News

Commissioners and School Board agree to build sportsplex at Berkeley Park

County Commission Chairwoman Rebecca McCall and School Board Chairman Jay Egolf both signed an agreement to transfer Berkeley Park property to the county.

By Amy McCraw, Published: September 4, 2024

Calling it a “monumental day,” County Commission Chairwoman Rebecca McCall signed an agreement Tuesday that will allow the county to move forward with a sports complex at Berkeley Park.

McCall posed for a photograph with School Board Chairman Jay Egolf after signing the interlocal agreement that spells out conditions for transferring the deed to the property from the school board to the county.
Egolf signed the agreement after the School Board voted to accept it on Aug. 26.
Before commissioners voted unanimously in favor of the agreement on Tuesday, McCall described the years-long process of finding a spot for the sports complex in Henderson County.
Multiple locations were considered and eventually rejected before the county began discussions with the School Board about Berkeley Park.
County and school officials met in recent weeks to decide how best to move the property into the county’s hands for the development of a sports complex.
“Lo and behold we have come to an agreement,” McCall said.
Commission Vice-Chairman Michael Edney also praised the completion of the lengthy search for a sports complex and the signing of the agreement with the School Board for the Berkeley property.
“This has been on the table for a very long time,” he said. “It’s not perfect, but it’s as close as we’ll get anytime soon.”
Commissioners voted unanimously in August to award 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. As a condition for transferring the 39-acre site to the county, the School Board asked for the county commission’s commitment to add a softball field and tennis courts for Hendersonville High School when the money comes available. HHS has neither facility on its land-locked campus.
The interlocal agreement between the county and school board 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 commissioners in August expressed concern that the facility might be painted Bearcat red, Egolf assured commissioners that it will be county property for the school system to use.