News

School Board votes to turn Berkeley Mills property over to County Commissioners

School Board member Blair Craven and School Board member Stacey Caskey consider plans for the Berkeley Mills Sports Complex.

By Amy McCraw, Published: August 26, 2024

The Berkeley Mills Sports Complex moved one step closer to becoming a reality Monday after the School Board voted unanimously to turn the property over to County Commissioners.

A deed to the property will be transferred to the county once commissioners also approve the terms of the transfer, school board members said.
School Board Chairman Jay Egolf said he thought the agreement to work with the county on creating the sports complex at the Berkeley Mills site was the beginning of a new chapter of “everyone working together for the good of everyone.”
Earlier this month, commissioners voted to make Berkeley Mills Park the home of four artificial turf soccer fields and, potentially, a softball diamond and tennis courts for prep athletics. Commissioners also awarded a $750,000 contract to North Carolina-based WithersRavenel landscape architects to design the sports complex.
The project faces a tight deadline because a $9½ million federal American Rescue Plan grant that’s funding it must be obligated by Dec. 31.
At the start, the county plans three regulation-size soccer fields and a smaller youth field plus rest rooms.
The School Board on Monday voted in favor of a resolution to declare the Berkeley Mills property surplus to allow for it to be transferred to the county.
The board also voted in favor of an interlocal agreement between the two boards on the project.
The agreement says that the property will be transferred to the county on the condition that commissioners enter into a contract to design and build a multi-sports park. The property will revert back to the school board if the county does not enter into a construction contract by Jan. 1, 2025.
The agreement also specifies that the county will have the park designed for six tennis courts and a women’s softball facility.
“In constructing the park, the county will contract and pay for the grading work for the six tennis courts and softball facility,” according to the agreement. “The county will construct the tennis courts and softball facility if, when and as funds are available to the county for the same.”
The agreement also says the School Board could fund the tennis courts and softball facility using its fund balance or “donations and contributions from other sources.”
Both School Board members and commissioners have alluded to potential donors to support Hendersonville High School athletics.
After Commissioner Daniel Andreotta expressed concern during a meeting earlier this month that the facility might be painted Bearcat red, Egolf assured commissioners that the facility would be county property for the school system to use.