What should Rock Hill put in a new 100-acre park? Here’s how to make your suggestion

Rock Hill has 100 acres and visions for what should go into a new regional park. The city also wants to know what vision neighbors have for the area.

An online survey is up at cityofrockhill.com to gather input. A public meeting Tuesday night brought out about 75 people. Many parts of the park can still be configured to include a variety of public uses. Some other areas, and uses, are more set.

A cost for the park hasn’t been determined yet.

“We have to pay for it,” said Mayor John Gettys. “The way we pay for these parks is we have to have revenue generators.”

Displays on Tuesday night showed synthetic surface baseball and multipurpose fields, some with small stadium seating to host events. The fields would generate tourism revenue critical to funding the entire park, including the smaller scale items that public meetings and the survey might reveal.

Where is the new Rock Hill park?

The 100-acre site isn’t the typical square or circle property.

It’s more like a flag in the wind, a series of connected parcels from Heckle Boulevard near the American Legion Post 34 and Sunset Park Elementary School on the west to downtown areas on the east at Main and Black streets. A large section on the west side was once a landfill. On the east, stretches along Wilson Street and Dave Lyle Boulevard aren’t much wider than those roads.

Arcade Victoria Park on Roddey Street is part of the plan. So is the former Arcade Mill textile area. Other existing features that would be incorporated include the city’s Civil Rights Memorial at Dave Lyle and Black.

The most opportune area for new development is in and around the former landfill space on the western side. That’s where new sports fields line the map now, with an eye toward tourism.

Baseball, softball, football, soccer at new park

Design maps for the largest undeveloped area within the park show a high school size baseball field with stadium seating for 800 guests and two smaller baseball or softball fields.

There’s a clover leaf set of four more baseball or softball fields whose outfields could double for football or soccer. Maps show two additional football or multipurpose fields. The clover leaf fields also have some stadium seating plus a press box.

Planners say there isn’t a price estimate for the park yet since many of the design elements still have to be determined. Planning could take up to two years before construction begins. The ballfield space, though, is the most set piece.

Planners talked about the rectangular fields for football, but city park staff noted their multipurpose use would set the city up well for whatever recreational trend hits next. A rectangle field can host soccer, lacrosse or unusual sports like the ESPN8: The Ocho competitions — national ESPN broadcasts of less heralded sports inspired by the 2004 move “Dodgeball” — Rock Hill brought in the past few years.

For a place known as “Football City USA,” that sport is always an option.

“Football has a following just like soccer, just like baseball,” said John Taylor, city parks, recreation and tourism director. “There are a number of travel teams that will come to play.”

Parks earn their keep, Gettys said, when they bring in tourism through tournaments and rentals.

Guests spend money at hotels and restaurants within the city. Accommodations tax on hotel stays and hospitality tax on restaurant bills create revenue the city has to use on tourism projects, like debt service on the new park.

“It’s how we’ve done it in Rock Hill for 30 years now,” Gettys said.

Rock Hill sports tourism

The city is a sports tourism leader in the region.

The 68-acre Cherry Park opened in 1985 and quickly became a focal point for softball and other tournaments. The Rock Hill Tennis Center opened in 2005, followed by the 70-acre Manchester Meadows soccer complex in 2006. The $5 million Giordana Velodrome, now the Rock Hill Velodrome, opened in 2012 with seating for 800 spectators. The $1 million Rock Hill BMX Supercross Track opened in 2014. In 2019, the city opened its Rock Hill Sports & Event Center to host indoor sports.

The city has almost 50 regional parks, recreation centers, neighborhood parks or other public recreation facilities. Not all of them focus on sports tourism. Just last year the city opened the 21-acre Rock Hill Lake Park on Lake Wylie for fishing, paddling and swimming.

Gettys said as debt service payments from some of those areas like Glencairn Garden and Manchester Meadows roll off the books in coming years, more tourism revenue can go toward projects like the new regional park.

Tennis, pickleball, park trails

Beyond the field space, areas of the park could have a variety of uses. Several shown Tuesday night range from pickleball and tennis courts to disc golf, an open air market, community center, playground, picnic shelters, trails and more small, neighborhood park space.

One illustration showed a 160-room hotel. Another showed more baseball and multipurpose fields in smaller sections of the park.

Residents and planners brought up a dog park, splash pad, farmers market, basketball and options for senior citizens.

Michael Allen with city partner MOA Architecture said the illustrations aren’t final, but they are based on prior community feedback for a park city officials say has been in discussion several years. Allen said the illustrations show options that would suit the park space.

“What you see will work,” Allen said.

A full site survey is still needed to identify, for instance, where large grand trees might be located.

Gettys said parks are planned to last for centuries and he’s hopeful many people in Rock Hill will give their input to help create something their great grandchildren may someday enjoy.

“The way parks last centuries is because they’re unique,” Gettys said. “They have things that lend themselves to our community, to our character of our community, to what we want to be, what we aspire to be. What we hope that those who come after us will be proud of.”