Community: City of Three Rivers
Population: 2,500-9,999
Our project is an 80-acre youth sports complex that was born from a community visioning session and has morphed into a recreational hub for a variety of interests. It was completed through a partnership between the City of Three Rivers, St. Joseph County Government, and a local 501c3, (River Country Sports Commission), formed by parents to represent, Little League Baseball, AYSO Soccer, and Rocket Football. St. Joseph County provided an initial 2.8 million dollars donation toward the park and the City and volunteers raised another 2,047,250 million dollars through a fund-raising campaign to build and maintain the park. The city has an agreement with the sports commission that they operate the park during the playing seasons and take care of maintenance costs during that portion of the year. The City maintains ownership of the park and is responsible for the buildout and long-term maintenance.
Replicability:
This project started with a motivated group of citizens that sold their need for more playing fields in one location to save parents time and effort in getting their kids to practices and games. In order to turn the vision into reality, two partnership agreements were developed. One was between the local city government and the county governments to provide a park that would serve residents in our half of the county and a second agreement between the citizen lead 501c3 and the City to operate and maintain the park. What can be replicated is finding the passionate stakeholders and finding creative ways to cooperate through a partnership that shares the risks and rewards to make a dream come true.
Creativity and Originality:
We needed corporate donations in order to raise enough money to build the park. In order to make it easier for them to make large donations we let them know the city would upfront the total pledged dollar amount immediately in order to start construction. This allowed corporations to make larger donations and spread the cost over multiple years. Another creative aspect was leaving unplanned space available for future additional development. This allowed donors that had a desire for a particular activity to create it. The pickle ball courts, disc golf course, picnic pavilion, and kids’ playground are examples of this. This way the park is serving the interests of a diverse group of citizens and making it a true gathering place for people of all walks of life.
Community Impact:
The sports complex original plan left space open for other amenities to be added as time and money allowed. Four projects came up almost immediately with funding from local citizens and businesses. A kid’s playground, two pickle Ball Courts, an 18-hole disc golf course and a paved 1-mile-long walking path around the perimeter. These attractions have opened up the area to all age groups to come and enjoy an activity or just being outside for a walk. This has made the park an activity hub for a much broader range of people with specialized interests that we didn’t anticipate. There is still room for more sports fields or activities to added as donors want to come forward.
