Fundraising will soon begin for a new sports complex planned at Maiden Lane and Hollywood Road in St. Joseph Township. That’s after the planning commission this week approved the 40-acre facility’s site plan. St. Joseph Youth Sports Foundation President Nichole Schmitt tells us the group proposed the project after seeing a lack of sports venues for young people in the community.
“It really started with us moms talking on the bleachers with all of our kids playing and running around to practices and different things like that,” Schmitt said. “It wasn’t consistent and we didn’t have places to go.”
Schmitt says even now, her daughter has no consistent place to play softball. Now that the township planning commission has given the green light to the site plan, Schmitt says it’s full speed ahead with collecting the estimated $5 million needed.
“We have a foundation meeting next week where we want to talk about how we want to kick this all off. Our website is up and running and taking donations now, but we’ll have a more formalized plan next week of what we want to do first.”
The foundation is envisioning baseball fields, football fields, a playground, batting cages, a walking trail, a splash pad, and more for the property. Schmitt says it will all be done in phases, starting with the football fields, followed by the playground and splash pad, and then on to the baseball fields. She notes the project has the support of the Miracle League of America, which will help ensure athletic spaces are accessible to all. The full St. Joseph Township Board of Trustees has nothing else to approve at this point, at least until permits for things like lighting are sought. Schmidt hopes ground can be broken on the complex next spring.
Below is a concept video for the project:
