NORTHERN VIRGINIA DAILY
Article date: November 16, 2002

County advised to acquire land for soccer fields

By: Mary Beiler

Before the county can secure funding for a soccer complex at the Avtex Superfund site, it must first take ownership of the land.

Ownership of the fields currently falls under the Front Royal-Warren County Economic Development Authority. However, Executive Director Stephen A. Heavener said Friday that the county should own it, as the EDA is not in the parks and recreation business.

"The EDA feels that the county should be the entity making long-term use and budgetary decisions on the soccerplex and the conservancy park," Heavener said.

EDA Director Richard M. Novak added that as long as the agency has ownership, he believes it will be more difficult for the count to apply for funding.

"Right now, us having ownership adds a layer of bureaucracy," Novak said, adding that ownership by the county would eliminate the EDA as the middle man.

Once the county owns the land, it will be able to deal with the U.S. Soccer Foundation directly, he added.

"The whole goal is to get a complex built for soccer," said Parks and Recreation Director Daniel P. Lenz.

While the county was successful this year in securing grant money from the U.S. Soccer Foundation, all parties involved agreed that the process would be easier if the county could deal with the foundation directly.

It has been three years since the foundation announced that it wanted to build a soccer complex at the Avtex site. The EDA approved a design for the complex in May 2001, and the community has since been waiting for the foundation to build the fields.

The design consists of seven soccer fields and a walking trail around the perimeter of the complex. A facilities building for locker rooms and a concession stand also will be constructed.

Front Royal Soccer Association President Glenn Cornell said he thinks transferring ownership to the county makes sense, adding that the thinks being able to deal with the U.S. Soccer Foundation directly will help speed up the process.

"We see it as a good opportunity to move this thing along," he said.

In other EDA matters:

o The board made its first quarterly review of its Strategic Plan, designed to guide the county's business recruitment efforts through 2006, on Friday. Chairman Ronald L. Mabry suggested reviewing the document every couple of months so that the board could keep track of its accomplishments.
o Avtex site manager Doug Bement reported that demolition of the buildings in Section I, which includes the Polymer Plant, is scheduled for this spring.

Directors John LaBarca and William P. Barnett were absent from Friday's meeting.