News

School Board makes ‘faith-based offer’ to transfer Berkeley land for sports fields

Blair Craven makes a point as School Board discusses use of Berkeley Park for sports fields.

By Bill Moss, Published: July 26, 2024

Taking a chance that a “faith-based offer” would eventually fulfill their priorities for prep sports, Henderson County School Board members voted unanimously on Thursday to notify county commissioners of their willingness to convey land at Berkeley Park for playing fields.

After an hour-long discussion at a special called meeting, the board directed Superintendent Mark Garrett to notify the county it would transfer ownership of 39 acres at Berkeley “upon the award of a construction contract” plus other conditions that school-related improvements are part of the work. Those include:

• Implementing a master plan drawn up last September by WGLA consulting engineers.
• Grading and site prep for playing fields.
• Adding a softball field, tennis courts, restrooms and locker rooms as funds allow.

“This is a faith-based offer,” said board member Blair Craven, the former board chair who has made the Berkeley property a priority. “We're giving away 39 acres in this partnership and it is a handshake agreement that our softball field and tennis courts for Hendersonville High School will be part of it.”

Board members were aware their priorities and the county commission’s do not align. Commissioners favor regulation-size artificial turf soccer fields for the county’s burgeoning youth soccer program and other sports such as lacrosse and rugby. The School Board wants new facilities for prep sports.

“I've been working on this thing for six or seven years now, trying to find a way to make Berkeley the showcase that it needs to be,” Craven said. “It needs significant improvements, from lighting to seating, parking, concessions, bullpens, the fence. There's a lot of work that needs to be done on that field that this board will never have the money to do.”

During their discussion, it was clear that School Board members anticipate that their priorities, including tennis courts for “our five-time defending state championship girls tennis team” at HHS, could come after soccer fields. But they also said making a deal now was the best way to ensure those facilities would be built when money is available.

“As long as our students get to play their games on the field, I don't care who owns it,” board member Alyssa Norman said. “I don't need to get anything out of it. Personally, I don't need to use it as leverage. I've been 100 percent for this.”

School Board drops other requests for now

Discussions between the School Board and County Commission and their staffs have been ongoing since at least September. Earlier drafts of an agreement between the two had in the mix county-owned property on Fleming Street at Fassifern Court. The School Board wants that land as an HHS football practice field. Another condition for transferring the land was that the county build tennis courts at East Henderson High School, which, like HHS, plays its home matches at Jackson Park.

Board Chair Jay Egolf and Craven urged fellow board members to set aside the Fassifern property and EHHS tennis courts for now.

“This is a big deal. It’s a complicated deal,” Egolf said. “I just think it's best to focus on the issue at hand. We can address those issues separate from this.”

County faces Dec. 31 deadline to obligate ARP money

The county is racing to meet a Dec. 31 deadline to obligate $9.4 million for the sports fields. Commissioners could  decide on the plans when they see a menu of options at their Aug. 5 meeting. Berkeley is not the only option; commissioners Daniel Andreotta, Michael Edney and David Hill said on July 17 they favored putting new fields at county-owned Jackson Park.

Chair Rebecca McCall said in an interview Friday that the decision would likely come down to a cost comparison between the two parks. “Whichever one needs the least grading might be the winner,” she said.

Just how far $9½ million will go is another question mark. Grading and site prep alone could cost $5 million, Egolf said.

“I've heard estimates on the soccer fields (costing) anywhere from 1 to 1½ million dollars (each),” he said. “So if you take five and you take 4½ — you're out.  So you're left with, Did we get what we needed to out of this deal. It’s going to cost much more to grade it than to build it.”

The county is expected to choose turf fields, whatever the location. The site plan drawn by consulting engineers last September shows three regulation-size soccer fields and a smaller youth soccer field plus the softball diamond and tennis courts.

“One of the primary topics the whole time has been to develop additional soccer fields,” Garrett said of county commissioners’ thinking. “I think their goal is to have turf fields so that you can play all day every day as needed. The goal was four but they can deal with three.”

Whether — or how much — the School Board would pitch in financially was a third question. A Jan. 11 memo from the county engineer to the county manager included a condition that the School Board would contribute “substantial financial assistance” to construction of the softball diamond and tennis courts. The letter the School Board endorsed Thursday made no mention of a financial contribution.

“I guess my other question is, does this mean that we are not willing at all to try to put any finances towards fields if they run out of money?” Norman asked.

“Thirty-nine acres,” Craven said in a response, suggesting the land transfer by itself should be enough.

Egolf said: “I am not comfortable at this point obligating future boards.”

McCall said, “Personally, I don’t expect to ask the School Board for money because where do they get  their money from?” The Board of Commissioners pays for school buildings and other improvements.

If the two parties reach an agreement and the fields are built, the School Board and county would draft a memorandum of understanding spelling out when prep sports would use the softball field and tennis courts; at other times, the facilities would be open to the public.

“We’re tied to them anyway” through agreements under which high school teams use Jackson Park for tennis and softball and the county’s rec programs use school fields and gyms, Garrett said.

“Our current MOU explicitly states that any of our facilities that we’re not using, that parks and rec has first right of refusal,” Assistant Superintendent Scott Rhodes said.

Craven said that through months of calls and visits with commissioners and their staff, he had grown confident that the partnership makes sense.

“I think that everybody wants to do the right thing here,” he  said. "We all know that we need soccer fields. We all know that we need fields for Hendersonville High School. And I think this is the only way that I can see going forward to get that done. I do believe that if they decide to take this property that they will do the right thing and not just flatten the land and make their soccer fields and be done. … I think there’s been enough good will built up that we’re gonna have to trust the commissioners.”