June 3, 2026
Davis Whitfield-Cargile (left) addresses members of Brevard City Council during public comment time at the June 1 meeting at Brevard City Hall. Jonathan Rich / BrevardBeagle.com
By Jonathan Rich
BrevardBeagle.com
The word ‘softball’ may be typically associated with spring sports or easy questions and answers, but parents of young soccer players who attended Monday night’s Brevard City Council meeting and their questions about safety and sanitation at the Brevard Sports Complex on Ecusta Road were anything but an athletic or comfortable contest.
Brevard City Manager Wilson Hooper presented the initial municipal budget for the next fiscal year on May 4 and Council members are scheduled to continue discussing and refining it Friday at 8:30 a.m. during a public budget workshop, but four of the seven residents who spoke up during public comment time Monday night put the spotlight on what they saw as egregious ongoing issues at the popular public facility regarding parking and sanitation at the adjacent soccer fields.
The first was Davis Whitfield-Cargile, a local lawyer who also coaches youth sports at the Brevard Sports Complex.
“As beautiful, well-used and amazing as that facility and the community that uses it has been, there are three issues with it that speak to safety and health of the people using that facility not being important to this city and we need to fix that,” he said.
Whitfield-Cargile called the parking lot at the sports complex “a disaster” and noted it was recently identified for improvements after an April 21 incident when a 7-year-old boy on his bicycle traveling from the dog park section of the property to the adjacent skate park around dusk was run over by a large pickup truck.
That collision involved an intoxicated motorist making a turn in the cramped parking area and prompted the city’s Public Safety Committee and members of City Council to recommend that available parking in the city-owned parcel off Ecusta Road be better identified and that there be an increased police presence during times of high public traffic, but Whitfield-Cargile identified another pressing issue there.
“When I am on the soccer field coaching, I walk past the smell of human feces the minute I get out of my car,” he explained. “We’ve been relying on porta johns that have been used by hundreds of people most weekdays, most weekends for a majority of the months of the year. At least, it feels that way when I coached from August to November and from January to May.”
He also said excessive airborne dust at the Sports Complex was unacceptable for anyone using the recreational facility.
“The third thing that is a health hazard is the amount of dust that blows from that parking lot across the field while young kids are out there practicing and playing,” he continued. “Please invest in the parking lot, making it safer and finding adequate parking. Please invest in bathroom facilities so that our kids aren’t smelling human feces while they’re drinking water, or running or warming up or playing a game. It’s a beautiful facility. Let’s show the city that to this City Council the health and safety of the people using the soccer field and the adjacent softball fields is important.”
Owen Carson, a youth soccer coach who is on the November ballot as a Democratic candidate for Transylvania County Commissioner, said the community created by the sport is at risk due to the state of the Sports Complex where it is played and enjoyed by soccer enthusiasts of all ages.
“I came here 22 years ago to play soccer at Brevard College and I’ve enjoyed the community that soccer has provided from the time I was 3-years-old to now,” Carson said. “I have seen the soccer program here grow and I have seen children thrive and learn the game of soccer but also learn about life through soccer. The field we have that Davis talked about is phenomenal, but there are some issues with the parking lot specifically.”
Carson then suggested paving the Sports Complex parking lot would both make it safer and prevent dust and that the state of the facilities reflected badly on the city that owns it to visitors coming from outside Transylvania County.
“When people come to our community to learn about who we are and have their children play sports against ours, it reflects poorly on our community when we don’t have facilities that have adequate bathrooms and parking lots. I think it’s worth investing in children’s sports. It’s worth investing in things that build community and I would urge you to consider that as you deliberate over your budget … investing in play spaces and safe spaces for our community is really important. That infrastructure is a key component.”
Anna Heard with Transylvania Youth Soccer Association echoed those comments.
Anna Heard with Transylvania County Youth Soccer also addressed Brevard City Council on June 1 regarding the city-owned sports complex off Ecusta Road. Jonathan Rich / Brevard Beagle
“During the season on any given Saturday, we host more than 400 participants on the soccer field alone,” Heard said. “That number does not include the families using the skate park, walking their dogs at the dog park, riding the bike path or those attending Little League baseball games. As recreational use of this area has grown, the inadequacies of the parking area have become impossible to ignore.”
Heard recounted the April 21 incident and said it should be viewed as a call to action for improvements at the Brevard Sports Complex.
“It was not an isolated warning sign,” she said. “We have witnessed numerous close calls involving children, families, cyclists and vehicles. The lack of organization, designated traffic flow, safe pedestrian pathways and sufficient parking creates an environment that is simply unsafe for the public.”
Shea Airey with Ecusta Football club said the young players on TYSA’s soccer field often have difficulty with the restroom facilities at the Sports Complex and he often has had to direct families away from the Ecusta Road property to nearby restaurants and gas stations in lieu of what is provided there.
“There are girls as young as 6, 7, or 8, and if they have to use a restroom sometimes they have to go to that porta potty that is unfortunately frequently overfilled,” Airey explained. “I don’t want to paint a terrible picture for you, but often times it is really unpleasant and sometimes those young children simply will not use that restroom. For a 6- or 7- or 8-year-old girl to have that experience at a public park in Brevard is really unacceptable.”
Local residents are given three minutes to make their remarks to the full council during public comment time at each council meeting and those on the dais do not directly respond to what is said at the time.
There are restroom facilities with two permanent year-round toilets adjacent to the central concession stands at the Sports Complex maintained by the City of Brevard, but those are 600 feet away from the premium soccer field with bleachers currently used by Transylvania Youth Soccer. That playing field was upgraded to artificial turf by TYSA in 2023 at a cost of more than $1.1 million, but the arrangement did not include any provisions for permanent toilets.
There are currently four portable toilets available for use at the ball fields at the other end of the sport complex and two portable toilets near the TYSA soccer field and the city skate park. The portable toilets are maintained by an outside contracted sanitation company and only thoroughly cleaned about once a week.
When reached for comment after the meeting, Brevard Mayor Pro Tempore Aaron Baker reiterated his previous stance that he would not vote to approve a budget for the 2026-27 fiscal year without additional funding for these concerns being addressed.
“It says so much about our community that our ball fields, soccer fields, skate parks and pathways are full of kids learning new skills, making friends, building character and simply having fun,” Baker wrote in an email. “The safety of children in our community must be our top priority. Multiple times, I have personally witnessed dangerous situations in the overflowing parking area at the city’s Sports Complex. Community organizations have done their part to invest in our children – it’s the city’s turn now.”
Brevard City Manager Wilson Hooper also acknowledged the recent push for increased funding at the recreational facility and said this and many other public requests would be considered during Friday’s Brevard City Council workshop to be held at 8:30 a.m. Friday.
“We here at the city are proud of the Sports Complex facility, and we appreciate feedback on how we can make it safer and better for its users,” Hooper wrote in an email to BrevardBeagle.com.
Friday’s budget workshop is open to the public, but it will not be livestreamed on the City of Brevard YouTube or Facebook internet sites.