2022: Woodruff Sketches a $16 Million Community Sports Complex

In August 2022, The Woodruff Times' Jeremy Handel reported that city leaders were looking at new recreation amenities for a fast-growing town. The headline idea was a sports complex of about 40 acres on the northwest side of town.

City Manager Lee Bailey said the community was growing and "we've got to provide recreational facilities." He noted that Woodruff had few of them. With nearly 5,000 new homes planned in the area, he said the population was projected to double in five to seven years.

Earlier in 2022 the city had adopted impact fees on new development. Part of that money was set aside for the police department and for recreation, including a proposed athletic complex on Fountain Inn Road at Godfrey Town Road, near Lanford Grove Holiness Church. Bailey put the cost at roughly $16 million and said the impact fees gave the project a funding source. "We envision a very nice facility that would be one-of-a-kind in the Upstate," he said.

A conceptual drawing showed several baseball and softball fields, soccer and lacrosse fields, a walking path and a playground. Bailey stressed that it was only a concept, that the drawing was certain to change once formal planning began, and that the park was likely three to five years away.

What happened next: the plan grew into the 103-acre Riverbend Athletic Complex on the Enoree River, which broke ground on Oct. 8, 2025, alongside Libertas Academy Woodruff at 497 Godfrey Town Road. See our story on the groundbreaking.

Read the original 2022 story at The Woodruff Times.