APRIL 15, 2022, KEIZERTIMES, PAGE A3
TURF,
Continued from page A1
“It was a really strange situation,” said
Willis. “To this day, I couldn’t tell you
why. OSU was restructuring a lot of its
state-wide 4H structure at the time, and
they now have a new director of the 4H
program, so it could have been part of
that. It was really strange – one month
we were meeting and it was the great-
est thing ever, the next month they said
they were ending this program with no
explanation.”
Willis then contacted the player’s
families, who expressed how important
it was to them, so the county asked the
local communities if there was any group
able to take on the program as it was,
without OSU or 4H support.
“To their credit, what was then Keizer
Soccer Club said 'Yeah we’d be willing
to take these kids and help the program
continue,'” said Willis. “And then COVID
hit.
“One of the ways they would play
is they would go and purchase time
on different fields that the school dis-
trict owned around the area, and when
COVID happened those field weren’t
available anymore. They weren’t able to
play for almost two years.”
Willis said that in deciding how to
spend ARPA funds, one of the things that
came up with the Marion County board
was the ability of kids to have a place
to play and for this type of program to
continue. He said the county wanted to
support kids whose parents might not
have enough money to play competitive
sports, otherwise.
Willis met with Keizer and other local
communities, searching for a place to put
the fields, and Keizer Rapids Park came
up.
“They talked about how this was a
park that had planned to have fields for a
while, and this was a good place for us to
invest money,” he said.
After meeting with the West Keizer
Neighborhood Association to talk about
their concerns, Willis said he felt the
community wanted the fields as long as
the disruptions were minimized.
“I have personally facilitated and
fundraised for two turf fields in our com-
munity to support kids – the McNary
turf field and the McKay turf field,” said
Marion County Commissioner and
Keizer resident, Danielle Bethell.
She described the McNary project as
huge.
“It cost a lot of money,” she said. “But
the reason we needed to do it is because
we took a field that had approximately
180 uses a year if that based on weather,
to 1,800 uses or more a year for our kids.”
Bethell described the difficulties and
challenges surrounding youth athletics
during the pandemic, and how the turf
fields would help address a regional
need. The school district, she said, is con-
stantly restricted by space.
“Our community is growing and we
do not have enough resources to support
our growth,” she said. “So these two fields
are going to have a significant regional
impact to our community.”
Bethell said the county is taking $2
million out of a $68 million bucket, and
providing it for activities that can impact
families and benefit local community for
generations.
“We can’t give these dollars to other
communities because they don’t have a
master plan and a parks plan that calls
for this – and you do,” she told the coun-
cil. “You’re the community that I know
best that can get this done, because I’ve
seen you do it.”
While the current parks plan doesn’t
actually call for two new turf fields, the
council is currently considering the
request. Due to the nature of the ARPA
grants, the money has to be spent in
allocations by the end of 2024 and then
again in 2026, or the city loses access to
the current $7 million basket.
Bethell and Willis both told the coun-
cil the county had a finance team that
would help track and manage the ARPA
funds, going forward – Bethell said she
wanted to create a partnership between
the county and the city going forward.
A number of other speakers also
advocated for the project, including for-
mer city mayor Lore Christopher and
representatives from the Mid-Willamette
Valley Soccer Club and McNary High
McNary was one of two turf fields added to Marion County in the past (McKay also
has a turf field). The two new fields would be located at Keizer Rapids Park.
Photo by Charles Glenn
School. Nobody appeared at the meeting
to speak against the project.
“Things could go a lot faster once we
get to the point of go,” said Mayor Cathy
Clark. “Once that happens, we’ll work out
a contractual agreement with Marion
County."
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