CROWN POINT | With the city's purchase of Breyfogle Farm firmly on track, Crown Point officials turned their attention Wednesday to the creation of a youth sports corporation.
The nonprofit organization will be charged with plotting what infrastructure will fill the vacant cornfields off Old Merrillville Road. The city is expected to close on that property by November, Mayor Dan Klein said.
"We are going through with the Breyfogle Farm purchase," he told representatives of area youth sports organizations Wednesday. "There are some detractors. I'm not sure why they'd be against something like that. ... We can't live for today as a sports organization. We have to think 10 years down the road."
The City Council approved a resolution to form the nonprofit youth sports corporation at its Sept. 4 meeting. The city slated $5,000 in funding for the group out of the 2008 mayor's office budget. Klein said he would also provide funding in 2007.
The corporation will be made up of one mayoral appointee, one City Council appointee, a Crown Point School Corp. representative and one representative per youth organization, according to the corporation's proposed bylaws.
The corporation's goal is to connect area youth sports groups and to plan and coordinate the use of athletic facilities in Crown Point, according to its bylaws. The bylaws say the corporation is not required to provide notice of its regular meetings.
The bylaws still need to be adopted by members of the group.
Parks Director Julie Johnson said the organization will provide a unified voice for area sports groups.
"When you come as one voice, you have more impact when you are presenting to companies that provide grants," she said. "It's not just one organization or another. The (unified) voice has a tendency to hit harder than one single voice would hit."
The city is hoping the corporation will be able to secure grants and funding for construction of facilities on the Breyfogle Farm property, Klein said. He said he already has Economic Development Director Eric Hammond speaking with engineering firms on the complex's design. He said he will find the money for engineering in this year's budget.
"We have no preconceived ideas on how the land will be laid out," Klein said, repeating his request for input from the Youth Sports Commission and community members.
The Youth Sports Commission's next meeting will be held Oct. 4.
