By: Monaghan Community Association
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Here is the scoop about the new Textile Park in Monaghan from the reader’s neighborhood association.
Last week, there was a second groundbreaking for the future Textile Heritage Park, owned by Greenville County Redevelopment Authority. As you may know, the site of the old Monaghan Central Park is a historical piece of land that’s part of the cultural heritage of Monaghan Mill Village, and being directly across from Monaghan Mill (now the Lofts of Greenville), the location is a critical spot in the heart of our community.
Recently, we have learned from our Councilpeople that private parties are making covert decisions about the park that will dramatically change the culture and landscape of our neighborhood.
What we Know -
- The land for Textile Heritage Park was donated by Burt Mosier Company for the sole purpose of being used for a park and green space.
- Greenville County Redevelopment Authority (GCRA) sought to have the land rezoned from I-1 to R-MA (multi-family) and told the community of Monaghan Mill Village that this multi-family zoning was the zoning required for parks - that there was no other way to zone for green space. We have since learned from County Council that there are other ways we could have zoned a park. As you will come to see below, we have reason to believe the park was rezoned under false pretenses.
- At two of the county council zoning meetings, community members specifically raised concerns over the multi-family zoning. We asked GCRA point-blank if they planned to develop any structures on the land, other than the small addition to a day-care center for aging adults, which we welcomed & supported. GCRA assured the Monaghan community that no additional structures would be built, and that the rezoning was only to make the park possible.
- Monaghan has continually voiced our oppositions to multi-family housing being built on the park land throughout the planning process for many reasons, but most importantly due to the fact that the land was donated by Burt Mosier for park use only, to honor the Mill of which it served.
- For the last year, we have been meeting regularly with County Planning regarding the plans of the park. GCRA has been extremely tight-lipped about their plans. We were told we would have a completed park 3 years ago. We were shown a design, but not a budget. Grant money and funding for the project were not transparent. We asked to see plans and were brushed off. We asked for updates once a month, every month, prior to our community meetings; those requests went ignored.
- Our community has exhausted attempts to gather information from GCRA. GCRA refuses to share with us their plans.
We are now hearing from our County Council people that GCRA is seeking to put multi-family housing units on and next to Textile Heritage Park, despite telling our community at two different zoning meetings that no structures would be built.
We, as members of the Monaghan Community, do not want apartments built on the new Textile Heritage Park. Historically, the land has been Monaghan Central Park, which served nearby Monaghan School. The land has always belonged to and served the community around it and we insist that its function remain so.
This is a small historical community and we value our original history and architecture. We admire the Mill Village that we are and are working hard to return it to its original glory. Positioning the new Textile Heritage Park as an apartment building’s functional backyard robs the park of its important purpose to honor the legacy of the neighborhood. It damages the egality on which the community has endured at the very moment in which the community is trying solidify its historical legacy.
Our neighbors were at the County Council meeting Tuesday, April 3, wearing green to show support for keeping our park a park, and collectively requesting: 1) transparency above all, and 2) that housing leaders work with the community to restore Monaghan Central Park to its original design of being solely a park and green space, not including any sort of multi-family apartments.
