The Marion County Board of Supervisors had a relatively quiet week this week while in session with the exception of one visitor.
Columbia’s alderman at large, Edward Hough, approached the board regarding a sportsplex and the possibility of building it at the Marion County Businessplex.
“First of all, I am not here representing the City of Columbia. I am not representing the mayor or any other aldermen. I am here for myself. I want to get that upfront,” Hough said. “I want to know if the Board of Supervisors have an appetite for a sports complex at the Training School.”
He said he based his question that way because he read months prior the board did not have an appetite for it going out there.
“I’m a big advocate of the sports complex. I would love to have one. I wish we had a better one when my kids were playing,” he said.
He referenced the 3 percent hotel and restaurant sales tax increase, which citizens of Columbia voted for in May. He said with that revenue the city has the money to build the facility.
Traveling to watch his grandson to play ball with a travel team outside of McComb, he has been to a lot of the sport complexes including north of Atlanta, Panama City Beach and every sports complex from Jackson to Gulport.
All of the ones he has been to, Hough said, have been on the outskirts of town. Of all of them he has seen, he said he would be proud to have any of them except for one. He noted not one that he has been to was in a commercial district but on the outskirts. The reason being when you go to a weekend tournament, you do not want distractions from the commercial district. He said he has seen some that are five miles outside of town where you have to drive to get food.
“I want to commend y’all on the new entrance to the Training School. It is a huge plus. That Training School is something we all can be proud of. It is a beautiful place,” Hough said.
The other day he was there for one of his granddaughters who was having soccer practice. Hough thanked the board to allow the teams to go out and practice. He said there had to be eight or 10 different teams out there spread out better football, soccer and cheerleading.
He was sitting in his lawn chair and there were other parents around him. He noticed one didn’t have to worry about little children running into the street or worry about them running behind a building. He said to himself, “This is amazing that we have something like this in Marion County where you could go and have something like this with all these teams practicing at one time and feel safe and no distractions and no cars running up and down the street. It is a peaceful place, you can sit out there and commune with nature.”
He asked if the board would be willing to donate, rent or lease some of the land to the city.
Hough said he understood the county owned so much and the Marion County Development Partnership owned so much and there will have to be some legislation.
Board President Terry Broome said it was a doable thing.
Hough said he feels there the sports complex has elbow room. The location several people are talking about on RA Johnson Drive, which the city owns, Hough said there is no room to expand.
“To cram a quarter into a dime slot is wrong,” Hough said.
Broome said he is all for it. Hough said the city sponsors the summer league at Duckworth Park and he would say 80-90 of those children are from outside the city limits. Dean Griner, the private park, he believes about 75 percent of those children live outside the city limits.
“Plus what is going on at the Water Park.” Broome added. “There is about 300 to 400 people there three nights a week for soccer. You can’t even drive around it.”
Hough said he believed it would work and bring people into Marion County. He said he knows the sports complex would not be able to compete with the bigger places like Brandon or even Magee.He mentioned how Magee had a terrific place but also they have about four or five nice motels so they can house weekend tournaments. Hough acknowledged Marion County doesn’t have the facilities for overnight like they do.
“I was talking to a coach the other day whose boys have been playing travel ball for five or six years. The coach said when he schedules a tournament — and there will be three or four going on in Jackson on the weekends — he looks at the facility, the parking, how easy it is to get there. He said basically he chooses where they want to go. I hate to see us build here in Marion County a $4 million facility and not be able to market it because there is no parking or no good scenery around it.”
“I’m really passionate about it,” Hough said.
Hough said the land in question would be by the former dairy barn at the Training School and near the water plant and city barn. He said he has driven out there about 50 times and he has said, “Lord how peaceful can you get?” He also drives down to RA Johnson Drive and there is all that noise.
“I want to make the right decision not just for Columbia, but for the whole community,” he said.
Supervisor Calvin Newsom said the appetite was not for the sports complex to be in the developed area but would be more agreeable in the undeveloped area.
Hough said he wouldn’t remove all of the trees; there would be a buffer of trees along the road and also along the campus. It would have its own separate entrance.
Supervisor Tater Rowell asked how many acres. Hough responded he would like to see at least 40. Not all board of supervisors’ property but 40 acres total.
Columbia High School is looking at building a new stadium that would allow it to host band competitions and track meets, and Hough said when the school has baseball, softball and track going on in the spring and the youth ball leagues start up, there will not be enough parking for everyone.
Newsom said he was good with it.
Broome said, “This is the only place — county-owned, city-owned, whatever — that is going to be where you have enough room to expand, you have enough room to park and have an entry that is specifically for it. It’s the only place you got that can do all of that. I’m not saying you can’t do it someplace else, but it is the only place where you have the convenience you need.”
Hough said it is 1.2 miles from Walmart, but it is far enough away where it is by itself and close enough for convenience.
“If you build a ‘WOW’ facility that is well maintained, people will come to it,” he said.
The supervisors agreed to meet with the aldermen to continue this discussion.
