Dream in the making: Long-awaited $14 million riverfront Catawba Park is finally a go
Catawba Park has long been a vision in Tega Cay of some place the city can gather together.
After a year short on gatherings, city leaders moved forward Monday with plans to make the park a reality.
Tega Cay City Council told staff to proceed with the first two phases of the park planned at the Catawba River and New Grey Rock Road. The 62-acre site will have baseball and softball diamonds, multipurpose fields and inclusive playground and trails. There’s also an open meadow area city leaders envision for use with large community events.
The city now expects to break ground on Catawba Park in June. That schedule would have the park open in fall 2022. The total anticipated cost is $14 million.
“We are taking a phased approach to the construction of the park,” City Manager Charlie Funderburk said. “The first two phases are the most expensive, as they include the athletic field complexes, and account for over half of the total park design. Once those phases are completed, we’ll open the park.”
Future phases involve more passive recreation, like trails, picnic areas, parking and river access improvements. Listed city plans for the park include a boat launch just below Lake Wylie Dam, a dog park and amphitheater. The city owns some property, while the total park acreage also relies on long-term lease agreements signed in 2017 with Duke Energy and Clear Springs.
That same year, the city launched the nonprofit Tega Cay Forever Committee to raise funds for the park. That group held large events and campaigns since, and hired a design firm to market the park.
The council in 2019 voted to use impact fees, expected then at up to $4 million, for the park. Impact fees come from a tax on prepared food and drink where funds go to tourism-generating projects. They’re common in municipalities throughout the area and have helped fund most every major tourist venue or festival in York County at some point. Tega Cay has its own impact fee revenue from restaurant sales, which the city can use however council decides.
Funderburk said the money for Catawba Park will come from impact fees, hospitality tax revenue and funds that become available as existing city debt payments are retired. Once construction begins there will be corporate donor options, including field or complex naming rights.
Catawba Park began as a land swap proposal in 2005. Drake Capital, developer of Lake Ridge, was to donate a 13-acre parcel to the city that had just seven usable acres for development. Instead, the developer switched that site (to use for homes) for 10 acres at Catawba Park and $500,000 toward the project.
“With only 10 acres we really couldn’t do much,” Funderburk said. “Over time we were able to enter into long-term lease agreements with Duke Energy and Springs for properties they owned that were adjacent to our 10 acres.”
It’s a big undertaking, Funderburk said, but one with lots of benefits.
“Our recreation programs have outgrown our existing facilities,” he said. “We also don’t have an opportunity with the existing facilities to host sports tournaments. This facility gives us the opportunity to not only allow our programs more flexibility and room to grow, it will also allow us to generate revenue.”
City leaders see the park as a boost within their borders, and beyond.
“We firmly believe the facility will be a catalyst for economic growth in the city and potentially the surrounding area,” Funderburk said.
This story was originally published February 11, 2021 at 10:18 AM.
