Charles Warner|Daily Times Located in Foster Park, this former swimming area could soon be the site of an amphitheater that would be built by the City of Union. A majority of those who participated in an online poll conducted by The Union Daily Daily Times feel the proposed amphitheater would help attract more people to Foster Park. The city is currently seeking a grant for the project and has allocated matching funds to build the amphitheater which would incorporate the existing bleachers. The project would also include construction of a new parking area for handicapped and elderly patrons.

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An amphitheater built on the site of an old swimming pool would help attract more people to Foster Park according a majority of the participants in an online poll conducted by The Union Daily Times.

In March, Union City Council authorized the allocation of $100,000 from the Local Accommodations Tax Fund and the Local Hospitality Fund to match a $100,000 grant the city is seeking from the South Carolina Department of Parks, Recreation & Tourism’s (PRT) Land & Water Conservation Fund. The funds would be used to finance the development of an amphitheater on the site of a filled in community swimming pool at the back of Foster Park. The proposed amphitheater would incorporate the pool’s bleachers along with the installation of a shelter/canopy system to provide audiences with protection from the elements; construction of a performance area atop the old pool that would include a concrete and a shelter/canopy similar to the one that would cover the bleachers.

The project would also include a new parking area that would be built near the amphitheater to accommodate handicapped and elderly patrons.

Construction of the performance area will cost an estimated $85,000 and the seating area $65,000. The new parking area is projected to cost $50,000. The cost of the project will be split between the funds allocated by the city and the PRT grant it is applying for.

Mayor Harold Thompson said the amphitheater would be an additional entertainment facility at the park which already serves as the site of community events such as the annual Fourth of July celebration and the annual Public Safety Day Kids Fishing Rodeo. Thompson said the park already people from both within and without Union County and that the amphitheater will increase the park’s appeal to the public.

A majority of participants in an online poll conducted by The Union Daily Times agreed with Thompson.

Posted on The Union Daily Times website (www.uniondailytimes.com), the poll asked “Will an amphitheater help attract more people to Foster Park?”

Of the 93 readers who participated in the poll, 57 percent said yes, the amphitheater will attract more people to Foster Park.

This weeks’s online poll asks, “Should Union County Council and Union City Council continue using incentives such as lower utility rates, fee-in-lieu of taxes agreements, and infrastructure to attract new industry to Union County?”