Town Council splits 4-3, approves master plan for Luter Sports Complex

Bebermeyer, however, contended the focus on baseball and softball could spur additional tourism dollars from requests to host tournaments at the existing first phase baseball and softball fields, which town Parks and Recreation Department staff have frequently had to turn away when those fields are reserved by SRA. Under the SRA’s lease agreement, it has first right of refusal to use the baseball and softball fields.

“There is a whole area of sports tourism that we’re not tapping into and baseball is one of those and people will travel far and wide for that,” Bebermeyer said.

Stallings, during the Nov. 17 meetings, said town staff made the decision “to focus on what we do really well.”

“The baseball field inquiries are pretty steady every week,” Parks and Recreation Director Amy Novak said at the Nov. 17 meetings. “The football field rentals come every couple of months.”

“Most of the other sports are served pretty well in other parts of the community,” Stallings said. “We looked at soccer, and clearly Nike Park’s got that really well taken care of,” referring to the Isle of Wight County facility in Carrollton.

Bowman noted the plan could be changed later by the current council or a future council.

“This just gives me a first starting point as far as the footprint is concerned,” Bowman said. “I am in no way, by endorsing this plan, saying that this is etched in stone.”

The master plan shows a full-size baseball field and two additional softball fields in the proposed second phase, plus several additions to the first phase, including a 70-yard flag football and practice field, a T-ball field, additional batting cages and parking, and a walking trail to connect the first and second phases.

A representative from Kimley-Horn said at the Nov. 17 meetings that the firm had looked into adding a second football field but abandoned that plan after determining it would only be able to accommodate a 100-yard field if it lacked end zone buffers. Stallings said the buildable acreage in the second phase is constrained by topography and wetlands.

The master plan also shows the potential addition of press boxes at the football field and at the proposed second baseball and softball complex.

The plan shows the second phase having its own parking lot with over 200 spaces. An additional 170-plus parking spaces would be added to the 2018 phase, some of which would be near the site of the circa-1840s Wombwell house the town demolished in 2021.

Additional parking at the Wombwell site had been part of a 2023 plan to add a 3,800-square-foot building to the park that would house maintenance equipment for all town-owned parks. The town defunded that project and reallocated its earmarked federal COVID-19 relief funds to instead go toward the two-story concession and bathroom facility the town built in 2024 adjacent to the football field after the cost estimate for the maintenance building soared to over $1 million. The master plan still shows space at the former Wombwell site for the maintenance building’s future construction.