A proposal to bring a 24-soccer field complex to Germantown got a significant boost last week when the Montgomery County Parks Commission voted to support the plan for South Germantown Recreational Park.
The commission's recommendation Thursday, on a 3-1 vote, would bring 16 fields plus a championship field and indoor arena in the first phase of construction. The second and third phases would each include four additional fields.
If construction proceeds as planned, the first 16 fields will be completed in 2001, with four fields to follow in 2002 and four more in 2004.
Officials plan to look at how the fields affect the community and environment before moving forward, and questions were raised at the worksession by planning staff on whether or not environmental constraints would allow that many fields to be built.
Each phase will also be subject to County Council approval.
Many county residents who would like to see additional soccer fields have been enthusiastic about the proposal. The County Council has received about 400 postcard titled "Give Our Kids a Complex" in support of the project. But the magnitude of the proposal has been questioned, particularly by Germantown area residents.
While planners agree more fields are needed to serve a growing soccer community, commission member Davis Richardson, who cast the dissenting vote at the commission meeting, disagrees about how to accommodate those needs without adversely affecting the park's neighbors or short-changing multiple recreational uses for upcounty residents.
"This is an important facility that was identified in the planning for Germantown and the upcounty," said Richardson, a resident of nearby Boyds. "The issue of the number of fields, to me, is a primary issue [and] I believe that a compromise is needed from this 24 fields that has been proposed."
The 24-field plan is the idea of the Maryland SoccerPlex Foundation Inc., a consortium of private individuals and soccer groups that plans to raise $10 million to open the soccer park.
The consortium's plan has been opposed by neighbors of the 658-acre park at Route 118 and Schaeffer Road, who fear an onslaught of traffic and other problems.
"It is a single sport monopolizing an entire park designed to accommodate all citizens," said Laura Creedon, a South Germantown resident who attended the vote. "I would like to hold them to the original master plan; that is what the community can absorb comfortably."
Thirteen fields plus various recreational amenities have already been approved in a 1996 master plan for the South Germantown park. Those amenities include an indoor tennis, soccer and swim center, plus playground, picnic area, miniature golf and motocross bicycle track.
However, the other commission members say the complex will meet the intent of the master plan. "We are doing this primarily to serve the young people in our community," said William Hussmann, commission chairman. "This is a park to include a soccerplex, but it is a park."
The board wants to ensure Germantown residents will get the other recreational uses outlined in the park's master plan by using the improvements to roads and the surrounding area as leveraging tools for funding.
"My concern is that we do not dilute in any way what was promised to the community in the master plan," said commission member Arthur Holmes Jr.
Gov. Parris N. Glendening and County Executive Douglas M. Duncan have committed a combined $4.9 million with the balance to be funded through private contributions. The County Council will have to approve funding for the project.
The council's Planning, Housing and Economic Development (PHED) Committee will take up the board's recommendation at its meeting 9:45 a.m. Monday.
Funding has been proposed for 16 fields to include field construction, water and sewer, stormwater management, road improvements and parking.
In addition to the 16 fields, an indoor soccer arena and a championship field with bleacher seating will be part of the first phase. It has not determined how many seats the championship field will accommodate, but parks staff has suggested 1,500 seats instead of the 5,000 proposed.
Meanwhile, environmental regulations could also potentially limit the number of fields.
"I think it's important we understand the environmental impacts of what we're proposing," said Dr. John Hench, natural resources manager for the Montgomery County Department of Park and Planning. "Whether we can get all the way to 24 [fields] remains to be seen, but we can certainly get more than 16."
Park commissioners expect to have details about the park's environmental allowances by mid-May, which could answer the one big question still looming.
The environmental findings will help determine if 24 fields will fit in a park planned to hold half as many fields plus other amenities.
"A balance of facilities to the Germantown park is more important to me than one overriding use," Richardson said.
From the Gazette Papers