Part of a children's play area frames the scene at the Smith River Sports Complex currently under construction near the intersection of U.S. 58 and Irisburg Road. In the background are soccer fields, with bermuda grass sod in place wait for summer growth.

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Thursday, November 13, 2008

By MICKEY POWELL - Bulletin Staff Writer

Construction is progressing rapidly on the Smith River Sports Complex.

The complex should be mostly completed and ready for use by the end of March, landscape architect Stephen Lord told Henry County and Martinsville officials and business leaders who toured it Wednesday afternoon.

Lord, who works for Woolpert Inc. of Charlotte, N.C., the facility’s designer, said Bermuda grass on four fields will not be ready for the fields to be used this spring, but two championship fields with artificial turf will be ready.

With cold weather arriving, the grassy fields are “looking brown, but the sod is in,” he said. “It will be green next summer.”

That is when the Southern Virginia Recreation Facilities Authority plans to open the complex, which is near the intersection of U.S. 58 and Irisburg Road.

Championship soccer games can be played on both turf and grassy fields, said Dennis Toney, the authority’s executive director.

But the advantage to having turf fields, he said, is that championships will not have to be postponed if rain makes grassy fields muddy.

Long floor-type drains have been installed along the edges of grassy fields. Bermuda grass “needs a lot of water” to grow, “but it doesn’t like to be wet” for lengthy periods, Lord said.

Water in a pond on the property will be used to irrigate the fields, and pipes extending from the drains will channel rain water into the pond, he said.

The Harvest Foundation is paying the estimated $8.7 million construction cost of the complex, but the authority will own and operate it.

Construction workers are developing “Legacy Courtyard,” an office building and a concessions and restroom building, on part of the approximately 15-acre site.

For aesthetic reasons, the structures will resemble farm buildings and be fronted by eight-foot-long porches, Lord said.

“It will be the nicest restroom building you’ll ever be in,” he laughed.

Some construction workers Wednesday were on bulldozers and steamrollers preparing the turf fields.

Cement sidewalks have been installed between the fields and around the complex. Light poles and electric lights have been installed around the complex, and a parking lot for at least 360 vehicles is being developed.

Picnic shelters and fencing around the complex have been installed.

The complex will be geared toward hosting soccer matches. But its design will enable it to be easily converted for other sports and activities, such as football and field hockey games, foundation and authority officials said.

An electronic scoreboard and fixed bleachers for seating about 250 people will accompany the championship fields.

In addition, the complex will have canoe access to the Smith River, design plans show.

A children’s playground has been installed. Equipment was chosen based on its ability to improve a child’s strength, balancing proficiency and flexibility, Lord said.

The sports complex is intended to be not only a recreational attraction, but also an economic development tool.

Officials have said Henry County-Martinsville residents will be able to use the complex. But they hope it will lure soccer competitions and other events that will attract out-of-towners.

Visitors would spend money by staying in motels, eating in restaurants and shopping in stores, thereby boosting the local economy, officials have said.

“When they start having tournaments and people start coming here from other places, they’re going to be in shock” when they realize what a nice, massive athletic complex has been built in a small community, said Leon Towarnicki, Martinsville’s assistant city manager/public works director.

With the construction so far, the complex is “really showing its potential,” said Paula Burnette, Iriswood District representative on the Henry County Board of Supervisors. “It is well-designed.”

“I’d come out and watch” sporting events there, Burnette said, adding she might even decide to learn how to play soccer.

The Harvest Foundation and the recreation facilities authority also plan to develop an arena complex on the vacant block uptown between Fayette, Moss, West Church and Market streets. Information on the status of that project was not available Wednesday.