By Shelby Stewart
Staff Writer
Brandon Twp.- Baseball, basketball and volleyball facilities at the township park will soon have a new look.
Construction at the Brandon Township Community Park, 1414 N. Hadley Road is underway and Fred Waybrant, township parks and recreation director says the projects from Land and Water Conservation Fund grants from the Department of Natural Resources, originally covered four baseball fields, four sand volleyball courts, one basketball court, 300 parking sports and other various small projects like benches and signage.
However, the project bids came back higher than the grants could fund.
As a result, the projects were reduced to half the parking, two baseball fields, three volleyball courts and the basketball court.
“The bids came in about $1 million too much each time we put it out,” said Waybrant. “Construction (business) is doing well, (as a result) things bid high. The board voted to skip bidding, made me project manager, and get local businesses involved. Excavation has started, and there’s a lot still to be bid out.”
Waybrant is asking for locals, either businesses or residents, to help with the projects at the park.
“Even with that, we’re still tight with the budget,” he said.
Waybrant still needs bids for many projects, as well as sponsors and volunteers.
“Service groups, business owners, if they wanted to purchase a bench or bleachers or signage, their name would be on it,” he said. “That way their name would be out at the park. They could sponsor a field, like we did with the soccer fields, for $3,000.”
According to Waybrant, the cost for the miscellaneous items such as benches, bleachers and other things is between $30,000-$40,000.
“Someone could sponsor a basketball court for $3,000 and have their name right on the backboard,” he said. “It’s hard to sponsor excavating. As far as the earth moving, that’s where the money has got to go.”
Other ways to help out is to volunteer for assembling, seeding, landscaping and more.
“We can use that as matching funds for the DNR Grant,” he said. “We need people to help assemble benches, backstops, anyone with fencing experience.”
Another issue is the time limits for the funding.
“We’re on a tight time frame too,” he said. “For the 2016 money, we have until October to get it done or we lose funding, the DNR does not allow any extension. We hope to have it all done this fall. We want to start some sand volleyball teams. We’re doing this on a small budget and we need community help.”
Waybrant also applied for another grant for $500,000, which would allow them to add in the projects they had to reduce and continue with the original plan.
“We’re putting together a volunteer list, and once we get the land balancing out of the way, we’ll need help with the assembling,” he said.
To volunteer, sponsor or donate, call Waybrant at 248-627-4640.