Is a City Park Near You a Candidate for Closure or Sale? 

by Don Moniak

September 26, 2022

The latest vision for the City of Aiken’s Parks, Recreation, and Tourism (PRT) Department is “ a community connected through people, parks and programs.” Yet, the latest plan for the Aiken PRT involves closing parks in low income neighborhoods and continuing to privatize open space.

Divestment, privatization, and/or closure of some parks is one of the recommendations in the recently approved “City of Aiken Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism Need Assessment and Strategic Plan,” (PRT plan) completed by consulting Clemson University Professor Bob Brookover.  Although the plan was adopted by City Council on August 8, 2022, it remains publicly unavailable except within a 245-page City Council meeting agenda packet. No news release accompanied the approval. 

The PRT Plan is Quietly Approved 

During the late “petition and requests” stage of its August 8, 2022 meeting (1),  Aiken City Council adopted both the PRT plan and “The Tourism Strategic Plan,” completed by marketing consultant Bandwagon.  Recommendations in the PRT plan include: 

• Raise the Hospitality Tax from one percent to two percent; 
• Demolish Odell Weeks recreation center and replace with new facilities;
• Prioritize bicycle paths and greenway trails; and 
• Consider divesting of some neighborhood parks and facilities—-with Aiken County Farmers Market, Charleston Street Playground, Gyles Park, Hammond-Williams Park, Sumter Street Park, and Perry Memorial Park identified as specific candidates.

The bulk of the data in the plan derives from an online survey and focus groups, both of which reflect the purpose of the assessment: 

“To solicit public input regarding the parks and recreation facility, program, and service needs  of residents living within the municipality in order to develop recommendations that will  guide the provision of parks and recreation programs, facilities , and services for the next five to seven ( 5-7) years.”

The PRT plan is long on perspectives pertaining to future needs, but the questions provoking those questions were generalist in nature and nonspecific. Nobody was asked “would you like to see some neighborhood parks close?” The report contains no data on park usage. 

The report is equally deficient in existing recreation-use data. The term “underutilized” is never quantified. Few of the recommendations have any clear basis in the report; and some are contradicted by the evidence presented. Most notable is the recommendation to “divest of” some neighborhood parks and facilities. According to the opinion survey: 

• 62 percent of respondents felt neighborhood parks (2) are of high importance; and 
• 83 percent of respondents felt  passive open space (which should include lightly used parks) are of high importance. 

 Closing or Selling City Parks 

In spite of the positive support for parks and open space, park closures are on the horizon. At the August 8, 2022 meeting, Councilman Ed Woltz commented: 

“There’s a discussion of two or three small parks that need to be closed are we looking into that or is that just paper?”

PRT Director Jessica Campbell replied: 

“We are still considering a park. I think we are hoping to get some renovations underway at Smith-Hazel park within this current budget year and once we feel that we’ve got those parks to where they need to be then we’ll look at closing some that are within proximity that may not be utilized.” 

More than “two or three small parks”—large parks to a child— are under consideration for closing. The plan recommends evaluating every park and specifies seven properties as candidates for closure and/or privatization: 

• Five North Aiken parks; all in Council District One; 
• Aiken County Farmer’s Market; and 
• Centennial Open Space park on Pine Log Road

Pages 22-23 of the plan read: 

“Evaluate all neighborhood and other parks to determine if there are parks and facilities that you should divest of. Some parks are placed in DOT right of way and/ or property that  is not owned by City of Aiken. Consideration should be given as to future of these facilities: Sumter Street Park, Gyles Park, Charleston Street Park, Perry Park, Aiken County Farmers Market. 

“Hammond- Williams Park is an underutilized park that should be converted to a passive park or sold. Investment in neighborhood park amenities should be focused at Smith- Hazel, located just 0.8 miles apart from Hammond- Williams. Additionally, PRT maintains Centennial Park, another underutilized property consisting of 3.3 acres of greenspace that requires weekly mowing and litter control. Consider selling to adjacent apartment community.” 

This information was not further discussed or conveyed to the audience, and a discussion turned to tourism. Before the vote, Aiken resident Laverne Justice stood up and initiated another short discussion: 

Ms. Justice: “Which parks are they considering closing here once they renovate some other parks.” 

PRT Director Cambpell: The park mentioned in the needs assessment is specifically Hammond-Williams Park and that would be either either maintaining as green space as a passive park. There was a recommendation that we could sell property but I think our intent  right now is to have it as a passive green space.” 

City Manager Bedenbaugh: “Meaning no equipment, would still be maybe some benches,, but…” 

PRT Director Philips: “removal of the playground equipment, sure.” 

Ms. Justice: “You want to say the location?” 

PRT Director Philips: “Hammond-Williams is off Beaufort Street and it’s less than one mile away from Smith-Hazel Park.” 

Professor Brookover has written or assisted with at least seven other Parks and Recreation strategic plans in South Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama. Recommendations to close or sell off parks and open space are not only uncharacteristic in his other plans, they are absent. The word “divest” is not found in the Greer, Greenville County, Mt Pleasant, or Summerville Master Plans prepared by Brookover. 

The City of Aiken already divested four acres of open space adjacent to Kalmia Hills Park earlier this year, property that had been donated for recreation use in the early 1970s by Mattie C. Hall (3). 

The PRT Plan’s arbitrary criteria for closing or selling parks and facilities include:

• On DOT right of ways (which are actually Parkways);
• Not owned by the City; and
• Less than one mile from another park

By this standard, Parks, Recreation, and Tourism Department can easily close and/or sell several Northside parks and centralize its efforts at Smith-Hazel. This is a pattern similar to South Augusta/Hepzhibah, where Diamond Lakes Regional Park sits amidst an urbanized landscape devoid of neighborhood parks. 

Hammond-Williams Park is a 2.5 acre park that is actually part of a larger, city-owned 5.8 acre parcel covering both sides of Beaufort Street and lying adjacent to another sixty acres of city property where the municipal dump once operated. Hammond-Williams Park is considered “underutilized,” a subjective designation that is never quantified in the PRT plan. It is already surrounded by private “passive open space” farmland to the South, the former city dump property to the east—-once a candidate for a larger park, and a lower income neighborhood to the north. It is the only park of the five at risk of “divestment” that the city could sell. 

Charleston Street Playground is located on 1.1 acres along Colleton Avenue—just beyond the city’s Arboretum—on the east end of the Colleton Avenue Parkway. It is central to densely populated, well-shaded neighborhoods interspersed by pockets of poverty among the most dire in Aiken County.  Even though a sign declares it was created through a Land and Water Conservation Fund Grant, by PRT Plan standards it has two strikes against it: 

• not owned by the City. 
• within one mile of another park (Odell Weeks). 

Gyles Park  is situated on 1.25 acres of land owned by located at the edge of downtown next to Aiken’s relatively new Train Museum.
The Park property was donated to the city in 1912 and “Rededicated to Negro Children” in 1953–when it was described as “spacious.”

Although the Museum is known to be “underutilized,” it remains a favored facility. This year the legislature awarded nearly one million dollars from the plutonium setttlement fund for the museum. 

Gyles has two strikes against it: 

• less than 0.8 miles from Smith-Hazel park; 
• not owned by the city. 

While its proximity to the train museum should be viewed as a positive by a railroad company and a city trying to promote the museum; in reality it is likely viewed as a negative because some of the city’s homeless residents tend to gather there during the day. 

Perry Memorial Park occupies 24 acres park of land owned by the Aiken School District and two smaller parcels on city-owned land where a disc-golf course is located. The park has a well-used football practice field, is ideal for soccer, and has been the scene of the several annual community events: annual Shoutfest gospel festival, Easter Egg hunts, and cookouts. 

Use for community events is threatened by the city’s push to turn drive-to Generations Park into the top destination and events park—where Shoutfest was moved in 2019 after eleven years at Perry Park. Yet, city officials added a restroom to the park just years ago, and own a small parcel where the improvement sits; so its position on the list is somewhat inexplicable. 

The strikes against it are: 

• not owned by the City
• close to Smith-Hazel

Sumter Street Park is not listed on the PRT website, but is either the disc golf course identified within Perry Park and on City-owned land, or the basketball court at Stoney-Gallman homes in the Sumter Street Parkway. 

At first glance, the inclusion of the iconic, historic Aiken County Farmer’s Market is the strangest of the divestment/closure candidates. Whereas shopping for locally grown food at an outside market was not on the PRT’s opinion survey’s local activity list, visits to farmer’s markets outside of Aiken were measured. 

The strike against the the PRT managed Farmer’s Market is that it sits in the Williamsburg Street Parkway and is not city owned. It may also have a perceived higher value in private hands. 

The real wild card is the nearly three-year old gentrification/redevelopment proposal for Williamsburg Street, which poses a risk of privatization for management, if not ownership. No official, legal plan has been presented and no public hearings have been held, but a conceptual plan was issued in 2021. This past week the Aiken Economic Development Commission placed a new sign announcing big things to come. 

 In the AMDC-commissioned report: “Site Analysis and Due Diligence for Williamsburg Street Redevelopment,” (4) the desired future condition of the Farmer’s Market area is radically different. A mixed use shopping and residential district is envisioned where there are now abandoned structures. The AMDC spent $175,000 purchasing three vacant properties adjacent to the market in March 2021, and hopes to convert it to multi-family housing over retail.

The redevelopment concept envisions a hip, happening place; bustling both day and night. The AMDC report portrays the present-day Farmer’s Market area as a bleak, deserted landscape; and provides no current usage or visitation data.

Conclusions: The City of Aiken is likely to move forward on closing, selling, or privatizing some of its parks and facilities. From Project Pascalis to Parks, Recreation and Tourism, the current city administration has operated in a stealth mode to avoid scrutiny of its plans. Just as recreation fees were raised without any public discussion, the  Parks and Recreation plan adopted by City Council includes a plan to close neighborhood parks that escaped public scrutiny and defies what little public input that did occur.  Citizens seeking to keep parks open will need to keep close tabs on Parks and Recreation plans. 

UPDATE: October 11, 2002: Aiken City Parks to Remain Open

___________________

References and Background Information

(1) August 8, 2022 Aiken City Council Meeting. 

Agenda is at: 

https://edoc.cityofaikensc.gov/WebLink/DocView.aspx?id=2747641&dbid=0&repo=City-of-Aiken-LF

The PRT Plan begins on Page 130. 

Meeting Minutes are at: 

https://edoc.cityofaikensc.gov/WebLink/DocView.aspx?id=2752803&dbid=0&repo=City-of-Aiken-LF

Video discussion, which begins at minute 48, is at: 

(2) The report also has some self-created bias, such as “destination playgrounds” being distinguished from “neighborhood playgrounds,” —even though every neighborhood playground is by definition a destination to play. Thus, while “destination playgrounds” rated in the top third of “facility priorities,” “neighborhood playgrounds” and the “picnic shelters” that can accompany them rated in the bottom third. But grouped together, “playgrounds” rate third on the list. 

3) The Mattie C. Hall Property: Another Curious, Questionable Deal. 

The City of Aiken’s Mattie C. Hall Property: Another Curious, Questionable Aiken City Property Deal

(4) Conceptual Plan for Williamsburg Street and Farmer’s Market: 

Click to access Williamsburg-Final-Draft-Report-Compressed-006.pdf

Background on Parks at risk of closure in North Aiken

From VisitAikensc.com and https://www.cityofaikensc.gov/parks-playgrounds-natural-areas/

Hammond / Williams Park

Hours of operation: Sunrise to Sunset
Park amenities include:

– Play System for ages 2-12
– 2 board tic-tac-toe games
– Swing Set (2 Tots, 4 Belts)
– Fenced playground
– 2 park benches
– Outside of fenced area: 2 grills (grill size is 38” X 36”; 1368
sq. inches of grill area)
– 3 trash cans
– 1.6 Acres

Charleston Street Playground

Hours of operation: Sunrise to Sunset
Park amenities include:

– Play System for ages 2 – 12
– 1 and 1/2 basketball courts (no lights)
– 1 sand box
– 1 swing set, 3 bays, 4 belt swings, 2 tot swings, 1 set of climbing bars, all
with mulch as a fall safe zone
– Kid timbers border play ground
– 2 trash cans
– Fence borders the park
– 1.16 Acres

Gyles Park

Hours of operation: Sunrise to Sunset
Park amenities include:

– 2 swing sets with a total of 4 swings
– 3 picnic tables
– 3 trash cans
– Railroad ties around park
– 1.56 acres
– Train caboose on display and two train cars

Perry Memorial Park

– 1 – 30’ picnic shelter (call 803-642-7635 for rental info) with 5 tables
(four tables seating 12 each and one table seating 8 = 56 adults), 1 grill
(grill is 36” X 38”; 1368 sq. inches of grill area), lights and water are
available upon request
– Sand walking track (1/4 mile; 4 laps = 1 mile)
– 11 soccer goals
– 2 back stops for baseball/softball
– 14 trash cans
– 8 bleachers
– 7 benches
– Split rail fence along Williamsburg St. and Abbeville Ave.
– Pond (Also used by Schofield Middle School science classes.)
– 9 holes of Disc Golf
– 24 Acres

At 24 acres, this is about twice the size of nearby Smith-Hazel Park; Perry Memorial Park is much more open. This park has a much larger picnic shelter that can be rented and reserved. The picnic shelter has tables, a grill and lights/water upon request.

The sand walking track is a quarter mile and that was nice today.

11 soccer goals, 2 backstops for baseball, and nine holes of disc golf. There is a dedicated parking lot and some street parking.“ https://www.yelp.com/biz/perry-memorial-park-aiken