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Vacant school land to sprout ballfields

Until a middle school is built, the land will house four fields for kids' sports, with soccer teams using it the most.

By AARON SHAROCKMAN
Published November 23, 2005

CLEARWATER - To relieve stress on an already overused recreational complex, officials from four local agencies plan to bring four additional ballfields to northeast Clearwater by next fall.

The fields would be a temporary place holder for vacant land owned by the Pinellas County School Board. The land is intended as the site of a middle school.

The land would double the city's recreational capacity in the area at least through 2010, while alleviating a need for facilities along the McMullen-Booth Road corridor. Children had been forced to practice on parking lots; more than 1,500 currently use the city's only local complex and its four fields near Countryside High School, north of SR 580.

The new complex would be less than a mile south, behind McMullen-Booth Elementary School.

Clearwater Parks and Recreation director Kevin Dunbar began touting the plan last week, rallying critical support from the school system. The School Board has tentatively agreed to lease the land to the city for a nominal fee.

The Pinellas County Parks and Recreation Department, meanwhile, has agreed to pay for the construction of the complex, which includes lighting but not stadium seating, and should cost $600,000 to $800,000.

The cities of Clearwater and Safety Harbor would then share the yearly operating costs of the park, around $75,000.

Safety Harbor, unincorporated Pinellas and Clearwater residents would then have access to the complex, which would be primarily used for soccer, Dunbar said. Those residents now share the Countryside Sports Complex fields.

"Any time you can bring four government agencies together to form a partnership and really be effective with the taxpayer dollar, that's a good day," Dunbar said.

Local governments have wrestled for three years with how to add the needed fields, where they would be located, and most importantly, who would pay for them.

A plan to replace a city-owned driving range with six new athletic fields nearly blew up when the county was unwilling to contribute what Clearwater thought was its fair share. That plan has been shelved until the city's lease with the driving range operator expires in 2010.

Now, along with renovating the existing four fields near Countryside High, the partnership would add four more.

"We want to do our part to help alleviate the strain on the fields over there," Pinellas Parks and Recreation director Paul Cozzie said. "We've got a lot of unincorporated residents who are participating in the city of Clearwater activities, especially on that side of the county."

About 27 percent of the children who play at the Countryside Sports Complex are from unincorporated parts of the county. Parents have consistently complained about inadequate fields, parking problems and overcrowding.

"There's just not enough room there for games," said Countryside Youth Soccer Association president Todd Foster. "There's certainly not enough room for practices. We have teams scattered all over the county."

Access to the new fields would be through the elementary school entrance off Union Street. The fields will have a total of 240 parking spaces - 60 per field. The school parking lot also would be available.

The land is slated for a middle school, but construction is not anticipated in the school board's five-year capital plan.

Dunbar said the city will meet nearby residents after the holiday to discuss the proposed complex. About eight homes buffer the complex on the north and south.

"We have been discussing this problem for a long time," said Foster. The new complex, he said, "gives us an opportunity to let our players play in a centralized, and safe location."

The new recreation complex would include four multipurpose fields and 260 parking spaces. It would be built by the Pinellas County Parks and Recreation Department on Pinellas County School Board land. Operating costs would be shared by the cities of Clearwater and Safety Harbor.

Currently, residents from those municipalities split time at the Countryside Sports Complex near Countryside High School.

Around 1,500 children participate in soccer, football and cheerleading at the complex's four fields.

About 34 percent are from Clearwater.

Twenty-seven percent are from unincorporated parts of Pinellas.

Twenty-six percent are from Safety Harbor.

Nine percent are from other incorporated parts of Pinellas.

Four percent are from outside Pinellas County.

Source: City of Clearwater

[Last modified November 23, 2005, 00:44:19]