The preliminary November 8 2011 Tega Cay election results show Ron Kirby and Chris Larsen securing the 2 available Tega Cay City Council seats. Out of 5,896 register voters in Tega Cay, approximately 13% voted Tuesday. Greg Rogers, who ran in the last Tega Cay election for city council came up at least 167 votes short to win a city council.

Both Cris Larsen and Ron Kirby are not new to the Tega Cay City Council. Chris Larsen is currently on the city council and Ron Kirby has served on the council in prior years and is filling John Dervay seat which expires in January.

The Tega Cay City Council has approved Dennis Pieper as Tega Cay’s new City Manager. Mr Pieper was one of three possible candidates being considered by the city council. He was a town administrator for Summerville SC. He has 18 years of management experience in county and municipal government.

Tega Cay’s Mayor Sheppard sent out the following letter about the appoitment of Dennis Piper;

After a 3 month City Manager search, I would like you to join me in welcoming our new City Manager Dennis Pieper! On Friday Night, August 26, Council approved Dennis as our new City Manger. He will be joining us on Monday, September 12th.

Before I wish you all a Happy Labor Day, I would like to take a moment to thank my fellow council members who worked very hard to get us a new City Manager. Council created a new job description for the position, spent many late nights and weekends reviewing and sorting over 70 resume’s, made phone calls and interviewed various candidates to find the right match for Tega Cay. As you may have heard we received resume’s from around the Country which I believe is a testament to the great community we live in. Who wouldn’t want to come live and work in the great city of Tega Cay? So, to all of you, I wish a restful and safe Labor Day weekend. I know I will be relaxing with the knowledge that Dennis will be on board in less than 2 weeks!

In Today’s Septemenbt city letter, Dennis Pieper had the following note for the City Manager Minute:

First, I would like to thank the Mayor and the Councilmember’s for the confidence they have shown and for giving me the opportunity to serve you. As a team, the staff and I will work diligently to maintain the unique character and the beauty of the City while aggressively addressing the challenges.

I have received a warm “welcome” from many of the residents in the community. I look forward to working with the dedicated staff and getting to know you.

My background includes both City and County management including many years at a public utility. “The Good Life” Tega Cay offers makes this transition much easier and I will begin serving as your new City Manager on September 12th.

I would also like to wish Grant Duffield and his family the very best with their new endeavors. Thank you and I will see you soon!

Map from "Bing's" Birds Eye View

In February 2011 The City of Tega Cay received approval from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and Duke Energy of the Carolinas, LLC to construct and operate a 32 slip Marina Facility on Lake Wylie in Tega Cay, South Carolina. On April 15 2011, the city issued a request for information (RFI) to interested parties for advice or information for the construction and management of marina facilities. Link to Hidden Harbor Marina RFI

The proposed marina is in the location of the old removed Hidden Harbor Marina located near the Tega Cay Beach and Swim Club. If you remember, the council voted no after heavy local resident opposition to this proposed Marina in July 2008. (Read Tega Cay Votes No To Lake Shore Marina).

Besides increased traffic, one of the concerns in 2008 was a use restriction that did not allow “bordering residents” Lakeshore residents to use the marina. The February 2011 FERC lease authorization classifies the marina as a “True Public Marina” as long as specified conditions are met. One can speculate the restriction for non bordering residents use of the marina would not apply in this current approval document.

The city’s RFI makes it clear to responders their request is not a solicitation for a proposal or to form a binding contract. The submitted information would be used for planning purposes. The RFI is due May 16th 2011. I would suspect that sometime in May or June the marina subject will pop back up in a city council meeting.

Are you for or against a new Tega Cay marina?

As another step toward better communication with Tega Cay residents, the City of Tega Cay rolled out their new website including combining all of their departments websites into one new website. The website is by CivicPlus based in Manhattan Kansas who specializes in “next generation” city, county, state and school websites”. The new site went live last Friday.

Here is what Mayor George Sheppard has to say about the City’s new website communication tool:

We have updated the website because the previous site just had too many limitations. With the new website we are able to stream Council meetings for those who don’t have channel 19 or are unable to attend meetings (they are not live, but they are there!). The calendar feature is also an exciting new tool; any resident can sign up to receive alerts of City functions. Once signed up residents will have the option to receive an email or a message to their cell phone reminding them of upcoming events.

I feel this website is another great example of the steps of transparency and council’s willingness to communicate with the resident’s.

Visit the new website with the same URL: www.tegacaysc.org.

Please note that all email addresses at the Admin Office and Development Services office have changed. They are now the staff member’s first initial followed by their last name @tegacay.com (ex. cfunderburk@tegacay.com). Please delete the @tegacay.org addresses from your contact lists.

Regards,

George Sheppard

Mayor, City of Tega Cay, SC

I would say the new website is easy to navigate and read. If you would like to sign up for city notifications here is a direct link tegacaysc.org/list.aspx.

You can also sign up for a city Constant Contact email along with the city notifications.

Don’t forget to join Tega Cay’s Face Book Groupfor you hardcore Facebook users.

What’s your opinion of the new website?

How is city doing on keeping the Tega Cay residents informed?

I have a couple of Tega Cay news announcements I wanted to pass on to you this week. One is about write-in City Council candidate Chris Larsen and a new Tega Cay waterfront homes website.

News Annoucement One:

Tega Cay’s special election is Feb 9th to fill the empty city council seat. You may have seen new “vote for…” signs in Tega Cay recently. Currently, the two Tega Cay city council candidates that are officially on the ballot are Doug Collins and John Dervay. But there is a third candidiate asking you to vote for him via a write- in.

Who is Chris Larsen? Long time Tega Cay resident Eric Hillman has asked Scott and I to pass on more info about write-in city council candidate Chris Larsen. Scott has posted details sent to us by Eric at www.seetegacay.com. Here is a link to the Chris Larsen post and flyer CHRIS LARSEN WRITE – IN VOTE For TEGA CAY CITY COUNCIL.

News Annoucement Two:

I am pleased to announce a new website for Tega Cay as an addition to my growing number of informative local websites. Scott and I launched yesterday www.tegacaywaterfronthomes.com. Currently the waterfront home featured on the new website is 1980 Newberry LN Tega Cay, SC 29708 in the Lake Shore Subdivision. Take a look and let us know what you think of the new website.

The City of Tega Cay and the Tega Cay Golf Club had a huge announcement this week. The Tega Cay Golf Club and Course has been added as a location for future LPGA events. A scheduled event has not yet been officially announced but the city speculates the first Ladies Professional Golf Association event may come as soon as Fall 2010.

UPDATE FEB 2010 with not so good news – See the following post http://seetegacay.com/tega-cay/mayor-sheppards-letter-on-the-lpga/

This is a very positive announcement for Tega Cay and Fort Mill SC.  Besides economically benefiting our area during the event, all of the Tega Cay home owners on the golf course will have a great seat to watch the LPGA event . Here is the press release from the City of Tega Cay:

LPGA Tour Coming to Tega Cay

The City Council of the City of Tega Cay is pleased to announce that it is in negotiation with Special Events Unlimited (SEU) to bring an officially sanctioned Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) event to Tega Cay. Following numerous visits to Tega Cay by LPGA officials, the LPGA has selected the Tega Cay Golf Club as an official tour event site for the 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014 seasons. While specific dates and title sponsors are yet to be announced, initial plans call for a full field of professional golfers to compete for a total purse of over 1.1 million dollars in the Fall of 2010.

“This is a great opportunity for the City of Tega Cay, York County and the State of South Carolina” says Tega Cay City Manager Grant Duffield. “The initial projections show a several million dollar impact to our local economy”. Duffield says that the biggest beneficiaries of this event will be volunteer organizations in the area. “Our local charities will receive a portion of $200,000 for their charity”.

SEU President Tommy Stines states that the LPGA is extremely excited about the Tega Cay venue, describing the course and conference facilities as ideal for the event. Stines says that “The Golf Channel will be televising the 4 day event. In addition there will be a Celebrity/am Tournament hosted by Tarheel basketball great James Worthy, as well as a traditional pre-tournament pro/am”. With a field of 144 well recognized

professional golfers, Stines says he envisions the tournament will quickly become a mainstay on the LPGA schedule. “We anticipate this Tournament getting bigger and better every year”.

It’s hard to believe that Tega Cay, Fort Mill, Baxter Village, Lake Wylie, and other areas of York County have been under water restriction since mid Summer 2007.  Tega Cay has been following Stage 3 water restrictions since October 2007. The Tega Cay Council voted Monday to ease restrictions to Stage 1 voluntary restrictions. You now can water lawns, wash cars, pressure wash, etc with no limitations but are advised to voluntarily conserve water. The goal is to conserve 3 to 5% in overall water consumption.

I took a look at the Catawba-Wateree Drought Management Advisory Group’s Low Inflow Protocol advisory history list. Here is a drought stage timeline of our area:

• June 2007 Stage 0
• July 2007 Stage 1
• August 2007 Stage 2
• October 2007 Stage 3
• January 2009 Stage 2
• April 2009 Stage 1

Stage definintions:  There are 5 stages – from stage 0 (a watch) to stage 4 (emergency – where water supply is in critical situation).

Here is a link to the CW-DMAG April press release with their review and recommendations about the drought conditions.

The bottom of the release states: Rainfall: Through March 31, 2009′s rainfall over the basin has been about 2 inches below long-term averages. The National Weather Service is predicting above normal precipitation for April. May rainfall predictions are for below normal rainfall.

The Tega Cay City Council decided to delay changing the water restriction ordinance until they meet to discuss it again on October 20th.

Right now Tega Cay is still on a one day a week lawn watering restriction. My latest post on Oct 1 reported Rock Hill, Fort Mill and York County have temporarily eased water restrictions by allowing residents to water their lawns 2 days a week until November 30th.

Jonathan Allen of the Fort Mill Times reported Wednesday…

At a special meeting held Wednesday, Oct. 1, city council members discussed following Rock Hill’s lead, but tabled the issue because they couldn’t decide if the ordinance governing the restrictions allows enough wiggle room to change them without changing the ordinance. The council plans to reopen discussion on the restrictions at its next regular meeting Monday, Oct. 20.

Jonathan further reported…

Mayor Bob Runde, who opposed allowing once a week watering last spring, again voiced objections to allowing more water usage during a persistent, severe drought. He also said he didn’t believe the city could go to a modified Stage 2 drought without changing the ordinance, which would require two council votes.

I reported on September 18th the US Drought Monitor run by the University of Nebraska has just changed our rating from severe to moderate. I checked the drought monitor today and we have moved to “abnormally dry”. In addition the Catawba-Wateree Drought Management Advisory Group (CW-DMAG) published a news release on September 26th, 2008 The CW DMAG supports limited, temporary relaxation of outdoor water use restrictions. I am wondering where Mayor Runde is getting his information that we are still in a severe drought. Abnormally dry yes but severe no.

So if you have already aerated and seeded your lawn for the annual fall planting season lets hope it keeps raining to maximize your fall planting investment. If you have not planted yet, you may want to reconsider or adjust your timing. If the city decides to change the water restriction ordinance on the 20th, the change will probably be similar to the York County, Rock Hill, and Fort Mill decision that limits the ease of water restriction only until November 30th. Approx one month of watering two days a week is not a whole lot of time to water lawns for fall seeding.

Here are my links to the articles or data mention in this post

CW-DMAG September 26th News Release
Jonathan Allen’s Fort Mill Times Article
US Drought Monitor Website

Update Jan 2009 – Hereis the updates water restrictions for Tega Cay SC

Drought Restrictions
All residents (TCWS and TCUD customers) can
conduct all water activities (irrigation of lawns and
flower beds, washing cars, pressure washing, etc.)
during the 24- hour period on their approved days
only.

Odd Numbered Addresses- Tuesdays & Saturdays

Even Numbered Addresses- Thursdays & Sundays

Customers are still encouraged to use drip hoses
and hand-held watering devices.  When irrigating,
run-off is strictly prohibited.

On September 18th I wrote a post contemplating whether cities within York County like Rock Hill, Fort Mill, Tega Cay will ease water restrictions with the recent rain activity (Will Recent Rains Lift Tega Cay and Fort Mill SC Water Restrictions?). Although the Catawba-Wateree Drought Management Advisory Group has not posted online a news release easing the water restriction, the Rock Hill Herald reported today the advisory group did give the ok. This is good news to landscapers and those of us seeding our lawns for the fall.

Tuesday the Rock Hill city council passed a temporary amendment to the current restrictions allowing landscape watering to occur twice a week until November 30th 2008. Rock Hill water customers with odd numbered addresses can water on Tuesdays and Saturdays. Even numbered addresses can water on Thursdays and Sundays. The change applies to lawn watering, car washing, and pool/fountain filling. Rock Hill has not yet updated their website information.

If you live in non incorporated areas of York County, your water restrictions are similar to Rock Hill’s temporary plan. Here is a link to York County’s website water restriction info.  New water restrictions York County

Fort Mill’s website indicates a similar ease of restrictions now through November 30th accept the two day allowed watering days are Wednesday and Saturday for all Fort Mill addresses. Pool filling is only allowed on Saturdays. Here is the Fort Mill water restriction link. Fort Mill Water Restrictions.

I called the city of Tega Cay today. Tega Cay has not yet changed to the new two day a week plan. The administration office employee was not sure if the council would discuss the matter in tonight’s public hearing schedule to discuss the alcohol referendum. The council must vote on the change before the restrictions can be changed.

Update as of Decemeber 12, 2008.

I checked both Rock Hill and Fort Mill city websites and the twice per week restirction that was to end Novemebr 30th has been extended until further notice by both cities.

If you don’t know, the Tega Cay sign ordinance bans many types of directional signs in the city limits. Real estate signs are allowed on the seller’s property with limitations but directional signs like open houses or branded company signs pointing the way to homes for sale in a neighborhood are not allowed at any time. So why are some real estate companies or agents not following the ordinance or the city enforcing the sign ordinance?

The picture above was taken on Saturday September 27, 2008 is an example of a non-compliant real estate directional sign. The sign has been up every weekend at the corner of Beachwood Cove and Shoreline Parkway pointing traffic on Shoreline Parkway to a home for sale on Beachwood Cove. The sign is up as I write this post Sunday morning. By the way, this was not the only directional sign up this weekend.

So why am I writing this post? First of all this is a personal commentary from me and not solicited or approved commentary from Carmen or Century 21 First Choice. I am frustrated with the lack of compliance and cooperation from the city, real estate agents, and their brokerage firms. Here is a little background to my story.

At one point in the past Carmen called the city admin office and was told it was ok to put signs up on the weekends. Trying to perform her best for her clients, Carmen purchased and put out directional signs every weekend for marketing open houses and her listings in Tega Cay. Directional signs are a standard effective practice in the industry. She never thought it was not allowed because of what she was told and you can see several other directional signs in Tega Cay most weekends.

At some point a complaint must have been voiced and Pete with Century 21 First Choice asked Carmen and all his agents to comply with the sign ordinance. Carmen being good business citizen and resident is complying.

So why do we continue to see signs up every weekend from other companies? Are these agents or companies not being asked by the city to comply? Is there an unfair standard on who is allowed to put up directional signs or simply a lack of communication and ordinance knowledge?

I know it is very difficult for Carmen to explain to her Tega Cay clients why she does not put up directional signs while her clients see directional signs on other homes for sale in Tega Cay weekly. It’s very frustrating to current home sellers who want all of the possible sign marketing support they can get to help sell their home in these challenge times. It is estimated that home buyer transactions/traffic is down significantly this year to last in Tega Cay.

Carmen has voiced her opinion to some of the Tega Cay City council members about this matter. She has also proposed to the city council a city wide “sanctioned” open house weekend for all homes for sale in Tega Cay. Her plan included all brokerage firms and agents with homes for sale in Tega Cay to have a special weekend open house all at the same time. All she asked from the city was to allow temporary directional signs to be posted for this special weekend event. She would manage the event. Some members of the council did not think this special weekend event was necessary. I image they would think differently if they were trying to sell their home right now.

So what is your opinion of the sign ordinance? I would like to hear your comments.

The same sign was up again the weekend of Oct 4th.

The city wants to stop temporary home rentals shorter than 90 days. Tega Cay residents have complained to city officials about temporary home renters. Their complaint is about renters renting homes for or a week, weekend, and sometimes daily.

The Tega Cay city council discussed adding an amendment to the current zoning ordnance that would specifically prohibit renting a home for less than 90 days. The council was divided based on their discussion. Some of the council members claimed enforcement would be the challenge with the possible new amendment.

It’s hard to believe that Tega Cay would be a weekend resort destination like Myrtle Beach. Maybe that is not a fair comparison. Tega Cay was in its beginning mostly a gated weekend resort community on Lake Wylie but hasn’t that changed now? Has this issue become a bigger issue because of the housing and mortgage bubble? If this were the case wouldn’t these want be home owners/tenants rent longer? So who are these short term renters and why are they renting just a few days? Are they vacationers or just transients? Maybe more will come to light when the council discusses this issue again in the future.

The Tega Cay City Council says yes to the first reading to annex Duke Energy property near the Lake Wylie Dam. The annexation will add two large parcels of land to the city to help complete a 80 acre Catawba River Park plan. The park will be located south of New Grayrock Road.

Drake Capital donated approx 10 acres for the park.  The rest of the land for the park will be leased from Duke Energy.

The city is planning a

• Gymnasium
• Four baseball fields
• Walking trails
• Multipurpose fields
• Disc golf course
• Fishing piers
• Canoe and kayak launch
• Parking lot
• Dog park which is already in place.

The city hopes to raise money from state and federal grants, private donations, and use hospitality tax revenue.

The Central Bark dog park was relocated recently to the 10 acres that is already in the city limits. The city of Tega Cay hopes to begin engineering plans and permitting for the rest of the 10 acres but estimates it could take as much as 18 months to complete the initial phase while the city continues planning, fund raising, permitting, etc for the 70 acres.

If you are shopping for a home in the Tega Cay or Fort Mill area right now you will notice lawns looking brown instead of green these days. With higher or I should say HOT summer temperatures and water restrictions that are in place, it is difficult to maintain a bright green lawn.

So you might ask what are the current water restrictions? Here is an update.

Tega Cay’s city council did revise the current stage 3 water restrictions on May 31st. Stage 3 restriction have been in place since October of last year. We were blessed with much needed rain during the spring season so the council reduced the restrictions slightly from the April 21st, 2008 change. We are still in stage 3 water restriction with the following changes:

You are allowed to water lawns with sprinklers or irrigation systems one day a week.
Odd addresses are allowed to water any time on Saturdays
Even addresses are allowed to water anytime on Sundays.

The April 21st update only allowed you to water on the designated day from 12:01am to 9am. The May 31st change allows you to water anytime during your designated day.

Besides the change to the time of watering your lawns 1 day a week, you may now wash vehicles, watercraft, fill pools, and pressure wash structures/driveways on the same designated day of the week. But only one day a week on your designated day.

Residents are allowed to use hand held watering containers and hoses with spray nozzles to water plants, shrubs, flowers, containers, gardens, and lawns any time and any day of the week.

Tega Cay restrictions now match the current York County stage 3 restrictions. Fort Mill water restrictions are similar except the only day to water, wash, or fill is Saturday. Fort Mill did not break out different days for even or odd addresses.

In all jurisdictions, watering, washing, and filing on days other than your assigned day is strictly prohibited. And so is any water run off.

The use of irrigation systems that pump water directly from Lake Wylie are controlled by Duke Energy Lake Management and now are allowed to “pump” water only on Saturdays.

The information above is from the Tega Cay city website, Fort Mill city website, and the York County SC website. Click here for a PDF of the Tega Cay city May 31st amended water restriction.

READ APRIL 20th 2009 UPDATE AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS POST

April 25, 2008 - Recent rains has Lake Wylie looking full these days. See an earlier post called Lake Wylie at Full pond. So many local residents have been wondering when the stage 3 water restrictions set last fall would be lifted.

Rock Hill and Fort Mill have recently reduced restrictions so it was time for the Tega Cay City Council to decide if they would follow suit. Tega Cay Councilman Les Conner said although the lake is up, ground water levels are still low and challenged whether they should reduce restrictions. But the council voted last Monday to allow residents to water lawns again.

The revised ordinance will allow Tega Cay residents to water their lawns one day a week. Odd number addresses can water Saturdays from 12:01 am to 9am. Even number addresses can water Sundays from 12:01am to 9am. Vehicle washing is still prohibited. Click here to see revised ordinance 325.

UPDATE APRIL 20th 2009

Tega Cay has moved to stage 1 restrictions which is voluntary. Here is what is posted on the City of Tega Cay website:

DROUGHT RESTRICTIONS
STAGE 1 RESTRICTIONS IN EFFECT
All residents (TCWS and TCUD customers) are to
observe voluntary drought restrictions as of
Monday, April 20th. Customers on both systems
may now water lawns, pressure wash, wash cars,
etc during any time of the day and on any day of
the week. The goal during Stage 1 is to achieve a
3-5% reduction in overall water usage. If you would
like more information on Stage 1 Drought
Restrictions.

The fight to move the Tega Cay Look Out Park Dog Park (The Central Bark) continues. Homeowners most affected by the current dog park location are asking for your help.If you don’t know the story, a team of homeowners on Newberry Lane challenged the city of Tega Cay a year and a half ago. The homeowners were fed up with the dog park that is located next to their homes because of;

dogs barking all hours of the day, dogs running loose outside the park, dogs left in the park by their owners, safety concerns with their children, environmental concerns, etc.

Finally last February the city council announced they found a new location for the dog park but would not commit to close the current location even when the new dog park opened. It seems some of the dog park users have organized as a group and challenged the closing of the dog park.

Ironically in past city meetings an over whelming majority of Tega Cay residents voiced their opinions in public discussion sessions and agreed they would not want a dog park located next to their home. The Newberry Lane Tega Cay residents need your help. They have created a petition that simply states “as residents of Tega Cay we feel that a dog park should not be located in or near a residential area.” You can contact one of the organizers of the petition and sign the petition or better yet there is a blog and electronic version the petition that takes seconds to complete.

So would you want the dog park located next to your home? If not help your Tega Cay neighbors by signing their petition!

Petition Blog Address is tcdogpark.blogspot.com

Or a direct link to the petition form

Or email Jerry Hires, Kerry Arnold

Will you approve a $350,000 bond referendum for the city of Tega Cay to spend more money? Your opinion does not matter. You don’t get to vote.

Tega Cay City council passed 4 to 1 last Monday the first reading of a motion to issue a $350,000 bond package to pay for golf course and community center improvements. The money is also for the creation of a city storm water utility department.

The bond dose not need a city wide referendum because the $350,000 bond package falls below the state imposed debt ceiling.

George Sheppard was the only council member that voted no to the bond. The motion still needs a second reading but based on this news, I would bet it passes quickly at the next meeting.

George Wallace wrote a detailed comment to the “Homeowners still angry over cities dog park decision” post. Here is George’s comment copied to a regular post.

by George Wallace

At the meeting The Mayor effectively demonstrated his ability to do what he thinks is best for our community irrespective of public input.

The 2-3 hours of discussion by about 50 residents at the special council meeting in January was shown to be a complete waste of the residents’ time. The underlying assumption of that meeting was clearly that once a suitable new location was found for the dog park, the existing park would be closed. Any assertion to the contrary is misleading at best (although there was also considerable discussion of the option to leave the park as it is). At no time was the need for two dog parks ever discussed. In fact, serious consideration was given at that time to closing the existing park at a set date to coincide with the report detailing the possibility for the new park location.

In spite of that, The Mayor led the discussion at the city council meeting in a way that attempted to preclude discussion on the real question at hand (when and how to close the existing park) and in fact moved on to the next agenda item in a hurried manner. Moreover, he had to be called upon to re-open the old business of the dog park to continue the discussion. He was reluctant to make what discussion did take place part of the public record in the form of a motion that reflected his actions.

By his actions, The Mayor effectively disenfranchised all the residents who had input into the previous special session and demonstrated a typical political maneuver: wait until the opposition to your plan is not present to act in your interests.

Anyone reading this should not be nearly as concerned about the specific issue of the dog park as they should be about the manner in which The Mayor proceeded to do what he wanted in spite of the substantial public input to the contrary.

Take a look around at any green space you may have near your home and realize that he could just as easily decide to put a city facility there. We do need more lighted tennis courts here, don’t we? Or maybe a basket ball park?

Kerry Arnold who lives on Newberry Lane near the dog park wrote a detailed comment to my post titled “Does Tega Cay Need 2 Dog Parks?”  I thought her comment was worth a post rather than just a comment to another post. Here is what Kerry wrote.

Thank you Scott for your take on the meeting. I think we are all still in disbelief and shock from what came out of the meeting last night. It has always been everyones understanding that the Dog Park would be moved/relocated, never a second one added? Hopefully the residents of Tega Cay/Newberry Lane have been put off for the last time . (more info to come)

First some members of council said the current park couldn’t close bc there was no place to move the park-locations were researched and presented bringing on the “not in my backyard meeting”.

The next meeting was started with “there is no money to move the park” (do note that that was not ever mentioned before-just the opposite and I quote “you find a place and we’ll move it”.

Now after 14 months of talking about this, City Council is presented with a WIN WIN plan: a park in a non residential area, NO COST to the city to be moved/installed-road, parking and fenced in park, and we find ourself still w/o a closing date for the park on Newberry Ln. What happened here?

I expect an even stronger turn out at the next meeting and actions to take place long before before that date even arrives.

Big town politics just hit us in small town Tega Cay. What is left to believe in when the dogs are more important then the safety of our children and the quality of life of the city residents? Thanks for listening.

Kerry Arnold

Your comments are welcomed below.

The Tega Cay city council is working on transferring $320,000 from the Parks and Recreation budget to finish the Glennon Center. Residents passed a $3.1 million bond in 2006 for the new center. But because of rising construction costs the bond amount fell short of the actual construction costs and the city needs more cash to complete the center.

The city council considered building a smaller center but opted to keep the center at it’s planned size and not finish the basement interior. The additional cash will allow half of the basement to be finished for use.

The transfer of money from one depart to another is not without controversy. The concern is whether the left over money in the Parks and Recreation budget will fund park projects slated for the new Glendale development. The city hopes the increased tax revenue from retailers like the Tega Cay Wal-Mart and the Stonecrest development will help fund other future projects.

To read more about the Tega Cay money transfer, see Fort Mill Times Jonathan Allen February 6th story.

Tuesday night the Tega Cay City Council said ok to annexing the land around Gold Hill Middle School and Elementary. The school operations should not change but as stated by Mayor Bob Runde, both the City and the Fort Mill School system will benefit by increased safety officer staffing. See my post last week for more info or the Fort Mill Times news stories It’s official: Tega Cay has schools or Gold Hill schools annexation in sight by John Marks