| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| PS Iron Pigs |
Posted - 04/12/2010 : 10:10:14
Has anyone heard of the new park being proposed in West Cobb? Dream Park Management & Perfect Game USA are proposing a 317 acre complex which will have 16 baseball fields along with soccer and lacrosse.
Here's the link http://mdjonline.com/view/full_story/7035294/article-Board-to-vote-on-study-for-sports-complex?instance=home_news_bullets
Here's the full article from the Marietta Daily Journal on Sunday.
COBB COUNTY - The Cobb County Board of Commissioners will vote Tuesday on the first of several steps that could bring a major sports complex to southwest Cobb County.
Commissioner Tim Lee said Dream Parks Management has expressed strong interest in operating a "state of the art" youth athletic complex with 16 baseball fields and additional fields for soccer and lacrosse leagues. Perfect Game USA has also shown interest in moving its headquarters from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, to Cobb County, as well as hosting most - if not all - of its tournaments at the complex.
Lee said the complex would take up 317 acres and would consist of demolishing two subdivisons that were severely damaged or destroyed in last September's floods. The land for the proposed complex is along Lewis Road with a portion being in the city limits of Powder Springs.
Tuesday's vote will give a recommendation to the Development Authority of Cobb County to fund a feasibility study up to $450,000. Lee said the study would let everyone know if the project is feasible in both location and cost, and if the complex would bring revenue to the county. Lee said the total cost of the study will probably be somewhere around $800,000, but Dream Parks Management and Perfect Game USA have said they would fund the remaining $350,000.
Lee said no county money would be spent on the feasibility study. He said the Development Authority has its own means of raising funds. However, if the Authority agrees to fund the study - and the study shows that the project would be a sound investment - the county would issue approximately $72 million in Recovery Zone Facility bonds. Dream Parks Management and Perfect Game USA would then pay for the bonds through revenue from the complex.
"This is really a good thing, and would be a huge boost for southwest Cobb," Lee said. "Tourism is the No. 2 industry in Cobb and youth baseball is a huge component of that. Perfect Game hosts scouts and colleges at its tournaments, and 80 percent of its players are drafted through the program. Bobby Cox has also said he would move his programs to the complex, if it's built. This would be a huge economic boost to the county, and could make Cobb County the youth sports capitol."
But Lee said Tuesday's vote would just be the starting point. If the feasibility study is approved and it reveals that issuing the bonds would be too risky, the county will not approve the project.
"It makes sense, but there's a lot of due diligence that needs to be done," Lee said. "There will need to be preliminary work on the site, studying funds, looking at possible revenue, etc. The board of commissioners will not consider ultimate approval of the project unless we understand that it will never cost taxpayers money."
Tuesday will be the last meeting for Lee, as he will qualify for the county chairman election after the meeting, thus pulling him from his seat as commissioner. Tuesday will also be the first meeting without former Chairman Sam Olens, who is running for state attorney general. Commissioner Woody Thompson will serve as interim chairman until the position is elected during the July 20 special election. |
| 1 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| PS Iron Pigs |
Posted - 04/14/2010 : 13:19:55
COBB COUNTY - County Commissioners unanimously approved a first step in the possible development of a $72 million sports complex in southwest Cobb on Tuesday, a complex that Commissioner Tim Lee called a "public-private partnership" as it would be managed by five local businessmen, but funded through county-issued bonds.
In a complicated arrangement, the commissioners gave the Development Authority of Cobb County permission to spend up to $450,000 on a feasibility study for the park. Dream Parks Management, LLC, the owner-operator company consisting of five Cobb residents from various backgrounds, would also pay up to $450,000 toward that study.
But Commissioner Bob Ott said the item was approved with the stipulation that Dream Parks first fund a financial feasibility study by a firm to be chosen and approved by the board of commissioners. Earl Ehrhart, one of the owners of Dream Parks, estimated the financial study would cost $65,000 to $80,000.
If the financial feasibility study, as well as the overall study, which would include engineering and environmental analyses, showed positive results, then the commissioners would be asked to approve $72 million worth of bonds to pay for the project, Ott and Ehrhart said. The little-known Recreation Authority of Cobb County, whose members are the county commissioners, would actually issue the Recovery Zone Facility bonds, or federal stimulus bonds.
Ehrhart said the bonds would be paid off over the course of 30 years at $5.05 million a year through revenues generated by the complex and would be backed by the good faith and credit of the county; therefore, if the complex went under and did not generate enough revenue to pay off the bonds, the money would have to be paid off through taxpayer money from the county's general fund.
But Ehrhart, a former Facility Group executive and Powder Springs representative, insisted there is "absolutely no way that's going to happen."
The other members of the management firm are Skip Chesshire, the retired administrator of Cobb Superior Court; Mark Johnson, former house counsel to developer John Williams; Ned Yost, a former coach of the Atlanta Braves under Bobby Cox; and Tony Carlson, an east Cobb architect.
"The county needs to have a very active role in this process, because we shouldn't be on the hook if it turns out this is not going to work," Ott said. "Taking things step by step gives the public a chance to see the numbers that the authority will look at, and at the same time, neither us nor the authority will have spent any money if it turns out it's not feasible. We just want to make absolutely certain that there is no way the county will have to pay for this in the future before we vote on it."
Ehrhart said his group has been in talks with various companies and sports leagues interested in using the 372-acre sports complex, to be built in southwest Cobb with a portion inside the city of Powder Springs, for several months. The complex would feature 16 baseball fields as well as fields for soccer and lacrosse, plus retail space, Ehrhart said.
Ott said the board's choice of firm would be done in an effort to keep the study objective. Commissioners would also hear the financial report once it is finished and before it goes before the Development Authority, he said.
Ehrhart said Dream Parks would suggest a firm to the county, but that he agreed the board of commissioners should choose the firm so that all results are deemed credible.
"A lot still needs to be worked out, and we're not even sure yet who the county staff contact will be, but we want to make sure that the study is done fairly and objectively, and I expect and hope that the county would choose the firm," Ehrhart said.
Ehrhart said his business group is asking for the county's help in raising the money because private loans are unlikely in this economy.
"The whole idea is a public-private partnership and the county stands to gain a great deal of revenue from the complex. Plus, there just isn't private money out there right now to fund this," Ehrhart said. The complex could host high school baseball tournaments, college baseball games, provide hotel space for visitors, training facilities, retail outfits including restaurants and sports memorabilia stores, soccer and lacrosse leagues and teams, and could also be used by the Cobb County Recreation League, Ehrhart said.
Yost said Bobby Cox has also shown some interest in becoming involved with the complex, should it be built.
"The whole idea when it began three years ago was to be a 'stay and play,' where people could come with their families, stay a week, and never have to leave the premises. This could make Cobb a real destination for youth sports, which there will always be a market for," Yost said.
Its main function will be to house the headquarters and most of the east coast tournaments for Perfect Game, USA, a Cedar Rapids, Iowa-based high school baseball tournament league, Ehrhart said. According to the agenda item approved Tuesday, bonds would not be issued unless Perfect Game agreed to host the majority or all of its tournaments at the complex for the terms of the bonds. But Ehrhart said Perfect Game is committed to the agreement, if approved by the board of commissioners.
Yost said Perfect Game has 88,000 players in its system and Ehrhart said because college and Major League scouts, parents, and players all travel to the company's tournaments, mainly in the summer, approximately 1.9 million visitors could come to the complex.
"Perfect Game is the number-one user of hotel rooms in Cobb County, bar none," Ehrhart said. "They use up over 26,000 hotel rooms in Cobb a year and have a $26 million annual economic impact on the county. Osceola County in Florida has offered to build a $50 million complex down there, and if they do, all of their tournaments held in Cobb are going to go to Florida. So it's not a matter of build it and they'll come, it's a matter of build it or they'll leave. And we can't afford that."
Members of the Development Authority are state Rep. Don Wix; Waste Management Communications Manager and District 3 Commissioner candidate JoAnn Birrell; Journal associate editor Bill Kinney; Marietta accountant Bob Morgan; Robert Pruitt of Atlanta; Vinings Bank executive Clark Hungerford; and Bank of North Georgia Senior Vice President Libby Pitner. |
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