Article date: February 07, 2001

Benjamin H. "Ben" Weddle, Shenandoah district supervisor

By Ashley May

If the Front Royal Town Council agrees with the Warren County Board of Supervisors, the new professional-level soccer complex to be built on 30 acres of the Avtex Fibers Superfund site will be called the Skyline Soccer Complex.

The board unanimously approved the name at its meeting on Tuesday. The name, one of five approved by a special committee last week, must also meet the unanimous approval of the Town Council.

In fact, all members of both boards must agree on the name, a condition that make board members smile.

"The town will probably pick ‘Front Royal Soccer Plex,’" Happy Creek District Supervisor Brackenridge H. "Brack" Bentley said.

"They all look good to me."

The board agreed that Skyline is descriptive of the community and is an appropriate name for the park. Members hoped that naming the park after Skyline Drive will encourage tourism for both the soccer complex and Skyline Drive.

"I strongly believe that the name should say something about our surroundings," Shenandoah District Supervisor Benjamin H. "Ben" Weddle said.

The five final names, chosen from a list of 57 proposals, include" Riverview Soccer Complex, Mountain View Soccer complex, Twin Rivers Soccer Complex, Skyline Soccer Plex, and Front Royal Soccer Plex.

Parks and recreation Director Daniel. P Lenz said that changing "Plex" to complex won’t pose a problem, if the board and council agree.

Plans are in the works to transform the rocky, bumpy soccer fields of Ed Stump Park into a 30-acre professional-quality soccer complex, expected to be the showcase project for a national initiative planned by the U.S. Soccer Foundation and the Environmental Protection Agency.

The EPA and foundation formed a partnership for the redevelopment and recycling of federal Superfund sites and announced the Front Royal project, the first project undertaken by the program, in 1999.

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

Of the entire $3.6 million project, Warren County has committed to provide about $300,000 to get necessary infrastructure in place. The soccer foundation has agreed to then to step in and 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 the building of "a full competition ready complex that includes an administration building with restrooms, full utilities, paved and landscaped parking, bleachers, lighting, and playground equipment," EDA Executive Director Stephen A. Heavener wrote in a report to the council and county board.