County Commission Has Residents on the Run: $$$ Millions of improvements leave out ADA Miracle Field - Meeting Tonight
Posted January 15, 2013 07:30 am
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL – Columbia County’s homeless County Commission has residents jumping through hoops and driving for miles and miles to attend meetings which are getting further from the south end of the county. Today's meeting between the County Commission and the Tourist Development Council (TDC) is being held at Gateway Community College at 7 pm. For some residents with an interest in sports and who want to be involved, the round trip can total over 70 miles. Yesterday, Florida had the 12th highest gas price in the country. Running residents all over Columbia County is the MO of the friendly folks at the Columbia County, County Commission.
The TDC and the County Commission will be meeting jointly tonight to discuss one of the jewels of County recreation, the Southside Sports Complex, which is on its way to becoming one of the premier baseball, softball, soccer complexes in the Southeast.
Cost of the proposed improvements is: $1.7 mil for tournament needs; $1.1 mil for recreation needs; and $55.7 k for recreation league play.
County graphic modified by the Observer
Click here to enlarge graphic
The Miracle Field is off the table
In
November of 2011, hotel owner Nick Patel brought to the
TDC the dormant idea of an ADA ball field. He told the
TDC, "There is one field that can be ADA accessible for
kids. It would add a new dimension to the softball
complex if we create this kind of facility," he said.
It was estimated at the time that the field would cost $65,000.
It is not provided for in the proposed schedule of improvements.
Columbia County – Will it build a Miracle Field where all the children can play?
Epilogue
The exploratory costs for the Boondoggle in the Boondocks, if it continues moving forward, is on track to be over $200,000.
