The first phase of the new sports complex will be moving forward, investigating Third Street West as the access road to the park.
The cost savings of going with the Third Street West direction were significant, noted Lisa Burch of YTT Engineering, because of the water main project already being undertaken for that stretch of street.
“If we were to have used Walnut Street, there would have been significant amounts of underground directional boring we would have had to have completed,” Burch said. “Because of the water main project, we’ll be able to do the addition of water mains for the park as part of an open trench project, which significantly reduced costs.”
The cost for the changed access to the park came in closer to the original $1.2 million estimate for the project, whereas Walnut Street and Jefferson Street access added more in concrete work and boring to install water mains and storm sewer for the project.
Lisbon mayor Doug O’Connor said that the council had correspondence regarding the additional traffic on Walnut Street being an issue if that was the route determined for the park as well.
“No matter which direction we choose to gain access to the new sporting complex, neighbors have concerns,” O’Connor said.
Homeowners along Third Street West voiced concerns about the potential increased traffic in their neighborhoods at a previous city council meeting, noting the presence of young children in the area and the impact adding sidewalks and increasing the road to the 28 feet in width might pose to current driveways and other structures.
Discussion by the council asked which side of the street sidewalk could be added to access the new sports complex without as much impact to current residents. The council asked YTT to stake distances for new sidewalks on either side of the street, as well as the impact increasing the size of the road would have on homeowners.
One of the additional changes to the complex that Burch was able to realize with the cost savings is that the first phase of the project could also accommodate two baseball diamonds.
For Lisbon Parks and Recreation director Drayton Kamberling, that was a significant help, as it would relieve some of the pressure for the baseball and softball diamonds during the regular season, and give two additional fields for games and recreation leagues to play at each season. The sports complex is built for eight soccer fields currently, when the city routinely has a need for roughly five.
“We went with eight because we know we’re growing our program towards that number over time,” Kamberling said.
The diamonds would be slightly shy of regulation field size, Burch noted, but would give the sports complex multiple-season use in the first phase, as opposed to just soccer fields that would be cared for. It would also give the City of Lisbon a little more time before they would need to approach a full phase II extension for the sports complex.
The parking lot would be able to house 100 cars, which Burch said was ideal. A grass overflow parking lot could be used as well with the point to discourage vehicles from parking along Third Street West.
The project still has to undergo a bidding process and the council asked YTT to stake where they think the extension of the road and new sidewalks would impact neighbors on both sides of Third Street West for this project.