The Brownwood soccer complex project is in the demolition stage currently and may be completed as early as the spring of next year according to City of Brownwood officials.
City of Brownwood Parks and Recreation Director David Withers stated that a large portion of the demolition work has been completed at the old baseball fields where the new soccer complex will be constructed. Preliminary drawings have been developed along with a wish list of features to be submitted to an architect for review.
“Jodie Kelly has been great,” said Withers. “These drawings are preliminary or rough drafts of the complex. She was able to take the layout of the property and see just how many fields we can get in this area.” Kelly is an engineer with the City of Brownwood.
Careful planning with local soccer leagues has helped in planning the layout for the new complex. According to Withers, Cen-Tex Soccer and Soccer for Fun officials have been involved in the design of the future complex. He stated that both leagues have a wish list of items they would like included in the project such as two concession stands and additional restroom facilities, and that these suggestions will be good for their members as well as beneficial for the city.
“I was very impressed that once we had the two organizations together, we had very good conversation. Each had great reasons for their needs,” said Withers. “With each of the organization’s future growth considered, we feel we will be able to provide enough fields to have both organizations out on the complex on a Saturday.”
A total of 22 fields are in the drawing with 7 fields designated for Soccer for Fun and 13 for Cen-Tex. The drawing shows enough fields to have both organizations play at the same time on the weekends. The number of fields will also allow for better divisions of teams for the Soccer for Fun league which has in the past combined more age groups together on teams due to the limitations of having use of only 3 soccer fields at Coggin Park in the past.
This design of the new complex will also make it possible for the City of Brownwood to host various soccer tournaments throughout the year, which would bring additional revenue to the city through hotel stays and other tourism spending by visitors brought to the area by these tournaments.
“We will have enough fields to handle big tournaments,” said Withers. “There will be lights on the U10 and U12 fields to enable play to continue into the evening hours of spring and fall seasons if necessary.”
Over 1200 local athletes in just these two organizations will enjoy the benefit of these fields along with their numerous family members and friends who will visit the facility, according to Withers. Currently Cen-Tex has both fall and spring play and that Soccer for Fun operates their league during the spring.
With experienced traveling athletes, some of the discussion led city officials to a visit a favorite tournament location of Cleburne. In the visit, they were able to discuss the pros and cons of what some players considered one of the best soccer complexes they visit each year.
“We talked with different people who do traveling soccer,” said Withers. “We kept hearing that Cleburne was a very good facility, so we visited and asked them if there was anything they would change about the facility.”
By speaking with a city that has a successful and well used facility, Brownwood officials were able to learn what problems or revisions had to be made in the building or use of the Cleburne facility. By learning from another city’s experience, officials hope that Brownwood will avoid possible costly revisions or changes to the local complex’s design.
“I was very surprised that Cleburne’s complex is about the size of what merging our soccer and baseball complex size would be,” said Withers.
At this point, Withers stated that the old chain link fencing, back stops, and lights have been removed from what were the old Camp Bowie baseball fields and the bleachers have been cut so that they can be moved into place for use at the soccer fields. He stated that next week, city crews will begin taking down the light poles in the complex.
The next steps of the project will be to submit the preliminary drawings to the architect who will review them and then make possible modifications or changes for a final draft which will be considered by the city. After the city accepts the architect’s design, bids will be sought.
“We haven’t been pushing to get quick bids,” said Withers. “We’ll have to build the concession stands, lights and get the fields built, then you have to plant grass and I’m very aware of the drought and water restrictions. To get well established grass, you need a lot of water.”
Withers stated that the drought has made it difficult to maintain the baseball and softball fields at the new Bert Massey Sports Complex.
“We had a lot of problems maintaining the grass in the baseball complex,” said Withers. “We kept the grass alive but it wasn’t as green and nice as we would have liked it to be.”
With consideration of watering restrictions, hope of rain in the near future and lifting of water restrictions would help the progress of the soccer complex.
“We hope we would have, if we had the water and everything thing else, we could be ready by spring of next year, 2014,” said Withers. “It really depends on the restrictions.”
Withers stated that the development of the new sports complex is important for the youth of the community and that he hopes having the various complexes will offer the chance for kids to try all sports in order to find out where they excel.
“It’s my hope, if we have the ability to do it, that football, softball, baseball and soccer can be spaced out enough so that if a kid wants to play multiple sports they can,” said Withers. “I like to see kids try all the sports and if they narrow it down to two or three, that is good.”
The city’s issuance of certificates of obligation will be a major funding source for the proposed complex with $2.2 million marked for the project from those funds.
Pictured above is a small version of the preliminary drawing of the complex, to view full size image click here.
