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Author: Rick Horner
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This one’s for the people who really care about local news.
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This one’s for the people who really care about local news.
Locals Only members get deeper reporting, more context, and fewer shortcuts.
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This one’s for the people who really care about local news.
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Editors note: This is the latest in a series of profiles highlighting the candidates running in a June 21 Republican Primary Election in Virginia’s 7th Congressional District.
Crystal Vanuch, the chair of the Stafford County Board of Supervisors is running in a June 21 Primary Election to become the Republican nominee for the newly redrawn 7th congressional district.
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[caption id="attachment_178305" align="aligncenter" width="600"] Riverfront Park is located at 713 Sophia Street in Fredericksburg. [Photo: Fredericksburg City Government][/caption]
Riverfront Park is located at 713 Sophia Street in Fredericksburg. [Photo: Fredericksburg City Government][/caption]
The Fredericksburg City Council has adopted a new master plan for parks and recreation that calls for a new community center that could be located along Interstate 95.
A community center is the centerpiece of the master plan. The size and offerings of the new center would be based on the growing population and the desires of residents on what programs they would like to have at the center.
The conception of the new center would include offices for the Fredericksburg Parks, Recreation, and Entertainment Department, a gymnasium with multi-use courts, a wellness room, aerobics studio, locker rooms, concessions, a playroom, a game room, and a multi-purpose room for programming and rentals.
The master plan suggests stationing the new community center along the Interstate 95 corridor between Plank Road and Cowan Boulevard. The center's placement intends to serve highly populated areas of Fredericksburg and areas where parks may not be nearby.
The plan also suggests that the center's location could help attract sports tourism to the local area.
Lose Design, the Tennessee-based company that conducted the study and formulated the master plan estimated that constructing the new center would cost $10 million. Lose further estimates that the center could potentially cost $20-35 million if Fredericksburg decided to add an aquatics facility to the center.
The estimates made by Lose were based on a previous community center constructed by the company.
The study also suggests that the new offices could potentially allow for the repurposing or selling of the Dorothy Hart Community Center. According to the report, if the center was sold, then the profits could offset the costs of the new center.
No member of the Fredericksburg City Council has mentioned a potential sale of the Dorothy Hart Community Center for any purpose as of this report.
The master plan was commissioned to find and survey the needs of Fredericksburg's parks and recreation over the next 10 years. Conducted by Lose Design, surveys and studies were used to put together a comprehensive plan that would guide Fredericksburg on how to proceed with the development of new parks and the upkeep of its current parks.
The study had some delays due to the coronavirus pandemic, which kept it from being completed before 2022.
Both Fredericksburg and nearby Stafford County have been discussing local parks and recreation. Stafford County decided to charge visitors a $20 parking fee to Historic Port of Falmouth, a riverside park across from Fredericksburg. Non-Stafford County residents will pay the fee.
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[caption id="attachment_179245" align="aligncenter" width="600"] Ground breaking ceremony at North Stafford High School Photo by Rick Horner[/caption]
Ground breaking ceremony at North Stafford High School Photo by Rick Horner[/caption]
Stafford County Board of Supervisors and the Stafford County School Board came together to break ground for new turf fields at two high schools.
A ceremony was held at the AJ Slye Memorial Stadium behind North Stafford High School to celebrate a new turf field that is expected to be completed before the beginning of the 2022-2023 school year.
The new turf fields will replace the grass fields where football and field hockey are played. Concerns about the safety of the fields and equity between schools in the county were arguments presented in a grassroots campaign spearheaded by Carol Leicher and Margaret Lowery. Both women had been assistant coaches for the girls' field hockey teams at North Stafford.
"We watched the girls struggle and listened to visiting teams such as Stafford and Mountain View come and listened to coaches, players, and parents from those schools complain about 'oh we got to play on grass," said Lowery. "Our girls had the advantage of playing on grass, but when they went away to every other school other than Colonial Forge, nobody in Division Five or Six plays on grass anymore."
While both Lowery and Leicher spearheaded the campaign, it was when the duo made their arguments to the county School Board and Board of Supervisors. Eventually, their efforts began to bore fruit. Officials found funds to accommodate the two schools, which the Board approved by Supervisors on April 12.
At the ceremony, Lowery acknowledged that while she and Leicher drove the campaign, it was more than just the duo that made the event happen.
"We spearheaded it, but the parents got together, they started contacting the supervisors and the school board, " said Lowery. "Ultimately, it was the School Board and the Supervisors who both went through a lot of discussions. They didn't make a quick decision, and the credit goes to those two boards together. We got it started, but those boards are the ones that made it happen."
North Stafford and Colonial Forge were the last two high schools in the county to have turf fields installed. Before then, the schools had to either make do with the grass fields, which inhibited the teams' ability to play on turf fields or rent such fields elsewhere.
The fields are scheduled to be completed by August before the 2022-2023 Fall semester begins for the county schools on August 9, 2022.
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