Charleston parks committee tables proposed fee schedule after debate over tournament rates and field access

Charleston’s Parks and Recreation committee voted to lay over a proposed change to the city’s parks fee rules after a lengthy discussion over who should get priority for fields and whether tournament fees are too low.

Attorney Baldwin explained that the bill (introduced in the meeting as bill 8,067) would remove the current fee schedule from the municipal ordinance and instead authorize a separate fee schedule and regulations adopted by resolution and kept on file with the parks director and the city clerk. “It’s going to promote efficiency,” Attorney Baldwin said, adding the change would allow the city to update fees by resolution rather than by ordinance so adjustments could be made without multiple ordinance readings.

Committee members pressed staff on how the change would affect local youth leagues and whether outside travel tournaments could displace residents. One member raised concern that some leagues or new conferences can exclude local teams and asked whether the new rules would prevent that practice. Attorney Baldwin said the document sets a priority for local recreational providers and noted the city has long used an 85% residency preference for waivers. He added that travel teams that meet nonprofit criteria would typically receive a 50% waiver, but the ordinance does not regulate internal league membership or national districting rules.

Members also raised enforcement questions about subleasing reserved field time to third-party travel teams. Baldwin said renters must sign facility-use agreements that include a hold-harmless clause and proof of insurance; rather than pursue fines against youth organizations, the city could revoke scheduling priority for groups found to be subleasing in violation of the agreement. “Instead of actually trying to have someone collect fines from a youth baseball or basketball, they would lose the privilege of actually occupying those fields,” he said.

Several committee members said Charleston’s current rates appear low compared with nearby cities. Speakers cited Hurricane charging about $60 an hour and Bridgeport about $75 an hour; committee members noted some nearby municipalities collect several thousand dollars for multi-day tournaments. In Charleston, the current full-day turf reservation fee cited in the discussion is $300, and attendees pointed out some per-hour fees in the draft—such as an artificial-turf rate mentioned in the meeting—may need rebalancing.

Given the upcoming season and existing reservations, staff warned that any rate changes would be prospective—registrations already booked under the current fees would remain in place. Committee members asked staff to prepare specific, written edit suggestions and fee scenarios and to return quickly: “Write your edits down and come back to the committee with your suggestions,” one member said.

A motion to lay the bill over for further edits passed after a second; the committee also laid over the accompanying resolution (referred to in the meeting as resolution 26,049). The chair said the parks director’s regular department update will be held at the next meeting to allow finance more time to review revenue impacts.

What’s next: staff will prepare a revised fee schedule and an updated facility-use agreement with clarified enforcement provisions and proposed new tournament and hourly rates. The committee will reconvene to consider written edits and a revised recommendation before any new rates take effect.