News

Rescue plan money may shift from sewer to soccer

Kids play soccer at Jackson Park. [LIGHTNING FILE PHOTO]

By Bill Moss, Published: July 12, 2024

The sudden news that federal rescue plan money can’t be spent on a capital project the way Henderson County expected to has set in motion a major change on two fronts.

Commissioners are now looking at options for scaling back the Clear Creek sewer plant coverage area in the Edneyville community. And they may decide, potentially as early as Wednesday, to shift the money — $9 million — to a new sportsplex.

The changes have been dramatic and fast-moving.

The revelation that terms of the county’s $22 million American Rescue Plan Act grant bar the use of a construction manager at risk — the legal procedure the county uses to enforce a guaranteed maximum price and shift the burden of cost overruns to the contractor — came during a special called meeting Thursday to discuss the Clear Creek project. Consulting engineer Will Buie, on hand to explain the Clear Creek sewer options, announced that the amount available had suddenly plunged by $9 million. Neither he nor county administrators explained why the rule was unknown before now. County commissioners also did not question why they were learning about the prohibition just 5½ months before the deadline for spending ARP money.

That deadline of midnight Dec. 31 places new urgency on a Plan B for spending $9 million. There are signs that a sportsplex at Berkeley Mills Park may be the alternative.

“The story that follows is what is to be done with that $9 million,” County Manager John Mitchell said Friday. “There are two consequential decisions to be made on Wednesday: Clear Creek and the allocation of the remainder of that $9 million. We believe we can spend some of that on the (Clear Creek) contract. But there’s also $2 million (the board allocated earlier) for sports fields.”

The School Board acquired Berkeley Park when it dealt Edwards Park to the city of Hendersonville in a property swap. Asked whether Berkeley park might be on commissioners' docket Wednesday, Mitchell acknowledged that it likely would.

“The Board of Commissioners has been speaking with the School Board about Berkeley sports fields for two years,” he said. “I don’t think any options for sports fields locations are off the table.”

School Board Chair Jay Egolf welcomed the idea of turning 16 acres of parkland into athletic facilities both for the public and the school system.

“The county has an interest in the development of Berkeley and we have an interest in joining a partnership with the county,” he said Friday afternoon. “We also wanted some improvements for our children, the students of Henderson County, and I think that would be a great thing for both the people of Henderson County and the students in the Henderson County public school system. It would be a benefit for both.”

The School Board would like to see six tennis courts for prep athletes and a softball field for women’s teams, Egolf said. That would leave enough acreage for three full-size soccer fields — four “if you rearrange the road," he said. "And this could all be done with ARPA money.”