Here’s why the newest park in Fort Mill was a critical need, and how folks can enjoy it

Banks Athletic Park isn’t the first new recreation site in town, and it won’t be the last. But it’s an important one Fort Mill officials paused Tuesday morning to celebrate, and to see how far they’ve come.

“This park is beautiful,” said Mayor Guynn Savage, who cut the ribbon at the new park. “Even more so than I expected.”

Banks Athletic Park sits on 25 acres at 2364 Sparkling Brook Parkway. There are two baseball or softball fields with 275-foot fences, and two more with fences at 225 feet. There’s a playground beside an outdoor, lighted basketball court. There’s a scoring tower with restrooms, concessions and space for town athletic coordinators to work.

There’s also an amenity town recreation director Brown Simpson said has been a need for the more than 18 years he’s been with the town.

“Something that I have wanted for a long time...and I think something that’s going to be used a lot is a large picnic shelter that has eight picnic tables,” Simpson said. “We get a demand all the time for family reunions, things like that.”

Two parking lots combine for more than 300 spaces. Special lighting, expanded parking and planned security measures were designed to minimize impacts to the neighborhood where the park sits, Waterside at the Catawba. Developer Lennar donated land for the park in 2014 as part of the Waterside development agreement.

The donated land led to a strategic plan. For decades Leroy Springs & Co. ran recreation programs in town from youth sports to swimming and tennis for seniors. A critical piece of that programming, Savage said, was the former Leroy Springs Recreation Complex. Leroy Springs donated the gym there to the town through an agreement announced in October 2017 that also expanded pool space in partnership with the Fort Mill School District. Three baseball or softball fields there weren’t included in that agreement.

Just weeks later, the town approved a planning, design and engineering proposal for the new fields at Waterside.

Uncertainty on the future of the three fields at what is now Fort Mill YMCA at the Complex dates about as far back to the 2010 signed lease between the town and Leroy Springs that allowed the municipal recreation department to run sports programs. In 2014, the Leroy Springs company announced it wouldn’t run the complex past 2020.

Instead, the company would pour its recreational efforts into the Anne Springs Close Greenway.

Even beyond the partnership announced in 2017 that put the gym under town ownership, Leroy Springs agreed to allow continued use of the complex fields until the town could complete a replacement facility. Leroy Springs as a company and the late Anne Springs Close in particular, Savage said, continued what has been more than four decades of generosity toward town recreation.

“Ample time for this transition to take place was given to the recreational programs offered by the town on these fields, and are important to our community,” Savage said.

Simpson echoed the town’s appreciation for how Leroy Springs continued to assist the town with recreation space.

“We were so appreciative of those being leased to us the last 12 years,” Simpson said. “We can’t thank Leroy Springs enough for the generosity that they’ve shown the town by letting use those facilities.”

While the four new fields replace three the town will lose, a continually growing Fort Mill will mean more recreation sites are needed. The town utilizes extended partnerships with the Fort Mill School District to use the Comporium Athletic Park and school gyms. Sites like the former Banks Street Gym, now Fort Mill Community Center, have been repurposed but still are used for recreation.

Simpson said the Banks Athletic Park fields meet major needs for baseball and softball, while multipurpose fields for flag football and soccer also remain needs.

“We’ve got more coming, down the line,” Simpson said of future town sites. “We’re working toward that. We’ve got a strategic plan put together and we’re working on future facilities we’re going to need as this town continues to grow, and we try to grow with it also with quality programs and quality things that make Fort Mill a special place to live.”

Also at the complex, tennis court upgrades are ongoing.

“We’re working on building six new ones out there and also a restroom facility (with office and storage),” Simpson said. “We hope to have that finished, probably in the spring. That project is underway right now with construction.”