AIKEN --- They're neighborhood parks that some say aren't used often enough and in some case have become vandalized.
Now, there's a proposal for one such site in Aiken County -- Salley-Sardis Park -- to be offered to an outside agency for use.
At least one councilwoman says the county should also consider handing over more of its neighborhood parks to other entities.
"Bottom line is, the smaller unused parks must be insured and maintained and often stretch our resources pretty thin," Kathy Rawls said. "Our goal is not to reduce service, but if they are not being fully used, it makes sense to consider alternatives to the county keeping them up and operational."
Ms. Rawls said there are six or seven such neighborhood parks, including Salley-Sardis, that the county is considering deeding over or leasing out to the Headstart program.
Headstart is a development program for economically challenged children. It has petitioned the county, saying it could use the Salley-Sardis Park property near Poplar Street for carnivals, recruitment activities and bus storage. It also would be used for physical fitness for the 75 children receiving services at Headstart's Salley office, which is adjacent to the Salley-Sardis Park.
Ms. Rawls and other council members have expressed support for the plan. Ms. Rawls, though, hopes to expand the effort.
"If there's a municipality close by, then they (the parks) need to be turned back over to the municipality," she said. "I do think we'd be better off concentrating our resources on the Roy Warner Park and some of the others, the ones that are really used."
She said one such park can be found in Perry near Perry Baptist Church, a couple are in the New Ellenton/Jackson area and more are just north of Aiken.
Many of the smaller neighborhood parks, she said, were taken over by the county in the early 1990s at the behest of a former county administrator.
"It was like we went around soliciting small municipal parks, and a couple of cases it was old school properties that were no longer used," she said. "I think his idea was to do that and say 'OK, you've got some recreation on your area now' without doing anything else."
Ms. Rawls said she now believes that was a mistake because many of the small neighborhood parks don't offer much beyond a playground, and she said the county and sheriff's office don't have a large enough staff to adequately keep an eye on them.
"We simply don't have employees to take care of all of them properly," she said. "And we certainly can't add any employees at present."
She said the county has in the past invested in the Perry neighborhood park, putting in a ball field with fencing and installing new playground equipment, but "people have vandalized the park over and over."
She said the idea of turning parks over to someone else isn't a new idea.
"There is precedent for us giving parks to cities in that we gave Willie Whaley Park to Burnettown a couple of years ago," she said.
Reach Preston Sparks at (803) 648-1395, ext. 110 or preston.sparks@augustachronicle.com
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Before Aiken starts to invest too heavily in the subsidy system, they might want to take a look at what has happened to Augusta. A major obstacle in the way of bringing Augusta into the 21st century is its deep investment in the subsidy system, the type of population it produces and the effect it has on the tax base over time.
the parks aren't on the tax rolls anyway so why not let someone else take the expenses and responsibility for these parks. Look at Augusta with all the areas they are unable to take care of.