News

State rejects local park grants

Park directors and Recreation Board members gathered last week at Fletcher Town Hall to discuss coordinating their efforts.

By Bill Moss, Published: November 4, 2015

At a meeting last Thursday of recreation directors and recreation boards from across Henderson County, the talk centered on how to better coordinate park development.

“We don’t need four applications going out from three different park groups,” said Greg Walker, Fletcher’s parks and recreation director.
But that is indeed what had happened. Three Henderson County towns — Hendersonville, Mills River and Flat Rock — all submitted applications for grant from the state Parks and Recreation Trust Fund. The next day, when the PARTF board members finished scoring the applications from around the state, Henderson County municipalities came up with goose egg. None were funded.
“They’re all worthy projects,” said Marcia Lieber, a recreation grants analyst for the trust fund. “There just wasn’t enough money. The chairman said he wished he could fund every project. It just came down to the board voting. We only had about $4.8 million. That sounds like a lot but it’s really not because these are all capital projects.”
Towns and counties generally ask for $250,000 to $500,000.
Henderson County and its towns actually have a good record of getting state PARTF money. Mills River received a $499,323 grant in 2010. Three years later the Village of Flat Rock got $475,000 and Henderson County received $500,000. In all three cases, the money went to new park facilities.

Towns request $1M

This year Hendersonville asked for $500,000 for a “destination playground” and other improvements at Berkeley Park, which sits fallow after city voters turn down a $6 million bond issue to develop it.
Mills River sought $250,000 for a parking lot and softball fields that have a total pricetag of $745,000. And Flat Rock requested $250,000 for a playground, pavilion and interior trails to connect the 1.5-mile perimeter trail.
Mills River and Flat Rock are both moving ahead with park improvements this fiscal year despite the setback, using other sources of money. Hendersonville will take up park spending when it begins budget deliberations next year.
“That’ll be up to the City Council as we go through the CIP (capital improvement plan) process to get them to prioritize how they want to move forward with that project along with other city projects,” said City Manager John Connet.
Would a regional approach work better? “I don’t know the answer to that question,” he said, noting that the city is already cooperating on greenway planning.
“It’s certainly disappointing to hear that but I guess I’m not entirely surprising,” Mills River Town Manager Jeff Wells said when a reporter told him of the state board’s decision. “We just received one a couple of years ago. As I understand it you get additional points when it’s a startup, which is what we were a couple of years ago.”
Wells said the town would proceed with part of its wish list.
“We’d requested funds for a parking lot, which is going to be 140 spaces, and softball fields,” he said. “We are moving forward with the parking lot regardless of whether we got the grant. We’re in the engineering stage right now. That’s an immediate need for us.”
Wells said the towns might need to coordinate efforts when it comes to recreation spending.
“Maybe starting to do something regionally, which is looked at more favorably when jurisdictions join together, would better our chances of success,” he said.
In Flat Rock, the Park and Recreation Foundation has been a stunning success, raising money for a destination playground, pavilion, Welcome Center community room and outdoor deck. That takes some of the sting out of losing the PARTF grant.
“The foundation is active in terms of fundraising so we just kind of move forward,” said Flat Rock Village Administrator Judy Boleman. “The foundation’s doing a great job of getting the word out and raising money. We couldn’t be happier. It would be hard to find a better fundraiser for the park in terms of Maurean’s leadership.”
Like Wells, Maurean Adams, the Flat Rock Park foundation director, said the applicants knew that a second bite of the apple might not be as fruitful.
“We submitted an application knowing they had given us $425,000 in 2013,” Adams said. “We knew it was a bit of a long shot to get two big grants in a row but the answer’s always no if you don’t ask. We were holding out hope but we really weren’t all the optimistic.”
This round the village asked for $250,000 for a playground, pavilion and interior trails to connect the 1.5-mile perimeter trail around the park. Thanks to the Flat Rock Park and Recreation Foundation and money appropriated from the Village Council, the playground and pavilion are moving ahead even without the state money.
“The foundation’s been successful and I think the village has done their part and I think we’ll have two really nice structures by the spring,” Adams said. “Flat Rock, not just the government but the people have been so supportive. They seem to have a real sense of history and place and they’ve just responded incredibly to naming opportunities and leaving a legacy to honor families.”

Greenway a starting line?

Still left for city and county leaders to decide is the greater issue of funding, park planning and coordinated development. On Monday, just four days after the joint recreation summit in Fletcher, the Board of Commissioners tentatively agreed to start work on an Oklawaha Greenway extension from Jackson Park to Blue Ridge Community College.
Every town in the county, Blue Ridge Bicycle Club President Joe Sanders pointed out, is looking at greenways. Flat Rock and Laurel Park are seeking an NCDOT grant for a bicycle-pedestrian study. The city of Hendersonville already won one. And Mills River funded a report on a greenway along N.C. 280 from Ferncliff Park Drive to Brevard.
Working separately, the three towns (and Henderson County last year) spent hundreds of hours writing the application, holding hearings and gathering endorsements for their PARTF grant proposals.
“We were all competing against each other,” Hendersonville Planning Director Sue Anderson said at the recreation summit. “So a coordinated effort I think would be a good idea.”