ROCK HILL A day at the beach in Rock Hill soon could come with a little more leg room.

The York County Council has approved a plan to stabilize and expand the shoreline at Ebenezer Park on Lake Wylie - the only public swimming beach on the lake - which has eroded over time.

"We have some serious situations going on," park superintendent Pat Morrison said, "and we definitely need to address it."

Plans also could include walking paths and shade trees.

"We plan on constructing a new beach there," county engineer Mark Kettlewell said. "We'd like to expand it a little."

County administrators now can begin contract negotiations with a firm for design work.

"We've had a lot of erosion there over the years," Kettlewell said. "We've had a lot from the parking lot right there above (the shoreline), and we've had a lot of wave action."

Ebenezer also offers campsites, boat access ramps, picnic space and a playground area.

By expanding the beach inland - the project isn't expected to lengthen its shoreline - guests will have more room to sit in the sand while that same sand wards off Canada geese, whose waste can cause problems at the park.

The shade trees also will work toward erosion control, Kettlewell said.

The cost for "conceptual planning" shouldn't exceed $6,000 and can come from the county's existing parks budget. Further design and construction will follow, but planners hope to have those costs at least estimated by the 2012-13 budget cycle.

Construction could begin next winter when park usage and lake levels are down.

The firm likely would use "bio-engineering protection methods" for shoreline stabilization and create a new stormwater treatment and collection system for parking lot runoff.

A 2008 lease agreement between the county and Duke Energy, which owns the lake, requires that the county oversee shoreline management.