York County panel recommends $1M for Lake Wylie water park

A planned outdoor water park moved a step closer to reality when a York County Council finance committee recommended $1 million in hospitality tax money for the project.

Finance chairman and County Council member Michael Johnson said the full council will consider the recommendation April 20.

Upper Palmetto YMCA and Clover School District leaders told committee members they need to know if hospitality tax money will be granted before April 23, when the district plans to open bids for the aquatic center approved by voters in a March 2014 bond referendum package. The district will build the center, and the YMCA will take over the operation.

“If the County Council as a whole doesn’t at least look at it by April 20, it would be a project that could never happen,” Johnson said.

The school district has planned about $14 million for the aquatic center, including two 25-yard indoor swimming pools and a fitness center, near Crowders Creek Elementary School.

One pool would be warm water for seniors, water aerobics and swim lessons, while the second pool would be for swim team practices, meets and competitive events sponsored by the YMCA.

Clover Superintendent Marc Sosne said the district has committed to build an $1.8 million Olympic-size, 50-meter outdoor pool, designed for competitive swim events.

The outdoor pool, which he said was proposed by community members, was not part of the bond, but the school board plans to build it with leftover bond money or surplus capital funds.

The outdoor water park, estimated at $1.7 million, would be an additional feature paid for by the YMCA, not the school district. Sosne said it was proposed by the YMCA to help increase membership. The YMCA has about $340,000 pledged toward the project.

“They don’t need all the money, but they need a significant portion of it by the time we open the bids on April 23,” he said. “The hospitality tax money would meet that threshold.”

Sosne said the combination of water projects would create a swimming center that would stand out from other pools in the region.

Johnson said he expects Council to debate the project and the amount it should receive.

“We’ll delve into the facts and the numbers, and if everybody is comfortable with it, it’ll be a project that will get some potential funding,” he said.

The hospitality tax money comes from a 2-percent charge on food and drinks in unincorporated areas of the county, and must be spent on tourism-generating projects.

Frank “Moe” Bell, director of the Upper YMCA, told a hospitality tax committee last month the project would attract major swim meets and generate tourist dollars.

“We think this pool will be the premier pool people will want to come to,” he said.

Bell said the hospitality tax money should be enough to complete the outdoor water park, but if more money is needed, “we might have to take out a slide or something.”

The hospitality tax committee, an advisory group of residents appointed by Council, also recommended $1 million for the water park. That panel recommended the project receive $125,000 per year over eight years.

In the finance committee meeting, Johnson asked if the new pool would generate hospitality tax revenue on site, by serving food for instance.

“We want them to go to the local restaurants by design,” Sosne said.

The center would not require county funding for maintenance, Sosne said. The YMCA will handle any maintenance costs below $10,000, with the school district covering maintenance above that amount.

Sosne, a former lifeguard, said it’s essential the district offer water safety and swimming classes to Clover students.

He said the community will benefit “from a world-class facility for generations to come.”

This story was originally published April 9, 2015 at 4:59 PM with the headline "York County panel recommends $1M for Lake Wylie water park."