Monroe County Executive Jack Doyle recently selected Greece as home for a new complex that will house 22 soccer fields on county-owned land adjacent to Greece Canal Park. Residents, legislators and soccer fans have been writing in to voice their opinions. In this two-part series, Westside News Inc. will attempt to first, layout the proposal, and second, demonstrate some of the more popular public opinions.

Part 1 - The Plan

A strong base of youth soccer programs along with the tremendous success of the Rochester Raging Rhinos organization has helped brand Rochester as "Soccer Town USA." It is estimated that approximately 35,000 Rochesterians participate in organized soccer at some level.

This local feeling of soccer-mania, along with the hope of attracting potential tourists, has helped to fuel a proposal for a 22-soccer field complex in Monroe County. The original concept that was shared with County Executive Jack Doyle came from Bernard J. Iacovangelo, developer and Chili resident.

"I came up with the idea back in 1998 when Chili Legislator Tracy Logel asked me to have some of my men help assemble some playground equipment at Black Creek Park," said Iacovangelo. "When I looked at the master plan for the park I saw some soccer fields and it got me thinking."

Iacovangelo said he thought about how having a soccer complex would benefit the county. "One of the problems we have with soccer in this community is when we have a tournament we have no tournament atmosphere," said Iacovangelo, explaining that because there isn't a large cluster of fields in any one town, larger tournaments have to be spread all over the county. This idea presented by Iacovangelo began two years of research for the county.

After commissioning an advisory committee (made up of local soccer aficionados and community officials) and a feasibility study conducted by Stuart I. Brown Associates, County Executive Jack Doyle announced June 21 that the home for this complex would be in Greece - more specifically on county-owned acreage surrounded by Greece Canal Park, the Erie Canal and Manitou Road. This followed rejection of a site in Chili.

The advisory committee concluded that the minimum requirements for the complex were as follows:

•Minimum of 125-acre parcel
•Good access to highway system (within two miles of an on ramp to the expressway system)
•Good soils with moderate limitations for athletic field use
•Slopes less than 5 percent
•Limited wetlands
•Availability (non-residential, non-agricultural, non-industrial land use, ownership)

These criteria left a short list of potential sites that included: Black Creek Park, Manitou Road (adjacent to Greece Canal Park), Northampton Park, Redman Road (Hamlin), Union Street.

The committee then concluded "either the Union Street site or the Manitou Road site is suitable for the type of facility contemplated."

From there Doyle selected his top choice - the Greece site. Reasons for the selection include the elimination of land acquisition costs, nearby roadways and extreme interest demonstrated by Greece officials. The Town of Greece recently purchased 450 acres of developable land close to the site.

The Brown report estimated costs for the proposal to be approximately $4.5 million with $392,000 annual debt service payments for 20 years. The county expects to fund the project through the use of revenue from the interest on funds secured through the tobacco settlement. The county also predicts that operating revenues will offset operation costs.

The next step in the project is to gauge public reaction to the plan and allow residents to sound off. The county has had two sessions in which people could pick up material on the project and ask questions, but no formal presentation as of yet.

Dennis Pelletier, Monroe County Legislature president, said he does not know when the county will formally introduce the proposal to westside residents. "This is a proposal and therefore not a sure thing," said Pelletier. "As far as I know it is up to the administration (parks director and engineering department) to seek public input."

Mark Ballerstein, engineering operations manager for Monroe County, said the next step will be hiring a consultant to further the planning along and do an environmental review. Then it will be back to the public.

"As the project progresses we'll have several other meetings," said Ballerstein, adding that they will most likely be in September and October. "At the next public meeting we will try to find interested people to sit on an advisory committee."

Part II next week: Public opinion.