The Buncombe County Sports Park was supposed to connect outward. The county's plan was a paved greenway that would leave the park, follow Hominy Creek and link the soccer fields to the ballpark upstream. That trail stalled. The county's money has since gone into the park itself: new turf, a loop path, a playground, a renovated pavilion and, further out, the first indoor recreation building the county has ever planned. For anyone who uses the park off Sand Hill Road for dog walks, weekend games or a plot in the community garden, the park will keep changing for years, and most of that change will happen inside its own boundary.
A Trail That Stopped at a Property Line
The Enka Heritage Trail is a planned 1.5-mile paved path and part of the county's larger Enka Recreation Destination project. Its route was drawn to start near the intersection of Sand Hill Road and Warren Haynes Drive, follow Hominy Creek upstream, and connect the Sports Park with nearby recreation areas, including the 97-acre Bob Lewis Ballpark. The ballpark is owned and run by the nonprofit Enka Youth Sports Organization, which also controls parcels the greenway would cross.
The trail has been in the works since 2014. According to Mountain Xpress, it stalled in 2024, just as county officials were preparing plans for state review, when the property owners declined to go ahead with the proposed route. EYSO board member Martin Lewis told the paper the organization has not agreed to donate the 53 acres involved. As a nonprofit on a tight budget, he said, it cannot absorb the loss of that much land while still maintaining and funding the ballpark, and he hopes the two sides can still find a workable solution. At a January 22 budget meeting, Commissioner Terri Wells said, "This project's been going on a long time."
In May 2026 the county announced a new short-term plan: a paved trail inside the Sports Park, with room left for future negotiations on the Heritage Trail. Parks & Recreation Director Allison Dains explained the reasoning:
"We're going to go in a different direction for now in order to be able to produce something for the community that they will be able to utilize much sooner."
That May report said the loop was under construction and expected to open by summer. No public update since then confirms it has opened. The safest assumption for October is that the loop is still being finished.
The Work Inside the Fence
The loop belongs to Phase II, a larger package that changes how the middle of the park works. In early April, Asheville Watchdog's John Boyle photographed a grader spreading gravel for the base layer of new artificial turf on Fields 3, 4 and 5. Parks Division Manager Joseph Guseman said those fields would be done by June 2026. After the turf, the county plans to work in roughly this order:
- A paved walking trail, plus lighting and fencing around the newly turfed fields
- A new playground, which the county's grant notice calls a universal playground
- A renovated pavilion, described in the county notice as lighted
- Renovated bathrooms and a renovated ranger contact station
- Resiliency work that the county listed alongside the other upgrades
The two finish dates on record differ. Guseman told the Watchdog in April 2026 that the county expected the phase to be complete in early 2027. The county's October 2025 notice put completion at June 2027. Both are estimates. Either way, the middle of the park is likely to remain a work zone through the coming winter and into spring.
The lower fields along the creek are not part of this phase. Guseman said they will fall under Phase III, and "there are no concrete plans for these fields at this time."
| Part of the park | What's planned | Latest timing on record |
|---|---|---|
| Fields 3, 4 and 5, middle section | Artificial turf, then lighting and fencing | Turf expected by June 2026, per April 2026 reporting |
| Paved loop trail | Short-term stand-in for the stalled Heritage Trail | Expected "by summer" 2026, per May reporting; opening not confirmed |
| Playground, pavilion, bathrooms, ranger station | New or renovated | Phase II finish: early 2027 or June 2027 |
| Lower fields near Hominy Creek | Phase III | No concrete plans as of April 2026 |
| Entrance corner by the dog park and Field 9 | Proposed indoor recreation facility | Construction projected for mid-2028 |
The Entrance Corner Is Next
The last row of that table is the newest. On August 18, Buncombe County commissioners approved a $1,599,220 design contract with Method Studio for an indoor recreation facility at the Sports Park, the first of its kind for the county. Proposed features include basketball and volleyball courts, locker rooms, a catering kitchen, conference rooms, Parks & Recreation offices, and multipurpose rooms that could host community events or serve as a polling site. The design concept could also add entrances or exits to the park to ease traffic at busy times, and the building could support community emergency operations.
The county's initial recommended site is next to the Sand Hill Community Garden, an Asheville GreenWorks tree nursery, Field 9 and the dog park. This is the lower-key corner by the entrance. Back in April, Guseman told the Watchdog the county had no current plans for the dog park area or the grass field beside it. The August announcement named that same corner as the neighbor of a proposed building.
The project is at an early stage. The county says the facility has not been designed or fully scoped, that Parks & Recreation will work with stakeholders on amenities that may be affected, and that construction is projected to start in mid-2028. At the September 15 commissioners' meeting, a representative of the Sand Hill Community Garden asked for the garden to be included in planning, according to CitizenPortal.ai. The same meeting summary says the speaker also raised questions about the dog park, parking and traffic near Captain's Drive. No public response from Asheville GreenWorks or from a dog park user group has appeared so far.
Four Thursdays on Sand Hill Road
The groups whose corner may change are still running programs in it this month. Sand Hill Community Garden staff are leading a four-week beginner acrylic painting series at the Sports Park on October 8, 15, 22 and 29. The county's listing for the first session gives the registration fee as $10, with materials included. All four dates are Thursdays.
Those Thursdays are also the last few of the farmers market season up the same road. The Enka-Candler Farmers' Market meets Thursdays from 3:30 to 6:30 p.m. at A-B Tech's Enka Campus, 1465 Sand Hill Road. Its 2026 season, which began April 30, is listed as ending October 30. That leaves four market Thursdays this month, the same four as the painting series.
If you want to follow the larger plans, the best sources are the county's Parks & Recreation news posts and the commissioners' meetings. The indoor facility is still in design, and the county has said it will engage community partners as the process continues. For people who walk a dog by Field 9 or tend a plot at Sand Hill, the period between now and the projected mid-2028 groundbreaking is when the design gets settled.
When a public park nearby is being rebuilt in phases, the details matter: which corner, which year, which roads carry the traffic. Marilyn Wright follows Enka and Biltmore Lake projects like this one alongside the property questions they raise. Request a private consultation to talk through how the Sports Park's next few years fit your plans.
