Go play in traffic

The soccer field debacle

Little people in brightly colored uniforms more or less chasing each other and a soccer ball around a grassy lawn on a balmy spring evening is one of the many life savors of Goochland.
But wait, what is wrong with this picture?
Not fifty feet from these precious wee ones traffic whizzes by on Fairground Road with not even a guard rail to slow out of control vehicles. Starter soccer players use “the front yard” of J. Sergeant Reynolds Community College, which does not want any guardrails obstructing its sign and will rescind its permission for use of the “field” if a rail is required.
This is the reality of beginning soccer for local kids who participate in Goochland United Soccer Association (GUSA) programs.
Facilities for older players, scatted among several locations in the county, aren’t much better.
The current flap about unacceptable levels of methane seeping from the capped landfill that lies under heavily used soccer fields at Hidden Rock Park is the latest chapter in a long story of indifference to soccer by county officials.
Failure to disclose the methane problem in a timely manner violates the government’s duty to protect the health, safety and welfare if its citizens.
According to an Order by Consent issued by the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) on June 30, 2008, Goochland County was ordered to install equipment to remediate excess levels of methane gas escaping from the closed landfill, which is now part of Hidden Rock Park. Failure to comply with regulations governing the closure of the landfill also earned the county a fine of $11,270. The work to fix the problem is supposedly underway now.
The Order bears a notarized signature of former county administrator Greg Wolfrey indicating that he knew about the excess methane levels last May. Even though many GUSA players used the fields on top of the capped landfill until well into the fall, the county failed to notify anyone about the problem or possible risks.
This is just the latest incident in the sad story of the county’s treatment of GUSA.
A private non-profit group run by parents and other caring folk, GUSA provides an organized soccer program for interested kids of all ages and skill levels. Run totally by volunteers, GUSA keeps costs low and provides scholarships for the economically challenged. The numbers of county children who participate in GUSA programs is exploding. It is run by Goochlanders for local children and serves more children than other county sports organization.
For most of this century, GUSA has been trying to get the county to provide more field space. Indeed, the annual appearances of GUSA officers and players in uniforms at supervisors’ meetings have become a rite of spring.
GUSA officials do more than put their hands out to the county. About five years ago, a proposal to use land at JSRCC for a soccer complex was rejected by the supervisors because of the cost of a needed parking lot and lack of irrigation for the fields. They told GUSA to use the HRP fields, which the board declared adequate.
Upright vent pipes installed when the landfill was closed were located at the ends of the HRP soccer fields until they were relocated by the county a few years ago. The soil initially used for the fields was so full of rocks and other debris that players were often injured. After much complaint, the county added better soil, seeded the fields and found a way to provide some irrigation to improve grass quality.
Before that, the fields were in such bad shape that every week GUSA parents worried that referees would declare the fields unfit for play. Few existing fields are lighted, so play must stop when the days grow short. This puts GUSA players at a competitive disadvantage to those in jurisdictions with lighted fields.
At a supervisors’ workshop in late 2007, GUSA president Bob Dewar and Bob Marcellus of Manakin, a member of the Virginia Youth Soccer Association and GUSA volunteer, presented the group’s case to the supervisors, again.
Last summer, a breakthrough seemed to have occurred when the county purchased a tract of land roughly east of the middle school for a dedicated soccer complex. Its location near power and public utility lines meant that lights and real restrooms would be feasible.
A request for bids was supposed to have occurred in late summer so that the new fields would be prepared before winter set in.
To date, not a teaspoonful of soil has been moved to prepare fields and the new soccer season will soon begin.
Methane concerns at HRP only add to the dismay of the GUSA officials who believed that the county had finally come through with fields.
When the Richmond Strikers, a large regional youth soccer organization, asked the supervisors to amend West Creek zoning rules to enable it to use vacant land there for fields, the board moved quickly to grant the request. While some county children, who live mostly in the east end, play soccer with Strikers, most of that organization’s players live outside the county. Strikers agreed to share field space with GUSA, but it too is hard pressed for field space.
Yet, the same board can’t quite seem to get on board to help GUSA that works with its own kids.
“We’re not saying please make this a one way street give us everything we need,” Dewar told the supervisors in 2007. “We see this as a partnership. We’ll go out and find organizations who want to put sponsorships into an area where they know several hundred families will be spending Saturday morning. That will also allow us to build concession stands so we can fund equipment and infrastructure ourselves.”
A soccer complex, said Dewar, would allow GUSA to expand it offerings to include younger children and adult leagues, that require lighted fields.
Why hasn’t work started? Given the economic downturn and construction slow down, this would be an excellent time to build the soccer complex.
It would be great if there is some way that the county, when soliciting bids, could give preference to local excavation contractors and put Goochland businesses to work at the same time.
Failure to anticipate the need for playing fields — every youth sports group in the county is squeezed of field space—is more evidence of inept shortsighted local governance.
The county repeatedly misses opportunities to acquire land for playing fields and other public facilities, like schools, libraries and fire-rescue stations. When developers want to rezone land, the county should be ready to “horse trade” for land in places without public facilities. That approach could be more effective than the current cash proffer system in building infrastructure to serve a growing population.
Breeze Hill on Fairground Road, for example, would be an excellent location for a county sports complex. That land is flat, open and centrally located. Instead of all the shenanigans about a back entrance on Sheppardtown Road that characterized the rezoning process for that land, substantive discussions about soccer fields out front would have been of more benefit to the county. If done right, the developer would have been satisfied too. Happily, new language in the proposed comprehensive land use plan finally encourages the county to ask for land in return for zoning concessions.

This is yet another instance of county government failing to act in a coherent and responsible manner for the benefit of its own people. GUSA was promised fields this year, but none exist. Failure to notify GUSA about the high methane levels is inexcusable.
The indifference of county officials toward GUSA clearly tells the county’s soccer community to go play in traffic.