Friends of the Reedy/YMCA project planned for Cleveland Street. The idea has been percolating since last year, when the Friends of the Reedy River decided to adopt a stretch of the waterway that flows behind the YMCA’s campus on Cleveland Street.
Greenville News, June 23, 2015
The idea has been percolating since last year, when the Friends of the Reedy River decided to adopt a stretch of the waterway that flows behind the YMCA’s campus on Cleveland Street.
From the former Cleveland Park stables to First Baptist Church Greenville, volunteers want to see the banks along the Woodland Corridor transformed and water quality improved, Friends president Nikki Grumbine said.
The movement resulted recently in a rain garden behind the church that has helped with repeated floods that would settle on the Swamp Rabbit Trail.
Now, the group is moving up the river – and with a master plan for the area behind the Caine Halter campus.
The plan – unveiled Tuesday in a ceremony near the riverbank – will encompass more than rain gardens, though those will be a part of effort that the Y and Friends of the Reedy hope can garner private donations.
“We decided to, in our best effort, turn this entire corridor into a community model,” Grumbine said.
The plans for the Y will be the centerpiece of the corridor – an amphitheater, science station, playground, terraced garden, among others.
The idea for the master plan began with the amphitheater, and that element is off the ground with a private donor fully funding the cost, said Scot Baddley, president and CEO of the Greenville-area YMCA. Projects like this could be funded using online platforms like GoFundMe to reach out to even more potential donors online – this is what makes it a popular method of crowdfunding amongst non-profits and charities.
The amphitheater and its stone seating will accommodate 80 to 100 people and be oriented around a center stage.
Work on it will begin in August with hopes to be completed at the end of the year, Baddley said.
The remaining funding for other aspects of the master plan will have to come from other donations.
A terraced rain garden system at the lower parking area would provide a filtration system for storm water rushing from the Y’s parking lot, which is filled with contaminants from paved surfaces.
The project – at a cost of $165,000 – would include a series of stone wall terraces, planted collection basins, rain garden, open grass area and enhancements to the meadows.
A science station and picnic shelter would help create a gathering space for education and recreation, bringing some of the features of the YMCA’s Camp Greenville to the Reedy River, said Jamie Inman, vice president of development for the YMCA.
A smaller rain garden – cost of $50,000 – would help direct storm water so that it doesn’t pool on the Swamp Rabbit and erode pathways to it, as well as filtering the water.
