Article date: November 24, 2000

By Ashley May

Warren County residents have been invited to name a 25 acre professional-quality soccer complex, planned for part of the Avtex Superfund site, which currently holds the rocky, bumpy soccer fields of Ed Stump Park.

A field in the park will retain Stump’s name, but on the recommendation of the Front Royal Warren County Economic Development Authority, the Warren County Board of Supervisors decided in October to rename the entire park. Because of the importance of community ownership and pride, they decided to get feedback from the community, they said.

"Dan Lenz (director of the Warren County Parks and Recreation Department) and I have developed a proposed outline for a community contest to name the facility," County Administrator Douglas P. Stanley said Tuesday.

Sponsored by the Parks and Recreation Department and the Front Royal-Warren County Youth Soccer League, an ad-hoc board will judge the entries, which will be accepted Dec.1 through Jan.12 at the Parks and Recreation Department at 200 E. Eighth St. in Front Royal, he said. The board will make the final selection.

The proposed $3.6 million soccer facility will be the showcase project for the U.S. Soccer Foundation and the Environmental Protection Agency’s initiative to redevelop and recycle Superfund sites.

The first such project to be proposed, Warren County will provide about $300,000 to set up a foundation. The soccer foundation then will spend about $1.7 million to prepare the site and construct several top-of-the-line soccer fields.

The second phase of the project, estimated at $1.5 million, is building "a full competition-ready complex that includes an administration building and restrooms, full utilities , paved and landscaped parking, bleachers, lighting, and playground equipment," Stephen A. Heavener, executive director of the Front Royal-Warren County Economic Development Authority, writes in a report to the Town Council and supervisors.

Parents involved with the Front Royal-Warren County Youth Soccer League have described benefits to the community beyond new playing fields for the children. The economic gains expected for the county, the positive effect of team sports on children and the fitting use for the redeveloped Avtex site are all good reasons to support it, they say.

Area businesses will donate prizes to the winner of the naming contest, who will be contacted by telephone and in writing, he said.