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People look over the visitors locker room at Municipal Stadium during a tour of the ballpark Wednesday evening. (By Ric Dugan, Staff Photographer / September 19, 2012) |
Editor’s note: As we usher out 2012 and welcome 2013, The Herald-Mail has prepared a package of year-end stories that provide short recaps of some of the top stories of the year past.
These stories will be published each day through New Year’s Day.
Multiuse stadium
January-Present: The yearlong process of finding a suitable venue for the Hagerstown Suns has yielded nothing more than strikeouts for city of Hagerstown officials.
Not a new issue by any means, building a new stadium to house the Class A affiliate of the Washington Nationals has been discussed for years as 82-year-old Municipal Stadium continues to fall further into disrepair with the passing of each baseball season.
Looking back on the past year, conversations have proven ineffective and largely futile, despite the downtown multiuse stadium proposal that gained steam under former Mayor Robert E. Bruchey II.
The downtown stadium concept ramped up in April with the release of the Ripken Design feasibility study that estimated the facility could cost about $30 million and spark downtown redevelopment in the city’s struggling core.
City officials, working with their Washington County counterparts, approved a funding formula in May that would foot the bill for about one-third of the debt service for the stadium, with the other portions coming from private sector and state funding streams.
City officials released a preliminary project timeline later in May outlining a plan that could have allowed the first pitch of the 2015 season to be thrown in a new downtown facility.
However, the cost estimate rose to $37 million in September when it was announced that an anonymous private donor was willing to put up $15 million toward the project. That funding has yet to materialize.
Months went by as unrest grew from opponents of the project — mostly due to discussions held by city officials in closed-door sessions — and then came the Nov. 6 election. Bruchey and two members of the five-member council that had supported the downtown proposal were voted out of office. A third member of council had not sought re-election.
While those elected, or re-elected, have said they did not believe the election was a referendum on the stadium, it cast doubt over the downtown proposal.
Time appears to be running out for the city to request money from the state for any stadium project, and without the anonymous donor’s contribution in hand, there seems to be a gaping hole on the private funding side, a crucial piece to forging the public-private partnership that state officials want.
On Dec. 11, Suns majority owner Bruce Quinn, who said he wants to stay in Hagerstown, pitched an alternative site stadium project that could cost around $25 million.
Quinn stressed that he needs to have a deal solidified by the time the 2013 baseball season starts this spring, or the team’s future in Hagerstown might be in jeopardy.
— C.J. Lovelace
Speed cameras
January-Present: With talks dating to late 2011, the city of Hagerstown installed automated speed cameras in various school zones in 2012 as a way to increase safety for children and reduce police workload, according to city and police officials.
The Hagerstown City Council on Jan. 31 approved more than a dozen proposed school zones where cameras could be installed. The first camera installed in March on Northern Avenue between Fountaindale Elementary and Northern Middle schools went live in mid-April.
These stories will be published each day through New Year’s Day.
Multiuse stadium
January-Present: The yearlong process of finding a suitable venue for the Hagerstown Suns has yielded nothing more than strikeouts for city of Hagerstown officials.
Not a new issue by any means, building a new stadium to house the Class A affiliate of the Washington Nationals has been discussed for years as 82-year-old Municipal Stadium continues to fall further into disrepair with the passing of each baseball season.
Looking back on the past year, conversations have proven ineffective and largely futile, despite the downtown multiuse stadium proposal that gained steam under former Mayor Robert E. Bruchey II.
The downtown stadium concept ramped up in April with the release of the Ripken Design feasibility study that estimated the facility could cost about $30 million and spark downtown redevelopment in the city’s struggling core.
City officials, working with their Washington County counterparts, approved a funding formula in May that would foot the bill for about one-third of the debt service for the stadium, with the other portions coming from private sector and state funding streams.
City officials released a preliminary project timeline later in May outlining a plan that could have allowed the first pitch of the 2015 season to be thrown in a new downtown facility.
However, the cost estimate rose to $37 million in September when it was announced that an anonymous private donor was willing to put up $15 million toward the project. That funding has yet to materialize.
Months went by as unrest grew from opponents of the project — mostly due to discussions held by city officials in closed-door sessions — and then came the Nov. 6 election. Bruchey and two members of the five-member council that had supported the downtown proposal were voted out of office. A third member of council had not sought re-election.
While those elected, or re-elected, have said they did not believe the election was a referendum on the stadium, it cast doubt over the downtown proposal.
Time appears to be running out for the city to request money from the state for any stadium project, and without the anonymous donor’s contribution in hand, there seems to be a gaping hole on the private funding side, a crucial piece to forging the public-private partnership that state officials want.
On Dec. 11, Suns majority owner Bruce Quinn, who said he wants to stay in Hagerstown, pitched an alternative site stadium project that could cost around $25 million.
Quinn stressed that he needs to have a deal solidified by the time the 2013 baseball season starts this spring, or the team’s future in Hagerstown might be in jeopardy.
— C.J. Lovelace
Speed cameras
January-Present: With talks dating to late 2011, the city of Hagerstown installed automated speed cameras in various school zones in 2012 as a way to increase safety for children and reduce police workload, according to city and police officials.
The Hagerstown City Council on Jan. 31 approved more than a dozen proposed school zones where cameras could be installed. The first camera installed in March on Northern Avenue between Fountaindale Elementary and Northern Middle schools went live in mid-April.
