turf fields cost more up front, Funderburk said, but save on maintenance costs compared to grass.
“It’s not something that has to be done,” Funderburk said.
There are reasons the city manager would propose keeping the fields turf. There is a high volume of city rec league sporting events called off now due to wet fields. Turf fields take water better and are play-ready sooner compared to grass.
“Our programmers are having to cancel things not because it’s raining that day, but because it rained the day before,” Funderburk said.
Turf fieds — a $2.25 million cost for three fields — also allow tournaments and partnerships with groups like Charlotte Independence. The vision for Catawba Park is city rec play during the week, with tournaments bringing in revenue on weekends.
‘They want a park’
More field space and a commitment to tournaments on weekends would put city recreation programs in operation during the week. Joey Blethen, parks and rec director, said it will be a change for families used to settling for field space whenever they can get it.
“In the past, we were Monday through Sunday from sunup to sundown for a lot of that,” Blethen said.
The 30 or more weekend tournaments a year would allow more free weekends for rec players and their families. Blethen said he believes the park will make the area more attractive for new businesses, which could include restaurants generating hospitality tax or any business that would add to the corporate tax base.
All those possiblities without the first bit of revenue from the tournaments themselves, which could be substantial.
“It’s obviously going to bring in additional revenue,” Blethen said.
O’Neal called the information presented Wednesday night encouraging. The city may not yet have every dollar-and-cent answer on the park, but council members say they do have it as a top priority. O’Neal compared it to the belt-tightening the city did to make the recent, and expensive, fire and police stations addition happen.
Council had to focus on public safety first, O’Neal said, and did with the new stations.
“Now I think we’ve got to give back to the people who pay the taxes,” he said. “They want a park.”
Funderburk will have more information on impact fees, park cost options and other issues when council meets March 16. If council chooses, he said, the city could have the engineer prepare the documents necessary to put out construction bids. Then the city could make a better decision based on the actual costs those bids reveal.
