4 new turf soccer fields coming to this Beaufort County town. Here’s the $14.6M plan
Four new lighted multi-use fields made of artificial turf will be constructed in Bluffton’s Buckwalter Recreation Center beginning this summer.
The fields will be the first artificial turf fields owned by Beaufort County.
Beaufort County Council members representing Bluffton are welcoming the expansion, which comes at a time of great demand for recreational facilities in the fast-growing city of more than 35,000 residents.
“I’m just happy to finally see it get done,” said Councilman Logan Cunningham of Bluffton, who’s been fighting for the expansion for six years.
The County Council on Monday approved most of the $14.6 million in funding needed for the expansion at Buckwalter, a publicly owned and operated 140-acre regional recreation hub located 905 Buckwalter Parkway.
The expansion is in response to the influx of growth in Bluffton and southern Beaufort County over the past several years. It’s also part of the original master plan approved for the center in 2001.
The complex already features grass soccer fields, a skate park, a Ninja course, indoor track, cardio equipment, indoor Batting Cages, four indoor basketball courts, two racquetball courts, indoor volleyball and weight room and locker room facilities.
Four new artificial turf multi-use fields that will be used primarily for soccer are planned in the expansion. The fields also will have lights.
The County Council approved $9.4 million in funding for the new fields on Monday. That revenue is from impact fees the county collects from developers.
Another $5.2 million is needed to complete the work. That money will come from the county’s general fund balance. The County Council approved transferring those funds on a first reading. Two more votes are necessary for final approval of the $5.2 million.
Originally, two fields were going to be developed first, with two additional fields built in a second phase.
The County Council decided to press forward with developing all four fields at the same time, with the reasoning being it would cost less and cause less disruption. But doing the entire project at once will require using the reserve funds.
Councilman York Glover of St. Helena Island in northern Beaufort County, took issue with using countywide reserve funding for the southern Beaufort County project, which he called “distasteful.”
“And that’s a great amount of money,” said Glover.
Glover and Seabrook’s Gerald Dawson, who also represents residents north of the Broad River, voted against the motion to approve use of the fund balance funding for the project.
Cunningham noted that most of the work will be funded by impact fees. Everybody wants to turn away growth, Cunningham said, but he has to deal with it. “You have to have recreation for people who live here,” Cunningham said.
The maintenance costs of the turf will be low initially, Assistant County Administrator Jared Fralix said. “The real maintenance is once it’s reached its life cycle and you have to replace it,” he said.
The benefit of turf is more use is possible because grass can dry out and turn into a “dust bowl” or get too wet and get “boggy,” Fralix said.
Construction will begin this summer, he said.
Completing the work at one time will save a few million dollars in construction costs and reduce how much time residents need to wait for the new facilities by a few years, county officials said.
Anna Maria “Tab” Tabernik of Sun City said demand for athletic fields is high with some families even driving their kids to Savannah.
“South of the Broad (river) needs these improvements, so I applaud moving this forward,” she said.
Nix Construction will do the field work and MUSCO Sports Lighting will erect the lights.
