Orange County NC Website
Mike Strand asked about the programs in northern Orange County and Deanna Venable <br />said that there are no programs far her locally with her younger children (ages 3-5). She said <br />that it would be nice to have something more local. <br />Commissioner Gordon said that the soccer community came to speak to the Board in <br />February and asked if the decision had already been made. She said that, from her point of <br />view, she thought that the County Commissioners were going to discuss the projects and what <br />should proceed. Also, she said that the $2.267 million has not been budgeted yet. She thinks <br />that there are at least three votes to go ahead and approve it, but it has not been officially <br />approved yet. The final step of saying that the West Ten Soccer Complex will definitely be <br />funded at $2.267 million has not been approved. She said that she is surprised that West Ten <br />already is going out to bid. Regarding directing financing to other places, she said that this <br />could happen. She said that the two fields are not at issue at West Ten, but the phase two <br />portion (to build the complex) is the issue. She does not think that the final decision has actually <br />been made about this. She said that there is a recreational component and an economic <br />component to this complex. <br />Commissioner Jacobs said that there were three sub-groups that met originally. One <br />was to try and do a better job of coordinating the soccer organizations in Orange County. <br />Another part was to try and come up with ways to be more inclusive and not just include soccer <br />leagues. The third part was the economic development component, and this is part of haw the <br />soccer complex was placed in the EDD. He said that the Soccer Superfund idea was to give an <br />extra jolt to soccer. He said that he and Commissioner Gordan were involved in Southern Park <br />and there have been many permutations of what they can afford. The neighbors had some <br />concerns about access, and there was time spent looking at redesigning different phases of the <br />park to accommodate that. He said that he and Chair Carey met with the Chair and the <br />Manager from Chatham County and talked about a possible contribution from Chatham County <br />to Southern Park because people from Chatham County would probably come and use it. Also, <br />the County is going to try and get Chapel Hill to contribute more since it is in Chapel Hill's <br />jurisdiction. <br />Commissioner Jacobs said that the Board did, in October 2006 vote 4-1 to "ask staff to <br />come back with information on funding the entire project at West Ten Soccer Complex in a <br />reasonable timeframe, with additional information on how it would fit into the debt capacity and <br />borrowing capacity." On April 10t", there was a document with the current status, which said <br />that, "the consultant hopes to have bid documents far the final field development package ready <br />in April-May timeframe." <br />Commissioner Jacobs said that in the middle of this the Nutters offered a soccer field <br />and they learned a lot of lessons. One of the lessons was to never build one soccer field by <br />itself because it is way too expensive. He said that the County kept trying to get money from <br />the soccer community to boost this and no one came forward. He said that it is a breakthrough <br />to get Sports Endeavors to partner with the County. He said that he is not opposed to doing an <br />all-weather surface. He challenged the soccer community to pick where they want a turf field <br />and help the County come up with the difference in the money. He said that he would be glad <br />to partner with the soccer community. <br />Melissa Suarez said that she works for Sports Endeavors and she could talk with them <br />about opportunities in Chapel Hill. She said that even though there are no Latina <br />representatives for the Chapel HiIIlCarrboro area, there are groups out there that want to be <br />involved from both ends of the County. <br />Chair Carey left at 3:25 PM. <br />Cameron Tew made reference to the economic development with West Ten as a <br />tournament complex, and said that he would still leave the area to eat, stay, etc. He said that <br />Orange County would not get as much money from this unless other development is done such <br />