Brandon Twp.-Opening day for baseball is still months away, but Recreation Director Fred Waybrant is making plans now for improvements in the township for players and fans of the game.
Waybrant will apply for at least two grants? one to be used for the Sherman Village Park, and the other for the Brandon Township Community Park. Both grants would be applied for in April, with baseball in mind. The township was recently denied a Recreation Passport Grant, but Waybrant will reapply, this time with a renovation project that aims to update the electrical and storage at the ball garage concession stand at Sherman Village Park.
‘Renovation projects instead of new development are more acceptable for this grant,? he said. ‘We need renovations, especially with pitching machines, to the backdrops and electrical. It could use a new roof and eaves.?
For this grant, Waybrant estimates the township will request $15,000, with the township doing a 20 percent match.
The township will also go back to applying for a Land and Conservation Trust Fund grant from the DNR, a move that was quite lucrative six years ago, when officials were accepted for the grant that subsequently resulted in a playground and sledding hill at the township community park, 1414 N. Hadley Road. This time, they will again go for the maximum available grant of $75,000, with a 50 percent match by the township of $37,500, resulting in $112,500 in funds to be used for phase 2 of the park if accepted.
Phase 2 of the Brandon Township Community Park involves installation of four baseball fields and a parking lot. Total cost of phase 2 is expected to be between $600,000 and $900,000, but Waybrant hopes to begin doing the phase in stages. In the grant, he will request the initial funds for land balancing for the ball fields.
‘The land balancing is the most important, you’ve got to have drainage,? he noted. ‘Once you have that, it’s a matter of laying out the field, a little excavating for the infield and base running, a backstop, fencing, and dugout. I’d like to bring in lighting if the board approves and we can have night games at the park and tournaments.?
To fund all the stages of the baseball fields, Waybrant hopes to apply for additional DNR grants next year, as well as in 2017. Money would also be used from cell tower funds. Last month, the board approved transferring $183,000 from the general fund to the park development fund, an amount equal to cell tower revenue diverted from the park to the general fund for the past five years due to hard economic times. The board now plans to resume using cell tower revenue strictly for park development and maintenance. The township added Verizon as a carrier on the cell tower this year, and now receives close to $95,000 annually from all carriers on the tower.
Waybrant also noted the township still has a $25,000 grant from Enbridge, given after the replacement of the Line 6B oil pipeline in the township. He hopes to invest that money in a concession stand and restroom at the park.
‘It’s been a long time since we’ve been able to do something at the park,? said Waybrant. ‘I feel reborn. We’ve been sitting her stagnant, but this board is moving forward with park development and the recreation department is holding its own. We still get pretty good numbers for youth programs, even though the student population is down. The kids that are staying are the kids that are playing… We want to give good programs for lasting memories for these children.?