Here are the latest plans for what could be a $73 million sports park in Lancaster Co.
If Lancaster County plans to build a new regional sports complex, leaders want it done right.
Lancaster County Council heard updated plans recebtkt for the 82-acre park planned within the Roselyn development. A park that could cost almost $73 million.
Project director Andrew Pack with the Woolpert refined the project Monday night from a similar presentation last fall. Further details are still needed. Dennis Marstall, county administrator, said groundbreaking could come in spring 2024 with an opening in summer 2025 at the earliest.
Pack proposed a $34 million first phase to include a baseball or softball complex, multiuse fields, trails, passive recreation areas and property expansion. The park is just off U.S. 521 to its west, east of Landsford Canal State Park.
A second phase would add a 50,000-square-foot recreation center for almost $39 million. Or, for the same price, that project could be split into a 25,000-square-foot recreation center and future expansion to double it for the same 50,000 square feet.
Marstall said splitting the recreation center could mean a few more years before the entire project is complete.
The county still needs to work out what programs the new park will offer to make final decisions on what will go there. There is a $750,000 agreement in place with USC Lancaster baseball to host home games on one of the park’s new fields.
The vision for the new park includes trails that could be used for cross country. Gyms for basketball, volleyball and pickleball, including tournament events. Tournament baseball or soccer, plus disc golf if the county acquires an adjoining 20 acres. A splash pad is planned, too.
Marstall said there are funding streams like hospitality tax to help with the park. A separate discussion of a new detention center and court facilities at about $90 million — a more detailed update is expected next month — also factors into county finances. The detention center could use capital sales tax, among other sources. The projects likely would require a 20-year bond, Marstall said, to pay for some portion of them.
“We have sufficient revenue streams,” Marstall said.
‘Time we do it right’
Even with the large price tag, council members on Monday said they aren’t looking to cut back on the park. Chairman Steve Harper said the park isn’t for him, but for the growing number of pickleball players and team sports athletes and community members who want something special.
“I just want to make sure that we do something a little different than everybody else, or a little bit better,” Harper said. “This needs to be the showcase for Lancaster County.”
Councilman Billy Mosteller pointed to a Hartsville trip leaders took to view a splash pad. Mosteller doesn’t want a small, afterthought splash pad at the Lancaster County park. Mosteller wants a significant attraction.
“They’re shipping bus loads to Hartsville to go to this thing,” Mosteller said. “I want them to go to Lancaster.”
With the gym space option, whether to build a larger facility at one time or split it and delay half, Councilwoman Charlene McGriff said the county needs to go with whatever best serves the recreation needs of a growing community.
“If we’re going to do it, this is the time we do it right,” McGriff said. “We will not have another chance.”
