Glendale Developments

[westsider28]

There have long been plans for a trail that goes from Glendale toward the Cottonwood Trail, but apparently the funding is now in place to move forward.  It will be 2.5 miles, generally following Lawson's Fork Creek, and I think it will be natural-surface like Cottonwood.  Construction will start in the spring.  This is in addition to the forthcoming paved trail as part of the Country Club Road project in a few years.  The final connection to Cottonwood is being held up by a few stubborn property owners, as I understand it.  So we have to hope they're eventually willing to allow an easement.

Edited January 12, 2017 by westsider28

[Spartan]

That's going to be a really cool trail. Two of Spartanburg's best assets will finally be connected, and hopefully increase demand for greenways in the area.

[westsider28]

After being covered under a massive tarp for quite a while as it was prepped, the Glendale Bridge has been re-exposed and painted.  It is now a lovely red color! 

(The paint was still fresh enough that I was getting hit with pretty heavy fumes as I took these photos. Haha)

[westsider28]

Finally, an update on the Glendale Bridge.  It should be open by August 1, after some delays due a lighting system change by Duke Energy (typical).  Pic from the article:

[westsider28]

The dedication ceremony for the restored Glendale Bridge was held this morning.  Big crowd there.  The bridge looks fantastic and should be a great asset for Glendale!

[Sparkleman]

On 1/12/2017 at 12:43 AM, westsider28 said:

There have long been plans for a trail that goes from Glendale toward the Cottonwood Trail, but apparently the funding is now in place to move forward.  It will be 2.5 miles, generally following Lawson's Fork Creek, and I think it will be natural-surface like Cottonwood.  Construction will start in the spring.  This is in addition to the forthcoming paved trail as part of the Country Club Road project in a few years.  The final connection to Cottonwood is being held up by a few stubborn property owners, as I understand it.  So we have to hope they're eventually willing to allow an easement.

Has anyone heard anything on when this is going to get underway?

[1Spartanburg]

I believe that the land owners changed there minds and backed out of the agreement and Space did not spend the money in time and lost the funding for the extension of the Cottonwood trail. It is ashamed that we have several individuals that are killing the extension. It would be an unbelievable trail!

[Sparkleman]

Seems to me that there was supposed to be a meeting about all of this back at the end of May as there was a blinking sign on Country Club Rd announcing a meeting to discuss this. Does anyone know if anything ever came out of that? I only remember now as I hit probably the largest pot hole on Country Club Rd (and there are a lot) this morning. Surely any development would get a repave of this awful so called road.

[westsider28]

The meeting was largely a formality, as design is essentially complete and ROW acquisition will begin soon.  Unfortunately, we're looking at 2021 for construction...

[Spartan]

True. The best time to influence the design is early in the process. That's why they're realigning Country Club so it doesn't intersect with Emma Cudd Rd anymore - people were really concerned about the sign distance over the hill, and that was the old road location anyway.

[Sparkleman]

Looks like this might finally be taking off. Duke Power sub contractors have been out cutting down large trees as well as putting up new power poles some 10-15 feet behind the original ones as well as running new wire.

There has also been new piping installed down near the end of Country Club Rd.

[westsider28]

Saw a VCC in the paper this morning about the Glendale Mill site.  It is apparently being acquired by SPACE, who "intends to develop the property as recreational green space with a trail system".  SPACE currently owns land to the south of Lawson's Fork Creek.  This seems like a positive outcome, though I wouldn't have minded a small commercial development (like a restaurant) on a portion of the property.  This site is along the proposed alignment for a portion of The Dan to connect the Trolley Line Trail (future side-path along CC road) to Clifton (including the mixed-use development at that former mill site).

(I saw that the Tyger River Foundation owns a large parcel west/upstream of here. Anyone know if/why these 2 non-profits are "competing"?)

 

[Spartan]

This is a huge win, IMO. This is one of the best natural features in the County. Best to make it a place for the public. There's plenty of opportunity for investment in Glendale. I'd love to see someone fix up the old mansion on the hill... if its even salvageable at this point.

I'm not sure why Tyger bought that tract exactly....  but I've heard an explanation before that made sense. Something to do with legal mumbo jumo. I do know that TRF, Upstate Forever, and SPACE all work together - it's not really a competition in any sense. They all more or less have the same mission.

[westsider28]

Spartanburg Area Conservancy (SPACE), in partnership with Spartanburg County and the State of South Carolina, seeks to purchase and permanently protect 945 acres of undeveloped land adjacent to SPACE’s Glendale Shoals Preserve for $25 Million.  The acquisition would be one of the largest conservation wins in the SC Upstate, and would add to the existing complex of conserved land in Glendale, SC which currently consists of nearly 150 protected acres owned by SPACE, The Tyger River Foundation, and Wofford College. 

If successful, the 945-acre property east of the Glendale Mill Property would be owned by the State of South Carolina, leased and managed by Spartanburg County Parks and Recreation as a public greenspace park, and permanently protected from development with a SPACE conservation easement. SPACE has requested funding assistance from the South Carolina Office of Resilience, the SC Conservation Bank, Spartanburg County, and other local private organizations and citizens to help raise funds to protect the property.

This land is owned by Tyger Oak Inc, which is Milliken legacy land (probably Pacolet Milliken these days).  Kind of a bummer they wouldn't just donate the land as a tax write-off.  This is the land where the greenway connection from Glendale to Clifton would run, as well.  Anyway, this a great thing, and I hope the purchase goes through.

However, I wish we would focus on conservation land acquisition in more developed areas (like Boiling Springs).  Despite calling this Spartanburg's "Central Park" (ugh*), it has virtually nothing in common, as this is a very rural area and most usage will (unfortunately) be drive-to.  Urbanized areas need preserved green space much more urgently.  In an ideal world, we'd do both. But with limited funding, I don't know if this is the best use of it.  But you take what you can get, I suppose (need supportive land owners, applicable grants, etc).

*Pet peeve: Why do we compare every public open space with Central Park?  Is it because that's the only one people know?  Central Park is huge, but highly formalized and accessible in the middle of one of the most dense urban areas in the world.  Whereas this will remain largely natural and is in a very rural location with barely any residents or businesses nearby and very poor access.  If you must compare, it's more like Grunewald in Berlin, or more locally (and they mention it in the press release) Croft. /rant

[Spartan]

Wow that's huge news. That's a major win for Spartanburg County. 

IMO, its more about opportunity than specific strategy. Milliken and Pacolet Milliken have a long history in the area and a commitment to environmental protection. It's great to see them choose to preserve this land instead of developing it like they've done with similar tracts of land in other places. There is so much development happening on the east side these days, its great to see that they are able to preserve this much land in an area that is sure to see a lot more pressure for growth in the near future.

The Central Park complaint makes sense. It's probably used because its the largest and most well known park in the US, and its very publicly accessible, but you're right it will never be anything like that in scope/scale/form/function.

For what its worth, My pet peeve is people calling it Lawson's Fork Creek. The correct name is Lawson's Fork. There's no "creek" involved. It's the same concept as Four Mile Branch. it's not a. creek, its a branch. Or, more formally, it was historically labeled as "Lawson's Fork of the Pacolet River."

[timbach]

On 4/10/2024 at 7:37 PM, Spartan said:

For what its worth, My pet peeve is people calling it Lawson's Fork Creek. The correct name is Lawson's Fork. There's no "creek" involved. It's the same concept as Four Mile Branch. it's not a. creek, its a branch. Or, more formally, it was historically labeled as "Lawson's Fork of the Pacolet River."

I think you've lost that battle. Even the USGS refers to it as Lawsons Fork Creek. Although all of the road signs read "Lawson Fork Creek" with no 's' at the end of Lawson (just to confuse everyone, I assume).