Site quirks send athletic complex costs soaring

By Jane DeGeorge
Eagle Reporter
Published: March 27, 2008

The Hoover Ridge athletic field complex project has stretched about 10 percent over its original price, according to officials. 

Since this past December, the Madison County Board of Supervisors has approved a total of about $77,000 of additional money toward the $772,000 project to construct 11 athletic fields on a section of the 182-acre county-owned site behind Madison Primary School.

“For the most part the original contract price held up much better than you would normally anticipate for a project,” County Administrator Lisa Kelley told the board of supervisors at its regularly scheduled March meeting.

“The amount of the difference between the new contract price for the changes and the original contract price…is right at about 10 percent, which in terms of planning for a contingency on a construction project…is excellent,” she said.

The additional money was requested due to some “unexpected contingencies,” including hitting some rock in the ground during construction and installing additional corrugated pipes and culverts due to some of the original topography, which was taken from aerials, being a little bit off, according to the county administrator.

Some additional water piping was added in order to have water available near each of the fields, Kelley said.

“The project was managed very well, we had a very reputable contractor who did not attempt to do a lot of tricky things…[they] managed it conservatively and efficiently,” she said.

The contractor – Chantilly-based William A. Hazel Inc. – will soon complete its portion of the project, which included the creation of five baseball and softball fields, four multi-purpose fields, an unpaved access road and basic piping required to irrigate the fields, according to Kelley.

County officials set aside $100,000 in their proposed 2008-2009 fiscal year workshop budget toward further projects necessary to put the playing fields into operation, according to the budget document.

Next month, Madison County Facilities and Recreation Department representatives plan to seed the property for future grass growth, according to the department’s director Ross Shifflett. Officials also plan to pursue a Virginia Department of Transportation grant to finance paving the access road, he said.
The 11 athletic fields will be ready for use once these projects are complete sometime in spring 2009, Shifflett said.

The creation of the athletic fields is part of a larger plan to upgrade Hoover Ridge, formerly known as the Clore property. In 2002, the county purchased the property for $800,000, according to an Eagle story from the time.

The supervisors cited a need for multi-purpose recreational fields in the county as one the reasons for the purchase, the story states. A committee was later established to come up with additional plans of how to use the county-owned site. Future plans include lighting the fields, creating a community recreation center, an amphitheater and a 10-foot-wide unpaved walking and cycling path.

Also at the Madison County Board of Supervisors regularly scheduled March 11 meeting, the board:

• Discussed a presentation, which was set for March 19, by Verizon to the Madison County Planning Commission about its proposed future plans to build infrastructure in the county to support its cell phone and wireless broadband Internet service within Madison County. Some officials expressed concerns that Verizon may be more interested in providing services for those traveling through the county on U.S. 29 rather than providing services for county residents.

• Voted to reappoint Madison County Recreational Authority members Jeff Tucker, Tim Taylor, Jesse Yowell and Kenneth “Wes” Smith. Other members include Paige Kelliher, Tyrone Frye and J.T. Price. Earlier this year, Jeff Tucker was elected as chairman of the authority.

• Voted to approve naming a room within the Madison County Health Department building after former longtime health department employee Louise Aylor to recognize her contribution to the community.

• Heard comments by County Administrator Lisa Kelley about the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development’s Virginia Rural Broadband Planning Initiative. Kelley said she planned to attend a meeting with Rappahannock County officials about possibly working together on this project. The counties may jointly hire a consultant, paid for by grant money, who would determine the gaps in broadband Internet service in both counties. The counties may also establish a joint group of local residents – including county, law enforcement, fire department and school officials and business and health care representatives – to survey county residents and business owners to determine what their Internet needs are.

• Listened to a request by Khalil Hassan of Criglersville for the supervisors to consider an ordinance regulating the use of treated sewage sludge on county land in order to access possibly available state funds to help localities pay for a local biosolids monitor.