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Spartanburg Area Conservancy (SPACE) is one step closer to its goal of preserving over 1,000 acres in Glendale.

Spartanburg County Council unanimously voted April 15 to approve a resolution giving $2 million from the Spartanburg County Public Access Land Bank to the project.

If SPACE succeeds in acquiring the property, approximately 945-acres to the east of their Glendale Shoals and Glendale Mill properties, it will be leased and managed by Spartanburg County Parks and Recreation for 100 years and protected by a SPACE conservation easement.

"The easement that will be reviewed not only by the state, but by the county as well to make sure that it meets everybody's goals, and the language within that easement will have allowances for the creation of infrastructure for passive recreation," SPACE Executive Director Sam Parrott told council members. "Welcome centers, parking lots trails, bathrooms, the facilities that anybody would need to be able to use this space well for recreation."

County Council Chairman Manning Lynch called the project a "tremendous opportunity."

"The way this fits into our overall program for outside linear parks, which are our trail systems, this is right in the middle of what will soon be the Country Club Road corridor addition to the Mary Black Rail Trail, and it will eventually end up in Clifton in one direction," Lynch said. "So, this is just an exciting piece in that whole puzzle. A great opportunity, a generational opportunity."

One vote left to fund the park

The SC Conservation Bank voted to give $3 million towards the purchase last month, so Spartanburg County Council's decision brings space to approximately $5 million towards the $25 million purchase price for the land.

SPACE has requested $20 million from the South Carolina Office of Resilience, which was founded to help mitigate future risk of flooding in the state. That vote is set for May. Closing on the property is tentatively scheduled for June, pending a favorable vote.

Acquiring the property for a green space park would be a significant win for conservation in Spartanburg County, according to SPACE Board of Trustees President Laura Stille.

"Spartanburg is now the eighth fastest growing metro area in the nation, according to US census data. Additionally, Spartanburg County has one of the lowest percentages of protected lands in the state of South Carolina at 2.6 of our total acreage, this ranks us 42nd out of South Carolina's 46 counties. This proposed project will increase the percentage of protected lands by 8%," Stille said.

While the acquisition is not anticipated to change that ranking, Stille noted, "Protecting this property forever, helps ensure that future generations — my children, my grandchildren — hopefully, know the Spartanburg that we love today and want to return to live here one day."

Samantha Swann covers city news, development and culture in Spartanburg. She is a University of South Carolina Upstate and Greenville Technical College alumna. Contact her at[email protected] or on Instagram at @sam_on_spartanburg.

A Spartanburg conservation group is eyeing close to 1,000 acres in Glendale for a public green space park.

Spartanburg Area Conservancy (SPACE) has plans to purchase a 945-acre tract of undeveloped land east of Glendale Shoals and Glendale Mill properties. They are working to acquire funding for the $25 million purchase.

If acquired, the property would be owned by the state, leased and managed by Spartanburg County Parks and Recreation, and protected from development with a SPACE conservation easement.

For SPACE Executive Director Sam Parrott, the opportunity comes with some urgency because, from a conservation perspective, keeping the land as natural as possible would be helpful in the prevention of future flooding from Lawsons Fork Creek.

“With the rate of development in Spartanburg, this is our last chance to protect and create a publicly accessible greenspace of this size so close to town,” Parrott said. “We’re extremely fortunate to have this opportunity."

In March, the SC Conservation Bank voted to give $3 million towards the purchase.

In addition to the funding from SC Conservation Bank, SPACE is seeking about $2 million from Spartanburg County and has requested $20 million from the South Carolina Office of Resilience, which was founded to help mitigate future risk of flooding in the state.

Closing on the property is tentatively scheduled for June. Funding requests made to Spartanburg County Council and the SC Office of Resilience are set to be voted on in April and May, respectively.

“We still need a lot of things to go right in order to purchase this stunning property,” Parrott said. “To date, this project has received wonderful support locally and statewide. Our community’s quality of life is tied directly to the presence of, and access to, greenspaces. We’re all hopeful that we’ll be able to celebrate this as a win for local conservation and the citizens of Spartanburg County and the State of South Carolina.”

County leaders consider the creation of a park as a way to increase the quality of life for Spartanburg residents. Ideas for the park include amenities such as walking and biking trails and picnic areas.

“It helps define who we are, we’re about quality of place and quality of life,” County Councilman David Britt said. “We’ve been planning for something like this for several years, putting money into our conservation bank account, saving money to do something like this.”

If approved, it will be the first project funded by the county's conservation fund.

“It’s not often that you have the ability to preserve 1,000 acres in the county,” Britt said. “This is our Central Park in Spartanburg County … it’s one of the most beautiful properties in Spartanburg County. We want to keep it natural where people can just go out and enjoy nature.”

Samantha Swann covers city news, development and culture in Spartanburg. She is a University of South Carolina Upstate and Greenville Technical College alumna. Contact her at[email protected] or on Instagram at @sam_on_spartanburg.

SPARTANBURG — The largest tract of undeveloped land left near the city of Spartanburg could have been filled with a sea of houses. Instead, the Glendale Nature Park is Spartanburg County's newest and biggest greenspace.

And it's finally open to the public.

The 945-acre park contains more than three miles of hiking trails and protects a stretch of more than five miles along Lawson's Fork Creek and its tributaries.

It abuts the Glendale Shoals Nature Preserve and another parcel of protected land owned by the Tyger River Foundation, creating around 1,200 acres of protected forest.

"This specifically fits into Spartanburg County’s strategic vision plan," county spokesperson Kristin Guilfoos said. "One of the pillars of that plan is land conservation and preserving and protecting it for the community to use."

It almost didn't happen.

New development or nature preserve?

Back in 2023, the owners of the property, including the Milliken family, were approached by developers who wanted to turn the woods into another development, said Debra Stevens, spokesperson for Spartanburg Area Conservancy, or SPACE.

The developers wanted to build a high-density neighborhood on it, which could have totaled around 1,000 homes, she said. So the landowners approached SPACE to see if they could provide a counteroffer.

"They would have liked to see the property protected, but it was a very hefty sum of money that we were up against," Stevens said. "We didn't know we could do it. It was a lot of money."

While SPACE didn't purchase the property itself, it acted as a facilitator and helped arrange the $25 million land buy.

The state Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism purchased the tract; the Spartanburg County Parks Department manages and maintains it through a 100-year lease from the state.

The purchase was funded by $20 million from the state Office of Resilience, $3 million from the State Conservation Bank and $2 million from the Spartanburg County Conservation Bank.

SPACE also holds the conservation easement, which is a deed restriction that protects the property from development in perpetuity.

"If the state would ever sell it, for example, it would be our job that that new person didn’t ever develop it," Stevens explained.

Former Spartanburg County councilman David Britt and council Chairman Manning Lynch confirmed Stevens' account. Britt said he was impressed with the Milliken family for helping ensure the land's preservation.

"They could have easily taken that offer," Britt said. "But it would have changed the landscape of Spartanburg County forever. They wanted it to remain as something the people of Spartanburg can enjoy for eternity."

Lynch said if he had his way, the county would take on a similar preservation project every few years if the opportunity presents itself.

"We do a lot of growth in this county, and people, they get tired of seeing it on every corner sometimes," Lynch said. "So this was a chance to give something back."

More trails in Glendale Nature Park

The park is still far from finding its final form.

More trails are planned for the site, including a connection to the Daniel Morgan Trail System, known as The DAN, and a separate mountain bike trail.

Guilfoos said the county doesn't have a timeline yet for when the bike trail will go in, but wants a separate path for the safety of the bikers and pedestrians.

Construction of the DAN connection could start by early 2026, said Leigh MacDonald, the trails development director for Spartanburg Play. Advocate. Live Well., or PAL. But that date isn't set in stone.

The plan for the DAN is to connect it to the property via the Country Club Road section, which is being built in conjunction with State Department of Transportation improvements on the road.

Once there, the DAN will run north along the western edge of the park and then head east, paralleling Lewis Chapel Road until it meets Goldmine Road. At that point, PAL hopes to run the trail up to Clifton.

MacDonald said PAL is grateful for the opportunity to partner with SPACE and the county to extend the trail.

"It's such a transformational project for the area, and anytime we get to be part of a project like this, it’s really fantastic," she added.

The park is open from dawn to dusk and can be accessed via Glendale Shoals or a parking lot on Lewis Chapel Road.