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Anyone who has passed by the rec fields lately will have noticed a tract of land on the corner of Hubert Dollar Drive and Cox Avenue that has recently been cleared. While the parcel of dirt and piles of smoldering timber may not look like much now, eventually, it will all be a new soccer complex built to accommodate the growing community demand.

“Our plan is to clear that, grate it, put in irrigation and fence it, and use it for soccer fields,” Bainbridge-Decatur Rec Authority executive director Joel Holmes told the Post-Searchlight. The plan has been in the works for several months. The Rec Authority has owned the land for years, and it was initially going to be the site for the new indoor sports complex, while the soccer fields were intended to replace some of the neighboring baseball fields. “But with the growth we’ve had in baseball and t-ball last spring, we realized we really need to keep those as baseball fields as we’re growing into them again,” Holmes said.

According to Holmes, the soccer program has experienced 30 -35% growth within the last year. As for how many fields will comprise the complex, that is subject to change. “It’ll depend, because, with different age groups, you have different sized fields,” he continued, “so we’ll just use it as our needs change. We can easily fit a full size soccer field there for adults and then several small ones. We may use the whole thing for smaller side fields.”

The grating of the fields will begin soon, with a bid for fencing already awarded to Quality Fences. The project is being funded in part by the Rec Authority’s budget, though a matching grant is covering the other half through the Local Initiative Sports Corporation (LISC). “The total project’s gonna cost around $150,000 total, so $75,000 of that will be our money, then the other will be part of the grant,” Holmes said.

“We’re excited about the continued growth and development of the Recreation Authority,” Holmes concluded.

The next Rec Authority meeting will be held on October 20 at 6:15 PM.