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 South Brittain Street residents protested the idea of placing soccer fields behind their homes at Thursday's City Council meeting. (T-G Photo by Brian Mosely) [Click to enlarge] [Order this photo] |
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A motion had been placed on the agenda last week to authorize Mayor Wallace Cartwright to contact the Shelbyville Power System Board to determine if they would lease property south of the water plant to the city for use as a soccer complex.
But residents of that neighborhood presented a petition with over 200 signatures protesting the idea and it was apparent from the beginning of Thursday's meeting that the motion would fail.
At the start of the meeting, councilman Al Stephenson asked that the wording of the motion be changed from "soccer complex" to "soccer field" adding that he never asked for a complex.
When the matter arose again near the end of the session, there were plenty of opinions about the idea expressed by the council. Councilman Fred Harrison said if he lived there, he would not want soccer fields behind his house.
Councilwoman Jo Ann Holland also was against the concept, adding that she signed the petition from South Brittain Street homeowners.
Another councilman, Randy Vernon, expressed safety concerns, saying that not all parents watch their children as they should and that he feared a tragedy with Duck River being nearby.
Vernon added that the only approach to the property was through an area that he had to sign with the water company to enter, adding he was "intercepted" by utility personnel when he tried to look at the land.
The councilman also consulted Scott Johnson, director of the county's emergency management agency, who said there were other concerns about the site.
Since water treatment plants are considered "key infrastructure for local community," they are targets for domestic and foreign terrorists, as well as "local disgruntled residents."
Also, there are concerns due to the tons of chlorine at the plant, which can be lethal if inhaled. "Such leaks can subsequently result in mass casualties if large congregations of persons are present nearby, especially outdoors," Johnson wrote.
A third point made by Johnson was concerning the Duck River, echoing Vernon's worries about children wandering into the river. Vernon added that even if a fence was erected, flooding on the Duck would likely require it to be rebuilt.
Use of the land would require permission from the zoning commission, Vernon continued. He also cited the recommendation presented to the city's park board earlier this week by the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, Recreation Educational Services.
The state evaluation said that land near Shelbyville Municipal Airport would be the best site for a proposed soccer/athletic complex. According to the report, the airport site had a list of a dozen positive components, while the location near the city water plant has seven negative components.
Vernon also pointed out that the property in question was purchased by the power board as a buffer. "The reason they bought the property is that they wanted nothing in there," Vernon said.
Councilwoman Kay Rose expressed safety concerns and said that there are nine acres adjacent to H.V Griffin Park that could be used, although the price may be prohibitive.
A temporary fix could be at the old Harris Middle School, Rose added, to which Cartwright said that the idea was being "worked on."
"We need to study this before we take any kind of steps," Rose said.
Councilman Lee Roy Cunningham said that the matter had "gotten out of hand," stating that this had started with asking the power board to use it for practice fields. "We weren't talking about a complex, we weren't talking about lights and all that stuff."
All the new county schools will have soccer fields, Cunningham said, "so we may not have a problem."
Cunningham then put a motion on the floor to "scrap it all," meaning the idea of using the water plant land, which was unanimously approved.
"I just wanted to get these kids a place to play," he added.
There seems to be some misconceptions of exactly how the soccer organization works, so I'll try to elaborate. As Kanya stated there are over 850 kids playing Fall soccer .... that's a bunch! I coach and have coached for about 8 years now. One thing I read is about empty soccer fields - League rules state that we can not practice before August 1st nor after the end of the season (first week of November). Most of the practice fields have no nets nor marked lines for boundaries. All of the U13 teams (my age group) practices on the U10 field (which was stated is undersized). We also must share this undersized field with another U13 team. To put it in perspective, one of my U13 girls can kick the ball in the air practically from one goal to the other. The best field is the U13 field at the park but it can not be used for practice due to fears of tearing the sod up - the exception is 1 practice in preseason per team to let the players get a "feel" for the field. We only get (2) 1-hour practice sessions a week (league rules again). I do think the soccer board does an outstanding job with what they have to work with. It's a shame that a sport as popular and gaining more popularity each year is delegated to the back burner.
If I had level ground and few trees on my personal home property, I would set up a few goals for my team to practice on, rather than face the headaches each year of when/where to practice.
My thoughts.
The facilities at the Babe Ruth fields are in need of some attention, but we held a 13U and 14U tournament there this weekend and everyone there bragged about how nice the fields were. Bryan, Jacob and everyone at the Park Complex did a great job. Thanks
No I don't think that kids who play sports are any better than those who don't. What I am saying is that kids who are involved with structured activities like the ones I mentioned earlier are more likely to stay out of trouble than those kids who just hang out at some teen club.
I do know that when I was a juvenile probation officer, I never picked up a kid at a baseball, basketball, football or soccer game.l Never had to pull one out of band practice. Never had to get one off a stage in the middle of a speech and drama class. No....I found all my probation kids hanging out at pool halls, bowling alleys and "clubs just meant for teens"
I am tired of arguing with you about this quite honestly. But let me assure you I pay taxes in this county and city just like everyone else does and just because you think children who play sports are better children and deserve to be treated better than children who do not play sports does not make it a fact.
Just something to think about
A study conducted by the Women's Sports Foundation found that adolescents that were regularly involved in teen sports were less likely to engage in sexual activity until later in life than those who were not in team sports. Also, teens on sport teams were found to be less likely to use drugs than their non-playing counterparts, and were less likely to be involved in abusive relationships. In addition, the students involved in sports had a higher chance of graduating high school and college.
Hmmmmm....sounds like sports is a good investment.
But you act like there is nothing for teens to do. The only ones that have nothing to do are the ones that seem to avoid any involvement in school activities. If a teen is in sports, drama, band, choir, civic clubs etc at school, then they don't have time to get bored and then look for a place to hang out.
There's a reason you find cars parks around the high schools until late in the evening. There are teens that have extracuricular activities that they need to attend. And when school is out, those teens who belong to these organizations are in practice, camps or some other type of training to make them better at whatever activity they choose. This goes on all summer and the next thing you know, school has started again. These teens with nothing to do, then can be doing their homework.
Sounds to me like the teens have alot to do.
>>>I would be happy to tell you the type of kids that hang out at the bowling alley. Exactly the type that I don't want my kids hanging out with. I have taken my kids bowling. I have to put up with little potty mouth punks that are making comments my pre-teen daughter. I have to put with parents that would rather drink beer that make their kids mind. YES...IT'S A LOVELY PLACE.<<<
Sounds like a lovely argument that we need a place for teenagers to go to me ....with this said something should be there for ALL TEENAGERS NOT JUST ONES INTERESTED IN SOCCER.
I would be happy to tell you the type of kids that hang out at the bowling alley. Exactly the type that I don't want my kids hanging out with. I have taken my kids bowling. I have to put up with little potty mouth punks that are making comments my pre-teen daughter. I have to put with parents that would rather drink beer that make their kids mind. YES...IT'S A LOVELY PLACE.
I would much rather be sitting at the ball park where alcohol isn't allowed, but if you want your kids to go bowling, then I hope you can stop the influence of the adults that are there and the influence of the teenage punks that hang out there also.
Whatever the city decides to do I guess we as tax payers will have to accept but if I were a home owner I wouldn't want a soccer field behind my house and I am sure you wouldn't either. So actually I don't blame the residents of South Brittain Street for complaining.
We really can't complain about not having quality fields it is not like we have quality anything in Shelbyville. We don't have quality tennis courts nor enough, we don't have quality racket ball courts nor enough, we don't have quality golf courses nor enough. I love racket ball but the only court is at the rec center and it closes so early. So you see we really aren't picking on soccer players it's the same thing with every recreational sport in Shelbyville. The city can not be responsible for every sport our taxes will not support everything that we have needs for..
The soccer fields are NOT regulation size at HV Griffin Park. We have well over 850 children playing recreational fall league soccer in Bedford County. We have one U-10 field(not correct size)that BCSA maintains,3 U-8 fields in front of the rec center, 1 U-13 field, and 3 K LEague fields that are squeezed in next to the U-10 field. This is simply NOT enough. NOt to mention parking issues. We also have 5 select teams registered with BCSA. These kids travel to play in Tournaments in their soccer COMPLEXES. I haven't been to a soccer complex yet that IS NOT beside a body of water or an airport.To my knowledge, a child has not fallen in the water and we haven't been hit by a crashing airplane. Tournaments bring in a lot of money which could be used for upkeep,etc.
Not against anything good for the people of this county but just would like to know how they will maintain the field, provide security. The parks and rec. dept. can not maintain what its got now. Securtity will be driving from one side of the town to the other patroling with gas at $3.50 plus a gallon. Most of the baseball fields are kept up by the leagues doing the painting, field maintenance, etc.
Some concession stands dont even have hot water in them, some roads and parking lots arent paved. People get blocked in by others parking three deep because parking is not marked. You want to build new fields then do so but if you do not maintain them you might as well keep playing in the back lots.
>>>Check out the bowling alley to see what type of teens hang out there. <<<<
Oh please do tell us what type of kids you think hang out there.
It's not about sports and horses, it's about pride. Teens hanging out at some club? Check out the bowling alley to see what type of teens hang out there. The skating rink had to finally fold because the teens that should be going there didn't want to deal with the trash that hung out there all the time.
Kind of hard for a kid to get into trouble in the middle of a baseball field, soccer field, football field where adults are watching there every move.
Right now, all you are showing the kids off this town is that you don't care about them. They travel to other areas and see nice soccer fields without gopher holes. They see comfortable seating with concession stands. They see lights to play at night. Then they come home and have to play on uneven fields with dips that can break a leg. (Yes...I play and have played on every field in Bedford County) No wonder the kids are getting out of highschool and getting out of Shelbyville as quick as they can.
Like always, this town can't look past their own front yard.
That is the most absurd thing I have ever heard of in my entire life. You think it is fine that we give children who play sports more fields, that will be used only a few months out of the year, so they can go out and have fun but when teenagers have nothing to do it is automatically a teen club we need, so they can sneak in Alcohol and smokes and God knows what else.
When teenagers don't have a place to go that is when they start getting into trouble.
Even a field that was built in the 70's is better than anything the teenagers have in this town.
Oh yea but that's right this town is all about whoever plays sports and horses...nobody else in this town counts for anything.
I don't agree with you Diana. There are not enough QUALITY fields around Shelbyville. Have you seen what all the soccer, Little League and the Babe Ruth along with the Adult Softball fields look like? When were they built? In the 70's? I agree with Sameoldstory, and I have tried playing on all these fields, they are very bad.
To comment on Diana saying our teenagers don't have anything to do.... How about lets put a teenage club so they can all go and have a good time and let them sneak Alcohol and smokes and God only knows what. Thats a good plan. How about lets put God in the household, raise our children right and maybe they would frown on doing bad things to where the owners of establishments or the police don't have to worry about getting hurt, shot, or even killed.
Back to the issue at hand. Lets, as a united people, come up with a proposal that will work for most everyone. I am willing. Is anyone else?
It's obvious that most who are posting here never played soccer. Trying to play soccer on the existing baseball fields would be dangerous for the kids. You need ALL GRASS to cover the falls and they fall alot. Soccer is played when it is wet and raining. That would rip the baseball fields up and then you would have bad ground balls (baseball) hitting kids in the face or kids twisting their ankles while trying to run the bases on what should be a smooth surface.
We need soccer fields that are level. More kids are playing soccer than baseball. The park took a great soccer field and turned it into a freaking skateboard park. If you've seen the punks that hang out there, you know that was a waste of money.
Yes all the schools have soccer fields, but who is going to pay the schools back for the upkeep of those fields. There's scheduling problems using those as well. Too many teams and not enough fields.
Maybe if we take the time to actually invest in the community, more people would want to stay.
The airport area would be great. That's what they did in Murfreesboro.
I agree kids do need a place to play but how many soccer fields and softball/baseball fields are there in Shelbyville now? The schools have fields that are not being used every night of the week or even everyday. These fields belong to the county so when these fields are not being used why can't recreational soccer be played on those fields? Seems if these fields are good enough for High School or Middle School children to use they would certainly be good enough for recreational sports.
It just seems to me we have our priorities in the wrong spot here. There is nothing for any child to do in this town regardless of whether they play sports or not.
Teenagers have nothing to do on the weekends but drive around (with the prices of gas that isn't an option is it?)
If they park in an abandoned parking lot just to have a place to hang out and talk then the police dept runs them out. If they go to the bowling alley then they must be spending money while they are there or they are ask to leave. The movies is maybe an hour and half long ...then what?
So then it looks to me like there is a much bigger need for teenagers to have a place than having one more soccer/baseball field.
SteelerFan, I hope someone from the city council reads your post; that sounds like something to look at and see if it will work.
Re-designing the baseball fields at the park complex to fit both soccer fields and baseball fields, they also need to make sure parking is good too. I hope things work out, and I am glad that we are looking at things to benefit our children, because they could be getting themselves in other things we find less desirable.
I don't think the people here in Shelbyville are against having more soccer fields, I believe they are concerned with where it will be going, and the spending budget as well. Besides we do have that right to be for something or against something.
Wow, here we go again. I can't believe the people in this city. You know, it is sad that we can't come together on anything that would have a positive impact on our youth today. The mayor was trying to do something positive and again was shot down by people that resisted change. Maybe we need to use some of our already overpacked land that the city owns. I just can't believe some people.
We also need some more softball fields everyone could use. If I could make a suggestion to the mayor.... Lets tear down the softball fields that already exsist, and build a complex for both. I think you will find more than enough room out there for your project. As for the residents that had the petition, let them have their chlorine gas and their precious land. It's not like people would be there all the time. It's not a Wal-Mart.
Hmmm that's strange soccer is being played at the High School. I thought boys soccer was spring and girls soccer was fall.
Thats kinda like driving by our county schools in the summer and them not being used then either.
We do need soccer fields though. Its a good sport for kids in this age of video games.
Parker, to answer your question about making the fields that are currently being used for soccer permanent (those across from the baseball fields), that land does not belong to the city. This land is called "The Mahaffey Field" and it's ownership is currently in litigation over who truly owns it. Soccer was given permission to use this field several years ago (BCSA also pays for the up-keep), but future use is in question. Plus, there is only room for one U-10 field. There are enough kids in U-10 to need at least 2 fields. One of the goals is to have all of the fields at a central location because many of the parents have several kids in different age groups and it would be very hard to get them to different parts of town at the same time.
Dianatn, as far as the fields on Wartrace Pike go, these do not belong to the city either. Plus, rec league soccer does not start until the fall!!
I went to Tullahoma via Wartrace pike/Depot Street yesterday about 2pm it was a beautiful day, sunny and warm yet there was not one single person on the soccer field. If we aren't using the fields we have then why do we need new ones?
The local youth soccer league already plays on at least two fields at H.V. Griffin Park and at Old Harris Middle School. If they need even more land to play on, why not try the land behind fences on the softball fields at Griffin Park? They are already playing on the land across from the parking lot for the youth baseball fields. They could just make those fields permanent. Then, there are also the fields next to the driving range. Webb School has gorgeous, flat land that they use for their athletic teams. Why not get with them on using that land when they aren't? Cascade Junior Pro has played basketball in Webb's gyms for years. I would think they would love to get more local citizens out to see their campus. There is room there for 3-4 games to be taking place simultaneously.