KERSHAW COUNTY, S.C. — Kershaw County is making significant strides toward establishing its inaugural recreation center, with the design phase now complete.
The council has been presented with three preliminary architectural proposals for the recreation center. The first plan involves overhauling Woodward Park, adding soccer fields, baseball fields, and more.
The second plan replicates this but focuses on Larry Doby Park in Lugoff. The third option seeks to distribute the project's scope between both parks.
"Our recreation staff has been working with an engineering firm, and they put together three design plans for a portion of what our master recreation plan will be," Kershaw County Councilmember Brant Tomlinson said.
He said this portion of the recreation overhaul costs around $10 million and would bring options to the county they've never had before.
"It's not just baseball and soccer; it's not just your youth recreation; it has a chance for the elderly people to get out there, walking tracks, and engineering lighting, which is very important," he said.
"There are three designs. One is updating Larry Dobby completely, so it would be adding - there is existing infrastructure already there, but it would be making baseball fields and soccer fields all in one," he added. "The second would be updating the existing Woodward Park, and the third option is to split it up between the two, so having the existing Woodward be the baseball complex; and the soccer, football, and flag football go to Larry Doby."
The decision regarding which plan the county sees has a few more steps.
"We're going to have public hearings across the county coming up, so we will have public input on what they want and where they would like to see the options come. ... Then it comes back to council for us to make a decision upon," he said.
Tomlinson said public comment will come in several months, and there is no expectation of when this project will go under construction.
Financing for the project is derived from American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds coupled with donations of $3 million each from the Kershaw County Health District and the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC). Authorities said $10 million is allocated for Woodward Park or Larry Doby, while the remaining funds will facilitate upgrades to Cayce West and the rejuvenation of parks in the Bethune and Mt. Pisgah communities.