Play ball!

MURRAY – While the Murray Development Corporation has several community projects in the works, the most ambitious by far is the plan to build a new ball complex south of the school. With a projected budget of $360,000, Phase I would provide for a ball diamond capable of hosting high school and little league teams, as well as adequate parking.

Plans for the ball field were shared during the group’s annual meeting Tuesday, March 14. Josh Shields, a Professional Landscape Architect with Bolton & Menk, Inc. of Des Moines — and a Murray native — has been working with the town on configuring specs for the project for the last two years.

“It was brought to our attention that people wouldn’t come here to play tournaments because it was so outdated,” said Craig Justice, chairperson of the Murray Development Corporation.

A newly developed soccer program in Murray draws a surprising number of children, but they have to travel to Afton for practice and games.

“I was astonished how many kids signed up for soccer when there’s no soccer field,” said Justice. “They’re going to another community to do it. Out of that came this idea for a ball complex.”

It helped, too, that several of the other lofty goals residents have had in recent years are coming to fruition. KSOI seemed like a pipe dream at first. Now, it’s garnering national attention for the town of just 750 people. The Freedom Rock, which Justic says could have eclipsed a $60,000 budget, will be completed this fall and cost only $41,000 thanks to people and businesses chipping in to help.

Clarke County Deveopment Coorporation donated $21,000 to the project. South Central Iowa Community Foundation offered a matching grant of $6,000.

Already, people are lending a hand. Shields, for instance, has donated his time to gather the information needed in order to get contract bids.

“His company’s letting him volunteer his time to put this together. So, that’s a lot to be said for an engineering firm that’s not even local to do that,” said Justice. “It’s good to have these people who have moved away and are willing to come back and make it a better community.”

Shields played sports for Murray, graduated from the high school there and still has plenty of friends and family in the area. With his professional background, not only as a member of the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) but as the president of the Iowa chapter, Shields is the perfect man for the job.

Focusing on long-term plans

“After some meetings, we did kind of a shortened master plan. The concept was looking at relocating the ball fields,” said Shields. “They’re closer to the school. They’re closer to the community.”

The bigger picture includes — potentially — sidewalks or trails, concessions and a playground or basketball court. The talks, which began in 2015, support a long-term project with plenty of potential for future growth.

“Part of that had some funding stratedgies in it. It had kind of an estimate breakdown of the different phases and what the costs could be so the community could get some people behind them,” said Shields. “If you have that strategy, you can work on getting those dollars to come in.”

A few years’ worth of talks with the Murray Development Corporation board members — Justice, Jolleen Thacker, Jason Gibbs, Bill Black, Laura Hyatt, Ron Wheeler and Brenda Reasoner — as well as the Murray City Administrator Denise Simmons — and the scope of the project has changed to suit the needs of Murray now and in the future. For instance, the size and the shape of the ball diamonds changed to suit multiple uses, and small adjustments have been considered for adding a soccer field so children don’t have to drive to Afton.

There was also a concern regarding ong-term maintenance.

“We’ve not asked the city to take it over. We’ve not asked the county to take it over,” said Justice. “We’re looking to put funding away to take care of it down the road.”

Shields presented concept art to give people a better understanding of the finished project, as it is planned today. Justice cautions Murray residents to keep an open mind and keep the faith.

“It’s a lot of money,” he said. “It’s pretty ambitious, but I thought the Freedom Rock was ambitious and we did it.”