Aiken County has spent millions of dollars redeveloping Langley Pond Park in the past five years. More than $2 million has been spent on competitive rowing infrastructure, where teams from mostly across the Southeast currently converge twice a year for regattas.
The investments have been made for economic reasons, to attract competitive rowing clubs, but not for local participation. Opportunities for County residents are not a priority. There is no competitive rowing program available in the Aiken County Public Schools; last year’s regattas did not feature a single team from Aiken County.
The County’s effort to attract spectators also lags. This week’s Augusta Invitational, which will close the pond to other users, was not publicized on any of the County’s social media pages until two days before the event.
by Don Moniak
March 7, 2024 (Updated March 8, 2024)
Aiken County’s Langley Pond Park is ideally suited for the challenging and rewarding Olympic-level sport of competitive rowing; the U.S. Olympic team trained there in preparation for the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta.
It is also an exacting sport, one of the few that requires continuous feedback and coaching. Teams have to operate in near perfect coordination. Unlike in football where a missed block or tackle can be of little to no consequence, a single errant or missed stroke in a scull can easily change the results from being a medal contender to a mediocre finish.
The 285-acre pond’s 2,000-meter eight-lane race course was the venue for two annual regional rowing regattas prior to 2014. These events were placed on hold for nine years when the old Langley Pond Dam was found to be leaking, and unstable enough to warrant spending $13.5 million to replace the it, a process that closed the pond to public use for eight years (1).
The two regattas returned in 2023. This Saturday, March 9th, the Park will host the one-day Augusta Invitational Regatta. Another regatta, the two-day Master’s Southeast Regional, is scheduled for June 22-23rd.
Organized by the Augusta Rowing Club, the Invitational has 91 entries across 19 different events. At least 88 of these entries belong to five out-of-state clubs based in Peachtree City, Charlotte, Asheville, and two in Knoxville, TN. The Augusta Rowing Club represents the local rowing community; three other entries are listed as unaffiliated and from “anywhere U.S.A.”
This is a relatively small event. By comparison, the 2023 U.S. Rowing Youth National Championships held in Sarasota, Florida, drew 835 entries from 225 clubs; the 2022 Head of the Hooch in Chattanooga, TN, drew 2,037 entries from 171 clubs.
Aiken County has failed to publicize Saturday’s regatta in any meaningful fashion. The first notice on the County’s Langley Pond Facebook page was not posted until two days before the event. No notice is on the County’s home page or Facebook page. An answering machine greeted two efforts on Thursday to call the Parks, Recreation, and Tourism office for more information. There was no return call.
The County’s Investments
Even before the new dam was completed, Aiken County officials were investing heavily (Table 1) in competitive rowing infrastructure in the hopes of drawing larger, more prominent tournaments. Since 2018–even before the new Langley Dam project was completed—the County has constructed a Finishing Line Tower (Figure 1), added anchor piles for the race course, installed a launch dock, and plans a 30-foot x 120-foot spectator dock.
Table 1: Recent Aiken County Langley Pond Rowing Venue Investments
| Development | Bid Award | Contractor | Award Year |
| Finishing Line Driveway | $33,420 | J.D. | 2018 |
| Finishing Line Tower* | $1,151,580 | J.E. Stewart (Aiken) | 2019 |
| Course Anchors | $77,650 | J.D. Gaskins (Aiken) | 2020 |
| Spectator Dock** | $398,250 | Rowing America (Connecticut | 2023 |
| Starting Docks** | $225,720 | Rowing America (CT) | 2023 |
| Catamaran Docks | Cancelled | ||
| Total Costs*** | $1,886,620 |
*The first procurement process in 2017 was cancelled “due to budget constraints.”
**Lowest Bid, only listed as recommended pending Council approval. The final award price is not listed on the county’s procurement webpage, and officials have yet to respond to questions about the final bid awards.
*** Total costs are for construction only, and do not include design and procurement costs
The ribbon cutting for the starting docks (Figure 2), whose installation this year closed the pond to public use for two weeks, is scheduled for this Friday at 3 p.m. The only visible notification of it was on County Council’s March 5th Work Session Agenda, titled “Ribbon Cutting for Fishing Docks.” (2)
Economic Impact, Not Local Participation
The impetus for these investments has always been the potential economic impact. In 2013, one county official claimed there was an “incredible economic impact” from two regattas that collectively drew a few hundred participants. “Exposure for the county” was another often cited rationale for investments in rowing infrastructure, which officials hoped would bring “2,000 or more” rowers to future events. These and other unsubstantiated claims were repeated without question by local media.
According to a 2016 Aiken Standard story, County officials claimed an estimated annual loss of revenues to County businesses of $2.4 million; and a speculated potential economic impact loss of $1.8 million from the loss of a single regatta. Those estimates were based on “direct visitor spending, which factors in the number of athletes and spectators attending Langley Pond events and the hotel rooms in which they would have stayed.”
However, multiplying the number of athletes and spectators by spending estimates does not equal revenues for only Aiken County businesses. For example, the Augusta Rowing Club’s website lists only two Augusta hotels offering group discount rates for this Saturday’s Regatta: the Marriot Crown Hotel on Stevens Creek Road and the Holiday Inn Express on Broad Street. The Rowing Club’s website has no link to Aiken attractions, restaurants, or hotels. (3)
The numbers are also suspect given the size of the events. By comparison, in 2021 the Aiken Standard reported that Hitchcock Woods Foundation Treasurer Larry Byers told a legislative Equine Industries Study Committee that the cancellation of the 2020 Aiken Steeplechase, considered to be the second largest annual sporting event in the CSRA, resulted in loss of “roughly $3.8 million.”
In contrast to its large and continued investment for economic impact, the County has invested minimally, if at all, in the development of local programs. Aiken County’s Public Schools have no current rowing programs or plans for any (4), even though the County’s 2014-2024 Comprehensive Plan called for collaborative parks and recreation projects with the Schools:
“PRT may also wish to explore entering into agreements with the Aiken County Public School District for joint use of the District’s sports, playground, and recreational facilities.” (Page 107).
The potential for local programs at the Langley Pond rowing venue is considerable. This past Tuesday night, Aiken County Administrator Brian Sanders told Aiken County Council that the end result of the ongoing improvements will be a “world-class” rowing venue.
Yet, the spending to date has largely subsidized out-of-town rowing clubs and college teams; while offering little to County residents and failing to fund any development of homegrown talent.
At present, Langley Pond rowing is perhaps symbolic of local government, where taxpayers are more often mere spectators in decision-making processes. In this case, in the hopes of “incredible” economic impacts, the County has gambled $2 million of taxpayer money. Meanwhile, county residents are barely notified they can watch from the shore, and no consideration is given to investing in rowing equipment that could be shared by Aiken County’s public schools.
To add to the disparities, while millions are invested in the Langley Pond rowing race course, smaller County parks are neglected, and some are even scheduled to be closed (5).
Soon to come: Aiken County’s Disposable Parks.
Footnotes
(1) Aiken County took ownership, and the associated liability, of the Langley Pond Dam in 1994. In 2010, a SC Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) dam inspector returned a “satisfactory” rating.
In 2012, DHEC reported cracks in the abutment/inlet structure and advised monitoring it and a crack in the ring wing wall at the emergency spillway; clearing trees adjacent to the spillway, and removing vegetation from the slopes.
In 2014, a man walking his dog observed discolored water seeping from the dam; and a leak was found indicating unstable conditions.
In 2015, the regatta events were cancelled.
In 2016, County Council approved a $12 million general obligation bond to replace the dam; and obtained a $2 million FEMA grant.
The project was completed in January 2021. One year later the redeveloped Park was dedicated.
(2) There are no “fishing docks” listed on the County’s procurement webpage. Inquiries made this week about “fishing docks” vs rowing ducks have so far been ignored by County officials.
(3) The County’s Langley Pond website has a link to Country Inn and Suites on Whiskey Road, but the link was inoperative this week.
(4) An inquiry to the Aiken School District, and response from the School District:
(5) At its March 5, 2024 County Council meeting, Council refused to require staff to answer the question as to how many parks, and which parks, are scheduled to be closed. The question was deferred to staff for a future answer. There has been no answer to a subsequent March 6th followup email asking if there is an implementation plan for divesting of parks and a list of parks scheduled to be closed.
The current Capital Project Sales Tax proposed project list only considers funding the facility needs for four parks (Roy Warner, Harrison-Caver, Langley Pond, and Boyd Pond).