Mt. Pleasant parents say more fields needed

Town's recreational soccer program has more than 5,000 players

Soccer parents packed Town Hall Council chambers Wednesday to protest soccer being blocked to the outfields of a baseball complex in Carolina Park.

Councilman Billy Swails requested the meeting with the council's recreation committee and soccer parents and participants in part because his niece, Shauna Nelson, is a member of the Mount Pleasant Soccer Club Booster Board.

Parents told committee members that the soccer program — with more than 5,000 participants — is larger than football or baseball, which are typically boys only sports and that the program has outgrown Mount Pleasant's current fields. There are only seven full soccer fields in Mount Pleasant.

Kevin Carter, Mount Pleasant Soccer Club Booster Board president, handed the council's recreation committee, chaired by Councilman Gary Santos, a stack of signatures petitioning that a lit soccer complex to be built on land set aside for a future park in the Carolina Park subdivision in northern Mount Pleasant. They also asked to improve existing fields.

The town's 2017 Recreation Master Plan calls for adding a baseball diamond complex at Carolina Park and allowing soccer to be played on the outfields.

Parents hoped that the town would reform the plan and construct a tournament-worthy soccer complex instead. Mother Marla Chalfie said she has enrolled one of her children in a club on Daniel Island just so he would have more time to practice.

The town's current master recreation plan would cost about $16 million to $17 million, Town Administrator Mac Burdette said. That would be a $250 per year increase on a tax bill for a $400,000 home.

Parents said they spend $250 to $700 each weekend attending tournaments in other cities said they would gladly pay more taxes to build a soccer complex.

The only problem is that the town's current master plan doesn't include the lighted facility parents asked for.

Santos said he is looking at taking recommendations from the community and possibly making changes to the plan.

Finding space for a complex could be the biggest hurdle where an acre of land typically costs $200,000, Burdette said.

Reach Jessica Johnson at 937-5921 or jjohnson@postandcourier.com.