2 sports projects on tap for Johnstown-Milliken area

JOHNSTOWN – On any given summer day, Sticker Stadium – the pet name for the lone baseball field that serves the Thompson Rivers Parks and Recreation District – is booked down to the minute.

T-ball, youth baseball and adult softball all take turns on the field. Even soccer teams pine for a chance to use the outfield grass.

It’s a predicament that keeps Laura Wilson, director of operations for the Thompson Rivers district, constantly on her toes.

But relief is in sight.

A land donation from a local farmer has left the Thompson Rivers district, which serves both Johnstown and Milliken, with 27 acres earmarked for a new baseball-softball complex. Coupled with money that’s coming in from a recently mill levy election, plans are under way to build a $5 million, four-field complex that could open as soon as next summer.

The parks district is soliciting statements of qualifications from contractors and construction managers this month.

The Nelson Farm Ballfields represent one half of a huge recreation investment for the district. Pending approval by voters in the upcoming November election, the Thompson Rivers district also wants to build a 64,000-square-foot, $20 million recreation center. If approved, the rec center could open by mid 2007.

The ballfield complex is the first order of business.

As planned, the project would feature regulation diamonds for both high school baseball and softball. The other two fields would be multi-purpose for youth and adult recreational leagues.

“All four will be lighted,” Wilson said.

The Thompson Rivers district has signed SportsOne, a sports facility architecture firm based in Greeley, to design the project. Jeff Kroeger, director of landscape architecture for SportsOne, said the complex will feature an elevated concession area and plaza that connects the four fields, similar to the Rolland Moore Park softball complex in Fort Collins.

“The site itself is like an amphitheater,´ said Kroeger, whose firm has designed the network of about 60 Field of Dreams parks sponsored by the Colorado Rockies.

The site for the park, located at the northwest edge of Johnstown, is positioned east of Weld County Road 15, roughly between county roads 50 on the south and 60 on the north. The land abuts the Red Stone Hills subdivision.

The proximity to the subdivision led to concerns about lighting, which Kroeger believes has been solved. An innovative lighting system by Musco Sports Lighting of Iowa will be employed at Nelson Farm Ballfields. Kroeger said the Musco lights shine onto the playing field, but limit the glare outside the field.

“It cuts operating costs and light that spills from the fixtures by 50 percent,” Kroeger said. “Light stays on the field and it’s almost pitch black on the other side.”

The recreation center, if approved, would answer another ongoing headache for the Thompson Rivers district.

“Right now we’re totally dependent on the (Weld Re-5J) schools and the town facilities,” Wilson said. “We do not have an indoor facility of our own.”

The parks district manages programs such as gymnastics, dance, aerobics, drama, painting, crafts and CPR instruction all in borrowed space.

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