Commission meetings take place on the 1st and 3rd Monday of each month – so no meeting this week. But we do have an important work session scheduled for this Wednesday to discuss our Athletic Facilities. 

Work Session – Athletic Facilities

it’s probably been about a year now since a group of parents and players representing Bartow Soccer began asking for assistance in getting improvements made to the fields in Mary Holland Park. 

After a couple of work sessions to discuss the issue, core samples were collected at the site and reviewed by an engineering firm, we have finally arrived at a decision point. 

The question I will put before the commission on Wednesday is this:

What level of field playability do you want to create in Mary Holland Park? Do you want to create a championship-level facility or a recreational level facility?

A Top-Tier Athletic Facility?

Polk County Sports Marking and Tourism have confirmed that the County needs more top-tier soccer and other athletic facilities. I would like championship-level facilities to be created in Bartow. But I don’t think that Mary Holland Park is the right place to put it. 

I need to be a little cautious here to stay on the right side of Florida’s Sunshine Law, but briefly here is what I think makes the most sense. 

I think there is strong community support for a top-tier athletic facility that can be a home to Bartow’s recreation and travel teams as well as host tournaments and events county and state-wide. The city has a couple of potential sites for such a facility on the north side of town. But, this is a 1-2 year solution and we have an immediate issue we need to address. 

Having a top-tier facility does not eliminate the need for backup/practice facilities. This brings us to our current location. 

What Do We Do in the Meantime?

With Mary Holland’s fields being underwater, the soccer teams have relocated to Mosaic Park. This temporary solution has presented a few problems as well – mostly with safety and parking for our baseball teams whose facilities are located there as well. 

However, I think locating your soccer practice facilities in Mosaic Park makes a lot of sense. The fields in this park drain much better naturally and you have the benefit of shared facility space with the baseball program. 

To get the number of fields we would like to have some trees would need to be removed and perhaps the bandshell. Once the site work is completed you could have several nice fields. While most of this work can be completed by city staff it is probably still a 6 month – 1-year solution. Still too long!

This brings us (finally) to Mary Holland Park. Our engineers have presented a plan to would return the level of play at our soccer fields to a recreational level. We don’t have a final price tag for this work yet.

It would be a band-aid solution but probably the option that we could enact most quickly to get the kids back on a home field while we are working on the other two, more long-range solutions. 

Next Steps Forward

Even if the athletic facilities are ultimately located somewhere other than Mary Holland, the site work done there will have benefits based on some initially proposed uses that I have seen in drafts of the Master Plan. That makes me feel a little better about spending the money. 

These are just my thoughts, but it is a plan that seems to address but the immediate needs and advances us to a better solution soon. 

I know the city manager and other commissioners have also been working on this issue and look forward to hearing what solutions they might have come up with. Many heads are better than one. 

Regardless, my goal is to leave Wednesday’s meeting with a decision so our players and families can know what to expect. 

The Work Session will be held at City Hall on March 30th at 11 am. Please note this is an earlier time than originally scheduled. It is open to the public for anyone able to attend. We are working on a live streaming option as well. 

Candidate Forums

The Chamber of Commerce and Main Street Bartow held two opportunities to meet the candidates running for office. You can view the live stream from Thursday’s virtual-only event here. On Friday, we met on Central Ave in Main Street. Below is a recording of my opening remarks. Afterward, residents were encouraged to come by and speak with the candidates. It was cool and windy that day so I apologize for the video quality. The election will be held on April 6th. Please make sure to go out and vote and as one of the candidates currently running I would appreciate it if you voted for yours truly.

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So if you are interested in receiving the most recent updates I would invite you to sign up using the form below. My promise is not to spam you or share your contact information with any other entities. Use the form below to subscribe. You can unsubscribe at any time. Thanks!