Board OKs more soccer complex money

Leaders add $285,000 to $438,378 allotted to pay for Skyline Project

By William C. Flook

The Warren County Board of Supervisors committed additional funding to meet expense demand for the Skyline Soccerplex on Tuesday.

Ballard Sports, a sports field construction firm has presented deletions from its original $1,181,449 proposal that reduces the projected cost of the four soccer fields to $ 722,906.

The county will draw $285,000 from the undesignated fund balance, a ‘rain day fund’ as Board of Supervisors Chairman Tony Carter put it, to supplement the $438,378 that has already been committed by the county, the town of Front Royal, the United States Soccer Foundation, and the Front Royal Soccer Association.

“We were able to cut a fair amount off without hurting the quality or the integrity of the project,” said Carter.

Progress on the 30-acre Skyline Soccerplex, which is part of the long-term plan to develop the former Avtex site along with a 175-acre office park and a 240-acre conservancy park, has been delayed for the past three years.

Most recently, progress was stalled by the discovery of asbestos on the site.

Warren County Administrator Douglas Stanley said the fields will be playable by spring 2006.

“Right now it’s all about putting playable soccer fields out there for the youth of this community to play on,” he said.

Ballard Sports came down from its original estimate by making a number of changes on the proposal. Under-drain systems meant to provide surface drainage on the fields have been deleted, a new root zone material and a change in grass type from Bermuda to Kentucky Bluegrass also reduced the cost of the proposal.

Ballard Sports also suggested using a gravel parking surface instead of asphalt paving, which would save $22,000, providing in-ground irrigation only to the stadium field instead of all four, saving 40,783, and eliminating the full construction of individual fields, which would save an estimated $52,396 per field.

The additional funding increases Warren County’s financial commitment to more than $500,000. The town of Front Royal has committed $73,378, the United States Soccer Foundation will give $120,000 in grant funding, and the Front Royal Soccer Association will donate $20,000. FMC, a former owner of the Avtex site that has been charged with its cleanup by the Environmental Protection Agency, will put $150,000 toward grading of the ground, which is not yet flat enough for soccer fields.

A contract with Ballard Sports, which is a division of Ballard Construction Inc. out of Cary, N.C., awaits approval by the Front Royal-Warren County Economic Development Authority.

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