by Karen Louden , Staff Writer
The Montgomery County soccer community clashed with upcounty residents last week over efforts to build a soccer complex in Germantown.
The Northern Area Recreation Advisory Board and Upcounty Citizens Advisory Board hosted a public forum last Tuesday on plans for a 16- to 24-field soccer complex at South Germantown Regional Park off Schaeffer Road.
Montgomery County Parks Department officials were on hand to lay out the latest plans for a public/private partnership for the 658-acre park with the Maryland SoccerPlex Foundation, Inc., a consortium of private groups and individuals who plan to raise half of the funds needed for the soccer project.
SoccerPlex representatives were armed with statistics that show the county is in great demand for more fields as the popularity of soccer grows.
Cam Schmidt, president of Montgomery Soccer, Inc. (MSI), said there has been "spectacular growth" in soccer programs in recent years.
In 1992, MSI had about 9,000 players ages 6 to 19. Last year, that number grew to 14,592.
"And it continues to grow," Schmidt said.
This year, MSI is processing 16,000 applications for the soccer season. Last year, MSI turned away 550 applications because of lack of facilities to accommodate extra teams.
"We expect this to become a growing problem," he said. "There just are not enough fields right now to do it."
Schmidt said in the county as a whole, about 25,000 children play soccer while competing for use of 74 soccer fields--of which most are in poor playing condition.
At the current growth rates, Schmidt estimates there will be 40,000 kids playing soccer in the county in five years.
About 200 people attended the meeting, representing various soccer groups around the county, as well as the semi-rural communities that frame the park's boundaries.
The $9.9 million for the first phase of the project would pay for 16 fields, parking, sewer and water hook up, plus cover costs to develop an entrance road from the new Route 118. It would also maintain all existing park facilities.
Funding for the design stage will be available this July and construction is planned for fiscal year 2000 or 2001. The complex could open as early as 2002, according to parks officials.
The Parks Commission will hold another public meeting on Thursday, Feb. 19, 7:30 p.m. at Kingsview Middle School in Germantown. The Parks Commission will then hold a work session on the soccer issue on Monday, Feb. 23.
About $5 million would come from Maryland SoccerPlex through fundraising efforts, fees and donations.
In January, Gov. Parris Glendening announced his support with $3 million in state backing from the Program Open Space fund for the first phase of development.
County Executive Douglas M. Duncan joined the partnership soon after by including money in the 1999 Capital Improvements Program.
If the project continues to be bankrolled, ultimate development could include eight more outdoor fields, plus a lighted field with bleacher seating; a championship quality field; indoor soccer arena; and other recreational facilities first approved by the Parks Commission in 1996.
Those facilities include an indoor pool, indoor tennis courts, indoor ice rink, driving range and BMX bicycle track.
Bob Skelton of Germantown said he is confused about the magnitude of the facility that seems to be reaching far beyond regional park parameters.
"This went from 16 [fields] to one of the largest on the East Coast," he said.
Skelton questioned the county's plan to provide one main entrance into the park off Route 118, while other county regional parks, such as Wheaton Regional and Cabin John, have multiple entrances.
Kelly Bourque, president of the new Germantown Athletic Club baseball organization, reminded the crowd that soccer is not the only sport that is struggling with finding playing fields.
With 761 players signed onto the spring baseball season, Bourque said teams have no place to practice.
He appealed to county officials and recreation representatives to provide some equity to other sports in the upcounty before they start giving away land to groups outside the community.
"Be more responsible to all of the sports in the community," Bourque said. "Please look at Germantown's needs first."
Henry Martens, president of the Maryland SoccerPlex Foundation, Inc., said the soccer megaplex is aimed at giving children a better opportunity to pursue the sport.
"It's not a political thing, it's simply for the kids," he said.
Martens said five annual soccer tournaments would be played at the complex plus Special Olympics events and high school championship games.
But some local residents are not ready to embrace the World Cup of county recreational soccer facilities in their community.
Susan Burdette, a member of Citizens for South Germantown, said she is concerned about the traffic that will cut-through the area's surrounding rustic roads to get to the park.
"People will take shortcuts," she said. "It's going to affect my neighborhood and my neighbors."
Burdette also noted the existence of a 20-year-old sludge dump buried under the park and expressed concern the community's ground water could be contaminated during construction.
Loretta Knight, a resident who lives off Schaeffer Road, said vehicles heading to the park now have no regard for the residents trying to pull out onto the road and often park in their driveways.
It is common for vans packed full of children to speed down the road to get to a game that they are probably late for, Knight said.
One day, an impatient driver who didn't want to wait for Knight to pull into her driveway decided to go around her and hit a tree.
"You need to be concerned about Schaeffer Road and the people who live on it," she said.
Ronald Welke, transportation coordinator for the county Department of Park and Planning, provided traffic predictions for the South Germantown area based on new housing development and the proposed park.
"The bad news is that traffic is going to increase substantially in west Germantown irrespective of the soccer complex," he said.
Welke said 4,500 single-family homes have been approved for the Kings Crossing and Hoyles Mill Village areas, with 600 to 800 built at a time. Kingsview Village Center, a 114,000-square-foot shopping center, is also on line for development at Clopper Road and Great Seneca Highway.
"There's a lot of activity that is going to occur there in the next seven years," Welke said.
Don Cochran, director of the Montgomery County Department of Parks, said many issues still need to be sorted out, including management and maintenance responsibilities.
"These things are still evolving," Cochran said. "We are not going to bring something to this community that we can't control."
From the Gazette Papers