There is much misunderstanding surrounding the Smith Hazel Park project. Linked at the bottom of this page are some of the numerous articles published in the Aiken Chronicles over the past 16 months on Smith Hazel and other northside parks
To be clear …
The Smith Hazel story is not about choosing trees over people. It’s not even a story about trees, although that’s what is being discussed, since the loss of trees will be a huge part of the collateral damage from the project the City has planned for this park. Nor is the Smith Hazel story about amenities, although citizens advocating for a pause and a public hearing on this project have been accused of trying to keep northside children from receiving long-awaited amenities.
No, the Smith Hazel Park story, much like the Pascalis and Williamsburg Street stories that preceded it, is, at its root, about a city government that eschews established processes; a city government that makes decisions in a vacuum behind closed doors; a city government that withholds information from the public and denies citizens opportunity for input. It is no wonder that the output from this municipal apparatus has been a series of wasteful and destructive projects driving increasing number of local residents to rise up and say, “No more!”
The Obstructionists and Naysayers
Individuals who have spent the past two years pushing and advocating for the northside parks, and pushing to see some of the windfall plutonium money spent on the long-neglected northside, are hardly the obstructionists and naysayers in this equation, nor are they devoid of ideas and inspiration for solutions.
Destroying 68 trees, bulldozing the landscape of the Smith Hazel park, and creating expensive stormwater issues in order to cram all of the northside amenities into the 5-acre Smith Hazel Park is not the solution to the city’s long-term failure to provide amenities on Aiken’s northside.
Consider this: Across the street from Smith Hazel is the 25-acre Perry Memorial Park, (from which the City recently considered disinvesting, see articles below) — a park that could be utilized for the ADA-compliant City intends to bulldoze into 5-acre Smith Hazel Park. Out on Hwy 1/Columbia Highway are 118 acres of land the city purchased in 2015 to finally, finally provide the northside with those long-promised amenities. So where are those amenities?
ABOVE: The City’s concept plan for the 118 acres of land purchased for a northside park in 2015 which envisioned a generosity of amenities including 4 baseball fields, 8 soccer fields, 6 tennis courts, a track and stadium complex, a multi-purpose gymnasium, a swimming pool, 2 playgrounds, and five parking lots. All of these amenities were left on the cutting room floor in the final product except for the detention ponds, a partial amphitheater, a piece of playground equipment, and some parking lots.
Forty Acres
For whom was the Beverly D. Clyburn Generations Park (nee Northside Park) built? The park is located on the outskirts of town on a 118-acre plot of land the City bought on which to build that long-studied, long-deferred Northside recreation facility and park. From this 118 acres, 40 were denuded of trees, laid with sod, left largely bereft of amenities (no money, said the City) and pronounced as a park.
The amenities include an unfinished amiphiteater whose components must be trucked in for events. Portable sinks and porta-potties must also be trucked in, as there are only two toilets (presumably due to the fact that the City could only afford a septic tank for the park). Shade must also be trucked in. Portable playgrounds are also trucked in. The park has a one-mile walking track and a water fountain. This is all good, but it is not what the City spent 25 years promising the northside and hiring a Clemson University consultant to conduct high-dollar surveys in order to state the obvious about the unfulfilled need for recreation facilities on Aiken’s northside.
ABOVE: So much open space at the Northside Park. The potential is enormous. Why is there not even a single basketball court in this park?
In the wake of creating this park, City Council stated, as generations before them have stated, that the City will one day find the money to provide the northside with some park amenities. One councilmember offered that perhaps a public-private development project could make it happen.
Cue in the greenway project, which will connect the Beverly D. Clyburn Generations Park (nee Northside Park) northward, away from the City and toward the thousands of acres of forested land between northside Aiken and I-20 that the city is opening for development to be peopled with future residents for whom the City is installing new water infrastructure.
It’s just as well the Northside Park go to someone else. After all, the distance is too far for northside kids to walk, and even if it weren’t, there’s no sidewalk to get there. What parent wants their child walking or riding a bike down the busy four-lane Columbia Highway to go and … do what?
We’re All Northsiders Now
An analogy for the Smith Hazel story appears: The City will provide sparkling clear water for future residents in Aiken’s new north — the I-20 lands. The in-town residents, whose concerns and input about their drinking water and boil-water alerts have fallen on the deaf ears of a City Council body that refuses to listen to the people they’ve been empowered to serve, will have brown water.
About the Purported Dozen or More Public Hearings on the Smith Hazel Park Project
They never happened. While the City has kept the public abreast of plans for the evolving interior improvements planned for Smith Hazel, this cannot be said about the plans for the extensive demolition, tree removal and grading work on the property about which a public hearing has been requested, but never held.
A recent video circulating on Facebook with statements to the contrary was posted this week by the Umoja Village CEO and shared by Councilwoman Diggs. It contains a timeline of purported public hearings running from November 2022 through December 2023. This individual is unfortunately confused over the difference between a public meeting and a public hearing — a common and understandable misunderstanding. We could all benefit from lessons in government jargon so that we could better understand the processes of government.
The most cogent response to the claims in this video may be found in the two emails from City Manager Stuart Bedenbaugh, which he sent on January 31, 2024 in answer to a request to, “Please provide evidence that the City has ever held a public hearing on the Smith Hazel Park project.”
A reading of the information provided in these two emails confirms that there has never been a public hearing on the plan for the Smith Hazel Park project.
About this Saturday’s Purported Public Hearing
In the above-mentioned video was an announcement that there would be “a public hearing, another public hearing, presented by the city of Aiken this Saturday.”
This is not true. Much of the confusion over the Smith Hazel Park project stems from the public’s lack of understanding on the difference between a public meeting and a public hearing, a difference that could be likened to the difference between an informal straw poll and an official election.
There will be no public hearing at Smith Hazel on Saturday if for no other reason that the legal requirement for announcing a public hearing has not been met.
Public Input
Over the past 7 days, the Mayor and City Council have received over 1240 letters and statements from local citizens calling for a pause on this project so that a public hearing — the first ever pubic hearing on the Smith Hazel Park — could be held.
An Impromptu Get Together
In response to the letter writing campaign, Mayor Milner sent emails to some of the letter writers inviting them to a meeting outdoors at Smith Hazel on Saturday, February 10 at 9:30 a.m. If it’s not raining, we can tell the Mayor or the City Manager our thoughts, opinions and wishes. It’s not clear just yet who will be there, but one thing is clear. No matter how closely or sincerely City officials do or don’t listen to our concerns, our words have zero impact on the course of this Smith Hazel Park project in the absence of a public hearing.
As Councilwoman Gail Diggs made clear in an interview with WFXG News yesterday afternoon, City Council is not prepared to bend in its determination to go forward with this destructive plan. “This project is going on,” she stated. “It will not come back to counsel for a vote.”
The City Manager has repeatedly stated as much. Our only hope, then, is that a vocal majority of the citizens arriving to the Saturday meeting will bring umbrellas and spend their energies urging the Mayor and any other Council members in attendance to use their authority to request a pause and a pubic hearing on this project.
Whether or not trees are spared in the process is secondary. The important thing is the process itself, which is an established, democratic process and a process of which most people should be able to agree is necessary in a democratic society.
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FOR FURTHER READING
Below is a history of but some of the articles published in the Aiken Chronicles over the past 16 months chronicling the advocacy of local citizens for our city’s parks, our parkways, our trees, our water, our quality of life.
September 21, 2022: Has it been only 18 months since the city was charging kids money to play basketball at Smith Hazel? (p.s. Citizens pushed back and won).
September 22, 2022 Has it been only 10 years since the City was planning to build that long-promised, long-deferred northside Park on top of the city landfill?
From September 27, 2022 by Don Moniak
October 11, 2022: A campaign to push back against the City’s move to disinvest of several Northside parks.
October 11, 2022: A follow-up story to the above “Divesting of Parks and Privatizing Open Space.”
From October 11, 2022.
October 26, 2022: In the wake of pubic pushback, the City waives the recreation fees it was charging children.
October 27, 2023: Photos from April 2023 taken while following the unfolding Smith Hazel Park story and trying, unsuccessfully, to get information form the City, which spent 13 months making plans for Smith Hazel behind closed doors, without public input.
January 29, 2024: The title speaks for itself. I would add Pascalis to the list of unlearned lessons by our tone-deaf City government.
February 1, 2024: We have been asking for a pause on the destructive Smith Hazel project to allow for a public hearing. In response, City Manager Stuart Bedenbaugh was quoted in the January 26 front page of the Aiken Standard as saying, “The city has held several public meetings to discuss the upgrades and tree removal, including a Sept 11 public hearing”. Curiously, there is zero evidence that any such meetings took place “to discuss the upgrades and tree removal” much less a public hearing. What’s up with that? Read Kelly Cornelius‘ article on this. https://aikenchronicles.com/…/what-public-hearing-the…/
February 2, 2024: The way out of this time loop, which has City leadership creating plans in a vacuum, (the citizens for whom they work too far removed from their purview to be seen or heard), is through public hearings. A public hearing should be the standard for any project that proposes to improve a place by destroying it.
February 2, 2024 through today:Those of us who are trying to find solutions get accused of being against everything and never offer solutions. Yet the record (see the above thread of articles) shows that just opposite is true. Let’s all learn what we can about the issues before us so that we can give informed input and use our voices wisely. https://actionnetwork.org/…/pause-the-smith-hazel-park…&
I’m not informed about this project, yet I am well aware that the processes in Aiken County and Aiken City Government are not transparent. Why isn’t a local podcaster bringing attention to what transpires? While I do appreciate this online publication, it may be pertinent to get more exposure.
Thank you.
Thank you for connecting all the parts of this story.
The “22 public meetings” myth is reminiscent of the “26 public meetings” myth from Project Pascalis. Sure, meetings were held, but rarely was the entire project scope presented, and the fact is the decisions were largely made before citizens were asked to comment.
Two more points:
1. This is a City Park, one that is used by many out of town residents, and one that is funded by tax revenues and user fees paid by non residents. Add a federal and/or state grant to the mix, and everyone has a “stake” in Smith-Hazel Park.
2. No “public hearing” has been held, which is the norm by the City of Aiken. There have been no public hearings regarding the entirety of recent projects such as Project Pascalis, Wiliamsburg Street/Farmer’s Market redevelopment, the SRNL Project, Smith Hazel Swimming Pool regulatory status, Powderhouse Connector Road, Demo 200, etc.
There have been meetings, work sessions, and other venues, but rarely do these events address the entire issue or project, and most have restrictions on public input—especially the “work sessions” which are as much dominated by anecdotal soliloquies as careful deliberations.
Public Hearings are a formal process, defined in Section 2-64(a)(7) of Aiken City Code as:
“ Public hearings. A public hearing is a special type of meeting. It is intended to provide the council the opportunity to gather information from public input and provide information to the public. State law requires that a public hearing be conducted under certain circumstances. The presiding officer should call the hearing to order and announce the purpose of the hearing. The presiding officer should recognize individuals who wish to address council and should ensure that representatives of all competing views have a fair opportunity to express those views. If meeting by using remote communication technology, a method shall be established that allows the public to communicate their views during the public hearing by using remote communication technology and this method shall be clearly stated in the meeting notice. The council can take no action during the public hearing.
A public hearing may be a separate meeting or may be held during a regular council meeting. If it is during a regular council meeting it generally occurs at the point on the agenda where the subject of the public hearing is listed for action. In that case the presiding officer must clearly announce the start of the hearing and the adjournment of the hearing so that it is clear when the special rules applicable to the hearing apply and when the rules of procedure for regular council business are restored. A record of each public hearing must be kept and should include:
a.A hearing agenda.
b.A record of all the members of the public who participate.
c.Proof of any required notice or publication.
d.Minutes or a tape of the proceedings.
e.Copies of any materials received from the public or distributed to the public.
In 1980, Aiken City Council established a second form of Public Hearings, a nondecision, information gathering method:
“Sec. 2-69. Hearings by special committees.
The city council may appoint a special committee to assist in or hold a public hearing for the council at any time upon any matter pending before it. Minutes or reports of hearings held by special committees shall be filed with the city clerk as public records.
(Code 1980, § 2-39)”
City Council has been advised to use this latter option to gather information and input prior to moving forward on major projects or other major ordinances.
This can be done through existing committees, commissions, or boards, or by new, temporary committees. But until meetings are held that solicit citizen input and not just push forward staff and council agendas, conflict will continue.
Vote. And with your dollars, and your feet.
Thank you Laura for all of your amazing work for Aiken! Like our treasured trees, YOU are one of Aiken’s true gems!
The Good News:
1. We have Laura Lance (and other awake and articulate citizens) and “The Aiken Chronicles” tell give us insight into the machinations and abominations of Aiken’s city officials.
2. There is currently forecasted a very small likelihood of rain this Saturday.
The Bad News:
1. We have city officials (elected and hired) who personify the AIMMM principles: Arrogant, Ignorant, Mendacious, Maladroit and Maleficent.
2. We have a city “newspaper” that is practically useless in terms of properly informing the citizenry, and challenging the wayward behaviors of city officials.