By Staff
Clif Knight, Hartselle Enquirer
Trees are now being cleared from the new addition to Sparkman Park to make room for a proposed soccer complex, according to Frank Miller, Hartselle Parks and Recreation director.
Miller said the city has an agreement with a logging company to take out the big trees from the area where the new soccer fields and related facilities will be located. In addition, a large wooded area just west of the 9 and 10 baseball field will be cut back and thinned.
"A large dead pine tree in that area fell, crashed through the outfield fence and landed on one of the ball field recently. Fortunately, there was no activity at the field. We don't want that to happen again so we decided to remove all of the trees that are in close proximity to the fence and thin them out similar to how they are spaced around the pavilions," Miller added.
The work started June 6 and will continue until about the middle of the month.
"This is an important first step in the plan to build the soccer fields," Miller noted, "but there are still some hurdles that we will have to get over before construction of the fields can begin.
"I am pleased to report that we have received confirmation of the $150,000 grant we received from the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs (ADECA) to start the project. The first order of business is to have a construction plan developed and we are now taking bids from engineering firms on that phase of the project.
"After taking another close look at the plan we submitted with our grant application and discussing it with our soccer folks, we decided it would be to our advantage to construct four or five fields without lighting than to go with two fields with lights."