This is a photograph of one of the new ball fields currently under construction at the Union County Joint Recreation Sports Complex.
(Journal-Tribune photo by Sam Dillon)
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If you head down County Home Road you might see some new ball fields being laid out at the Union County Joint Recreation Sports Complex.
The new fields are desperately needed to help meet the demands of the park, but the problem is that they already need more space.
“Baseball is growing and there is a 30 percent increase on average per year for demand (of the ball fields),” said Dave Raymond, chairman of the Union County Joint Recreation District Board. “But we are limited on what we can do now, so we have to turn people away.”
A new ball field is currently under construction with the field already excavated, tilled and home plate installed. Raymond expects construction on the fencing to commence after Thanksgiving. A second field is also scheduled for construction next year after the current construction is finished. Each field will have dirt infields with 300-foot fences at centerfield.
“Our goal is to build these other two fields and develop a second wheel design and this is the first of the four fields,” said Raymond. “The goal is always to accommodate the local demand for athletics.”
Raymond said the total cost of the project is currently projected at $100,000 per field.
“It was $43,00 to have it excavated and tiled and we have a quote coming to fence the field for $45,000,” he said. “We have enough funds right now to anticipate starting the other field next year. The other two fields… not yet, but that is our goal.”
The local demand for field space has increased so much in the area that the UCJR Sports Complex is now home to the Marysville Rhinos Rugby team, a Marysville independent soccer league, a cricket team, and “over a dozen” different baseball and softball leagues,” said Raymond.
“By the time we build these two fields and we keep rugby where it is and cricket is just massive, we will pretty much run out of space here,” he said.
All of the different sporting venues offered has resulted to a lack of space for expansion at the current sports complex.
That has led to Raymond, along with the other board members, to reach out for additional space to grow in the future.
“We are talking to the county about getting some additional adjoining land,” he said. “We would like to expand west of Simmons Road and we are talking to the county about that.”