York County announced this week that they will be shutting down Ebenezer Park in Rock Hill for renovations starting September 15th. The official announcement states that the park will be closed for a minimum of 9 months but possibly longer. Improvements will include more RV and tent sites, concrete pads at all RV sites, paving all gravel roads, new restrooms and concessions areas, and improved water/sewer lines. There will also be construction around the park entrance.
This comes after the park reopened approximately 3 years ago following a previous renovation project that had the park closed for over a year. That project was delayed numerous times and missed its promised reopening date by a wide margin. Allison Creek Park, the closest boat ramp to Ebenezer Park, is still not open despite being over 6 months past its originally announced opening date. The new Rock Hill Park down the street from Ebenezer has a small swimming area and “fishing stations” that consist of a trail leading to several bank access points. No fishing pier or boat ramps are available at this location.
On the official Facebook announcement of the planned project, multiple people expressed concern and frustration that the park would be shut down again after a short time. There was also frustration that the constant delays and lack of communication from the county regarding Allison Creek had left many wondering if there would be any open boat ramps in the area.
In one reply, the county stated that they were “certainly planning for it to be open” by the time Ebenezer was shut down. Another commenter asked, “Will Allison Creek be open in Sept? If not I think it is bad timing to close the only campground that York County has.” The county responded with “Our thoughts exactly.” A local group lobbying for change in York County leadership asked, “So where is this funding from taxpayers? Was there any taxpayer input meetings?” The county did not respond.
The county seems to be making these decisions with no input from taxpayers. Even once the projects are already in motion, the taxpayer is cut out of the equation. Allison Creek Park has been down for well over a year and, to my knowledge, there has only been one public statement from York County on the progress. No explanation for the delays has been offered. Not only do the taxpayers not get consulted on projects (neither before nor after they have started) but the county cannot even keep a project on time.
We have reached out to Katherine Jones, Director of the York County Parks Department for a statement regarding these concerns. We will update this piece if we receive a reply.
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