SPACE eyes additional Glendale property for park
A Spartanburg conservation group is eyeing close to 1,000 acres in Glendale for a public green space park.
Spartanburg Area Conservancy (SPACE) has plans to purchase a 945acre tract of undeveloped land east of Glendale Shoals and Glendale Mill properties. They are working to acquire funding for the $25 million purchase.
If acquired, the property would be owned by the state, leased and managed by Spartanburg County Parks and Recreation, and protected from development with a SPACE conservation easement.
For SPACE Executive Director Sam Parrott, the opportunity comes with some urgency because, from a conservation perspective, keeping the land as natural as possible would be helpful in the prevention of future flooding from Lawsons Fork Creek.
“With the rate of development in Spartanburg, this is our last chance to protect and create a publicly accessible greenspace of this size so close to town,” Parrott said. “We’re extremely fortunate to have this opportunity."
In March, the SC Conservation Bank voted to give $3 million towards the purchase.
In addition to the funding from SC Conservation Bank, SPACE is seeking about $2 million from Spartanburg County and has requested $20 million from the South Carolina Office of Resilience, which was founded to help mitigate future risk of flooding in the state.
Closing on the property is tentatively scheduled for June. Funding requests made to Spartanburg County Council and the SC Office of Resilience are set to be voted on in April and May, respectively.
“We still need a lot of things to go right in order to purchase this stunning property,” Parrott said. “To date, this project has received wonderful support locally and statewide. Our community’s quality of life is tied directly to the presence of, and access to, greenspaces. We’re all hopeful that