Plans unveiled for Sussex County sports complex

Joe Schell didn't understand why he always had to drive hours to watch his grandchildren play travel soccer and lacrosse.

He would have to go to places like Hershey, Pennsylvania, and Williamsburg, Virginia, and to tournaments in New Jersey and Maryland, but never in Sussex County.

The simple answer to his question is there are no facilities in Sussex County with enough fields to host tournaments that can draw anywhere from 30 to 50 teams.

So Schell decided to do something to change that.

The Lewes land developer and businessman, who has a background in investment banking and is a member of several Delaware corporate and nonprofit boards, has put together a plan that would bring an eight-field sports complex to the Georgetown area along Sand Hill Road near U.S. 9.

He unveiled the project at a Georgetown Chamber of Commerce meeting earlier this month and continues to talk with town officials about approving the plans and getting the project off the ground.

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The all-grass complex would sit on 56 acres of farmland Schell donated. It would have Bermuda grass fields for soccer, lacrosse and field hockey. It also would have a pavilion, six pickleball courts, a 3- to 4-mile walking trail and plenty of green space for teams to warm up before games.

"We're exporting a lot of revenue that would come here if we had our own facility," Schell said. "It got me thinking that I wasn't doing anything with this land in Georgetown, so why don’t I take a piece of it and see if we can put together a complex for the area boys and girls. We would have our own facility so we can have home games."

Schell believes the economic impact for the Georgetown area and the local community as far east as Del. 1 and as far west as U.S. 113 will be $2 million in the first couple of years, but would grow as the facility hosted more tournaments.  

"Georgetown is dissected by [U.S.] 113, and there are a lot of hotels and restaurants on that road, so that is very close to our facility," Schell said. "As long as it is close by, people will drive to that area." 

Georgetown Mayor Bill West said he is behind the project 100 percent and believes it will be good for the town. He said you need to look no further than the Sports at the Beach baseball complex in Georgetown to see the success of such endeavors.

Sports at the Beach has 16 baseball fields and hosts large tournaments each weekend starting in the spring and going through summer and into the fall. West and others say the facility has at least a $1 million economic impact on the area each tournament weekend.

"The Sussex sports complex will be great for the Georgetown area," West said. "When you can bring 700 kids for an event, this will have a great economic impact on the town and the area. They will eat at our restaurants, shop in our stores and stay in our hotels."

DE Turf Sports Complex in Frederica provides another model in which the newly formed Sussex Sports Center Inc. foundation can compare. 

That $24 million complex features 12 multi-purpose synthetic turf fields that can be set up for soccer, lacrosse and other field sports. 

A feasibility study done before ground was broken on the Kent County complex estimated DE Turf’s economic impact to the area economy would be around $18 million a year. That was based on hosting 10 regional weekend tournaments, according to Bill Strickland, chairman of the Kent County Regional Sports Complex Corp.

Strickland said later that based upon updated projections of the number of tournaments the complex would host, the number was amended to a $25 million annual economic impact.

Members of the 12-person Sussex Sports Center Inc. foundation have talked with DE Turf officials and believe the facilities can complement each other during the busy tournament season. 

The same group decided grass fields would be the best way to go for the Georgetown complex, which would further enhance opportunities to work in collaboration with DE Turf.

"We’re doing something different. We’re doing Bermuda grass fields, which is the best natural grass surface for the sports that we are talking about," Schell said. "In the summer, turf fields are much hotter than grass. Our fields will be able to be cut pretty low. It’s a great surface because it grows very quickly in the summertime."

Schell believes on those hot summer days when turf fields are too hot to play on, DE Turf can rent out the fields in Georgetown without disruption to tournaments. Conversely, he said, if torrential rain stops play on the grass fields, games can be played at DE Turf if fields are available.

"We think we can be complementary to them. There is no reason to be battling over the same tournaments," Schell said. "We are close enough where we can help each other in certain situations."

Schell believes because Georgetown is right in the middle of population centers on the East Coast – New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington and western Virginia – it is a perfect location to host tournaments. 

He said it also has the attraction of having a beach on one side of the county where families can go after the games.

"It's an easy place to say, 'Let's go there,'" he said. "It really helps having something else for the rest of the family to do when they are not playing." 

Construction on the $4 million project should begin in late 2017. Schell said he is hopeful that seeding will begin in April or May, with a fall 2018 opening.

"If we seed the Bermuda grass fields in May and give them all summer to grow, we hope to be playing sometime in the fall of 2018," Schell said. "That’s aggressive, but we really think it can be done."

Partners

Schell said the Henlopen Soccer Club will play a big part in the success of the Georgetown complex. With more than 600 kids ages 8 and up playing in various programs, the time is right to have a home field.

"They are willing to support us by renting the fields for the times they need them for practice or games and help us arrange tournaments that they would host," Schell said. "Instead of making it a private facility for them and maybe a few others, it’s going to be a public facility for anybody."

Darren Short, president of Henlopen Soccer Club, likes the idea of having a home location. Right now, he says practices and games are split between Mariner Middle School, Milton Elementary School and Sussex Academy.

"We identified this as a real need two years ago," Short said. "When they decided to build new schools, they built them on fields we were using. Before H.O. Brittingham Elementary School was built, we had more fields."

Short said having the proposed Sussex sports complex would allow the program to serve more people and the location would allow the club to host tournaments. He said the plan is to host enough tournaments to offset the costs of the program and to even offer programs at a reduced rate.

Besides revenue generated from tournaments, Schell said, there is an opportunity for the facility to be financed in a public/private partnership. The private entities would be foundations, businesses, individuals and families. He expects two-thirds of the money needed for the project to come from private sources.

A third of the money would come from the town of Georgetown, Sussex County, the state and federal government, Schell said. 

He is hoping the Delaware Department of Transportation will contribute to the proposed Georgetown facility some of the work being done by DelDOT for DE Turf. 

"A lot of the expense up there is that roadway," Schell said. "That overpass is a $12 million project. As I understand it, they are helping a great deal for DE Turf."

There are other roadway issues to overcome near the Sussex sports complex, such as turn lanes on Sand Hill Road where the entrance will be and ultimately the intersection at U.S. 9 and Sand Hill Road.

Schell said he and members of the foundation have met with DelDOT officials to lay out their plans.

"We are doing our best to convince DelDOT to fast track the project, but I think they have a long list of fast tracks right now," he said.

In the meantime, final engineering drawings will be submitted to the town of Georgetown in a week, then they will probably take two or three weeks to approve, Schell said.

"We have a lot of support from the mayor and the town manager, so I don’t foresee much of a problem from Georgetown," he said. "This will be a great facility for them and their people."

Reach Jerry Smith at jsmith17@delawareonline.com. Follow him on Twitter at @JerrySmithTNJ.