Soccer lease approved
by JoAnn Grbach
Construction of a 24-field soccer complex will get under way this week after the County Council Tuesday approved a lease agreement for the long-awaited project.
The official groundbreaking ceremony will be scheduled in September, but county officials took some time Tuesday to celebrate after the unanimous vote to approve the lease for the complex at South Germantown Recreational Park.
"I really believed in and fought for this soccer complex and the recreational amenities that will surround this at the [655-acre] park," said County Executive Douglas M. Duncan Tuesday, before signing the bill the council approved hours earlier. "These soccer parents [John and Maureen Hendricks] had a vision for more fields and facilities for more than 20,000 soccer playing children."
John Hendricks, president and chief executive officer of Discovery Communications, and his wife Maureen were the force behind the idea to build a high-quality park for the county's soccer-playing youth.
Maureen Hendricks was on hand Tuesday afternoon when Duncan and Council President Isiah Leggett (D-At large) of Burtonsville signed the bill for the lease agreement between the county and the Maryland Soccer Foundation for the soccer complex.
"I really have to pinch myself," said Maureen Hendricks following the signing ceremony where soccer balls were given to several officials. "There were a lot of points where I thought, 'This isn't going to work.' Why I kept going is I kept thinking you've got to focus on why you did it in the first place: the kids."
The lease approval was needed before construction of the $19.8 million public-private venture could begin. It comes more than 18 months after the idea was formally introduced for the complex. It will include a championship field with seating for up to 3,200 people plus an indoor arena.
The foundation, the nonprofit group formed to represent youth soccer interests in the county, will continue efforts to find sponsors. It has promised to raise $11 million for the complex.
The county will pay $8.8 million for the soccer complex, with $2.7 million of that to widen an access road to the park. The state has given Montgomery $4 million from its Program Open Space funds, allowing the county to divert its own funds toward the soccer complex.
The council unanimously approved the lease, which outlines how the park is to be operated and maintained for the next 40 years, Tuesday morning. Councilman Blair G. Ewing (D-At large) of Silver Spring was absent.
"This is going to be a big change for a small part of Germantown," said Nancy H. Dacek (R-Dist. 2) of Darnestown, who represents the Germantown area. "I think there's been a lot of give and take on this. I am very pleased to support this, recognizing there are still concerns in communities and neighborhoods ... I think we've done a very good job of allaying them."
Neighbors of the 655-acre South Germantown park have battled against the large-scale complex since January 1998, citing potential problems with traffic, noise, lighting, groundwater contamination and whether soccer will dominate the recreational park.
Since then, officials have worked to minimize fears by requiring the park to be built in phases, having traffic counts performed, monitoring groundwater and keeping the operating hours reasonable.
Tuesday's council action to approve the lease went against some residents' request to postpone the decision until September to allow more time to study the lengthy document.
But officials believe they were able to correct or clarify what residents believed were inconsistencies in the lease from what the council laid out when it approved the complex in the spring. And the council believes the agreement is fair.
"Overall, the [PHED] committee felt and I believe the council did when it voted unanimously in the spring to approve this project, this was in fact a good deal, in fact a great deal for the county," said Steven Silverman (D-At large) of Silver Spring.
In addition, the council has cited the soccer complex as the impetus for bringing other recreational amenities to the park as much as 15 years ahead of what county planners thought would be possible.
"It provides a number of facilities, recreationally, that are now coming on line much sooner than they would have without the complex," Leggett said.
The council ensured all of its requirements stipulated in the project approval will be kept through the lease, project description form and permits the foundation must obtain to build the complex.
Maureen Hendricks says once the complex is built, neighbors of the park will find that it is an attractive addition to their community. And she also thinks it will be an asset to the county.
"I'm so happy that Montgomery County will have fields that kids can play on that are safe," she said. "Maybe Maryland will have a World Cup champion come out of here, and that's all the thanks I want."
The complex will be built in three phases with the first 17 fields, championship field and indoor arena being built first.
The foundation hopes to have the first six fields built in time to plant grass and water them in September, according to Trisha Heffelfinger, foundation spokeswoman.
The foundation expects to start mowing grass on the first fields next spring.
The foundation is expected to begin construction of the indoor arena in February or March, and construction of the maintenance building will also be at the top of the list, Heffelfinger said.
"It's a very exciting project," Heffelfinger said. "It's probably one of the biggest, if not the biggest, land development projects in the county."
Staff Writer