Tega Cay approved a lease with Clear Springs for more than 12 acres that would be pat of Catawaba Park, a 61-acre, waterfront site on New Gray Rock Road. It will be near Duke Energy’s Fort Mill access site below the Lake Wylie dam, where these two men are shown fishing. Melissa Cherry Herald file photo

TEGA CAY

Catawba Park has been a long time coming. Tega Cay is looking to set the park up to succeed for much longer still.

The city approved a lease with Clear Springs for more than 12 acres, which could be good for a century. The lease — 50 years, with two possible 25-year extensions — comes at no charge for Tega Cay. The city will pay $1,300 annually for liability insurance above what it has through its general liability provider.

The vision for Catawaba Park is a 61-acre, waterfront site on New Gray Rock Road with athletic fields, open space, playgrounds, trails, an amphitheater and more. It would be big enough for city-scale festivals or events, accessible enough for regular recreation use from walking dogs to youth sports teams.

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The city owns almost 10 acres. Clear Springs has another 12.5 acres, and Duke Energy the remaining 32 acres. The city is working on a separate lease agreement with Duke.

Charlie Funderburk, city manager, said discussions with Clear Springs date back a decade or more.

“We’ve been working for quite some time with our friends over at Clear Springs and appreciate their efforts on this,” he said. “It has been a long time coming.”

Both Clear Springs and Duke have been supportive of the city plans for Catawba Park.

“This has been a long time coming,” said Mayor George Sheppard. “It hasn’t been easy. The Springs folks have been really helpful with us getting to this point and I can’t thank them enough.”

Still, challenges remain. Some estimates have put the park at about $12 million. The city has some money set aside, and has some funding sources available like its hospitality tax. The city approached York County about its hospitality tax revenue, but to date, the county hasn’t committed money.

Another challenge comes with the Duke agreement. Funderburk said the city could bring an agreement up for Tega Cay City Council vote by its November meeting. Yet the agreement wouldn’t be official until Duke gets final approval for its recreation management plan from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. That group gave Duke a 40-year license to operate lakes and power generation sites on the Catawba in 2015, but Duke challenged the decision wanting a 50-year license. Significant money for recreation improvements hinge on whether Duke gets the full 50-year license.

John Marks: 803-326-4315, @JohnFMTimes