Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, September 28, 1994 TAG: 9409280044
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PULASKI LENGTH: Medium
The county Board of Supervisors voted the conditional approval Monday night. It also stated formally that it wants the 5-year-old joint recreation program with the towns to continue.
County Administrator Joe Morgan said he could not imagine not continuing it, given its success.
But that success is why it needs more money. The number of participants in the various youth sports has gone from 3,376 in 1990 to 4,777 this year, and the cost of supporting the programs has grown correspondingly.
The board studied a comprehensive report on the program compiled by county Community Relations Coordinator Terri Gregory, as directed by the supervisors last month.
She said a lack of lighted fields for youth sports has created scheduling crunches. Recreation departments in the program are considering dropping spring soccer because of a lack of playing time on fields where other sports are also played during daylight hours.
The Dublin Recreation Commission has spent $5,000 on light poles for the Lions Club field there, hoping for a state grant to complete the $17,000 project. This proved impossible because the site used to be school property, making it public and ineligible for such funding.
``Although this project is not part of the capital improvement plan for the county, this may be an alternative funding possibility for the board that would benefit all the departments,'' Gregory said in her report.
The joint Recreation Commission has not approached the town governing bodies yet to seek additional funding, but Gregory said it will.
Morgan said earlier news reports indicated that the county had reduced recreation funding. Actually, he said, the more than $115,000 from the county is a slight increase from what it was giving the joint program five years ago.
But the commission no longer has money left at the end of each year. The costs of mowing playing fields wiped out the carry-over money, he said.
Supervisor Bruce Fariss made the motion to grant the funding request, assuming the towns went along. A lack of activities for young people is a major factor in their getting in trouble, he said, which is more expensive in the long run.
He said the commission members ``have done exactly what we asked them to do, and that is to provide a better recreation program for the county youth.''
The Dublin area has seen the number of participants go from 136 to 1,076 in the past five years. Because the birth rate is down in the town itself, Fariss said, the increase must be coming from surrounding county people.
Dublin Town Council recently voted to spend about $2,000 on new football helmets, replacing those that were obsolete. Council indicated at that time it would seek a larger share of recreation money from the joint program.
In other business, the board approved a conditional use permit for John Buck to operate a game room and commercial assembly hall in the Fairlawn area as recommended by the county Planning Commission.
by CNB