State grant will help fund passive park at Boulder Bluff

The entrance to the Boulder Bluff community in Goose Creek soon will see some improvements.

Jasiri Whipper/The Post and Courier

This plot of land at the entrance of the Boulder Bluff neighborhood in Goose Creek soon will be developed into a park.

The city recently received a Park and Recreation Development Grant for $42,188.90 from the S.C. Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism to develop a small, passive park in the Boulder Bluff neighborhood.

Conceptual plans call for landscaping, decorative lighting and benches on the 0.39-acre property at the intersection of Adeline Drive and Stephanie Drive.

No firm time line has been set for the completion of the project, but city officials hope to have most of the work done by spring 2009. The city will kick in an additional $10,547.23 toward the project.

The improvement of this property will be beneficial to the residents of Boulder Bluff, said Goose Creek Mayor Michael Heitzler. He added that the park is more for looks than for recreation. City officials were mainly concerned with enhancing property values in the area.

"We're just trying to improve the visual appeal after you come home from working," he said. "We want people to enjoy their lives in Goose Creek and we want them to feel good about coming home to Goose Creek."

For 45 years, Boulder Bluff resident Rosemary Wyndham has lived next door to the small plot of land that will be developed. She is concerned about pedestrians and the traffic near the park but was pleased to learn of the impending upgrades. "If nothing else, it's going to look better," she said.

The traffic should not be a concern for residents, Heitzler said. He calls the entrance feature a "calming park."

"We're not trying to create an attractive nuisance," Heitzler said. "It's a place to calm the traffic, but we don't want people to be attracted to that place."

Reach Jasiri Whipper at 745-5863 or jwhipper@postandcourier.com.