Parks, soccer partnership discussed

By JIM LAWRENCE
For the Stafford County Sun
Published: April 23, 2008

STAFFORD — The Stafford County Parks and Recreation Commission discussed a plan April 17 to go into partnership with the Stafford Area Soccer Association regarding the operation of the county’s soccer fields.

Through such an agreement, the soccer association would take over many of the facilities’ maintenance operations while forgoing some of the fees it pays for usage, according to discussion at the commission’s monthly meeting.

Commission members reviewed a contract and all were favorable toward the idea.

The Family Fun and Film Day, a popular event, will be dropped from the 2009 budget as will Bluemont Concerts as budget difficulties hit the department. Another casualty will be a weekly senior citizens’ lunch at Enon Community Center, which will be scaled back to bi-weekly, according to the meeting discussion.

Swimming-pool lane allocation, a controversial subject at board meetings last year, was also discussed.

“Our goal is to allocate land time to all teams,” said Chris Hoppe, parks and recreation director.

At the present time, though, he said there was “not much time left…If someone walks in now we’ll be up against the wall.”

Hoppe also discussed proposed uses of the future Widewater State Park, though funding of such is uncertain at this time.

Patawomeck Park will undergo its grand opening May 17.

The commission will meet next at 7 p.m. on May 15 at the Rowser Building in Stafford.

Jim Lawrence is a contributing writer at the Stafford County Sun. Reach him at .