February 7, 2011
02/08/11 Monday morning Duane Culp and Curt Feece appeared before the Marshall County Commissioners with a proposal to create a soccer complex on 49 acres of county owned land. The Plymouth Travel Soccer League would like to create a facility on ground that lies east of the Paul Langfeldt farm and west of Shady Rest on the north side of Lincoln Highway east of Plymouth.
There is an extensive background with the project. Approximately 11 years ago and original proposal was made to the commissioners. Feece said, “The need still exists. Participation in the program continues to grow but the facilities are the worst in the area.” The soccer program in Plymouth has been in place for a number of years. The Travel Soccer League is a non-profit corporation created in 1996. There are 120 families that participate in the league year round. Approximately 275 families from Marshall County participate in the Northern Indiana Soccer League. The North Central Soccer Association has 2,100 families participating in the spring program.
The leagues, travel and recreation have used the fields east of the high school and at Riverside Intermediate School but the school needs to start charging the league $4,000 a season to use the fields.
Curt Feece said the current conditions of the fields are not good. He said, “The kids are playing on less than recreational fields.”
The pair presented a proposal to enter into a private public partnership with the possibility of a long term lease with the league. The league would like to build a complex that would include 12 to 16 soccer fields with parking area and concession stand/restrooms and dressing rooms.
Letters of support for the project were submitted by the North Central Soccer Association, Bremen Soccer Association, Culver Youth Soccer Leagues, LaVille Youth Soccer, and Starke County Youth Soccer League. They also had a letter from Bowen Center. They operate the Shady Rest Home and are supportive of the project.
The Langfeldt farm is a business operation directly to the west of the proposed site. Paul and Tod Langfeldt were at the meeting and have some concerns that the average person doesn’t understand the operations of a grain operation with grain dryer fans operating 24/7 during the season, debris in the air that may float to the fields, odors from the drying operation, increased traffic, fencing and the location so close to the family home.
The commissioners asked Culp and Feece to meet with the Langfeldts to work on their concerns and to bring a basic projected budget plan. They will meet again with the commissioners on March 7th during the commissioner’s meeting.