‘Superfun’ Plan Aims For 2000 Sysa Will Build Sports Complex Near Bemiss

Matt Booth and Curtis Crittenden sometimes feel like slugger Mark McGwire. The boys hit balls past the outfield and into the school walls when they play baseball on Bemiss Elementary School’s tiny field.

But in a little more than a year, they’ll get a chance to routinely test their power on bigger neighborhood fields.

The Spokane Youth Sports Association plans to turn a vacant 16-acre field near Bemiss into a multi-use sports complex.

Plans to turn the one-time Superfund site into “SuperFun” were unveiled at a youth association press conference last week.

The boys weren’t the only ones drooling over a new place to play.

Ashley Hadley, 10, dressed in her powder blue softball uniform and oversized ball cap, eyed the conceptual plans for the park that will be built across the street from Bemiss.

“Cool,” Hadley said of the designs.

Lori Hadley, Ashley’s mother, can’t wait for the 5-acre park to open. It’s scheduled to be finished by the spring of 2000.

“I think it’s awesome,” Hadley said. “Now, I have to take her all the way over to the North Side Sports Complex near Albi Stadium. It will be nice for her to get a chance to know more kids here in this neighborhood.”

The youth association plopped down $125,000 to purchase and develop the property at the intersection of Bridgeport and Cook, said Von Graf, SYSA’s executive director.

“The money came from our charitable bingo operation. It has helped our nonprofit effort immensely,” Graf said.

The field is currently 16 acres of tall grass surrounded by a fence. It’s hardly appealing now, but neighbors and officials say it’s better than what used to be there.

“The person who used to own it just collected junk for years,” said Kevin Rochlin of the Environmental Protection Agency in Seattle. “It was full of lead and PCPs.

For almost 50 years it housed cars, heavy equipment, appliances, batteries and electrical transformers. It was given Superfund status in 1994.

The EPA removed the mess in a three-month period late in 1996. It was taken off the Superfund list about a year ago.

Now, the youth association hopes to install a regulation-sized baseball field, softball field, three regulation-sized soccer fields and eight smaller soccer fields.

Graf said the association wants to eventually develop all 16 acres. Picnic areas and more fields would be added. The plan would cost an estimated $325,000 and could take anywhere from two to five years to complete.

“And that’s being optimistic,” Graf said.

Neighborhood activist Mary Gaddy said she is pleased with the plans.

“But more than the softball fields, this is an example of business, government and citizens working together,” Gaddy said.

“This is proof that we can overcome the distrusts that often exist between these groups,” she said. “It’s possible for all of us to get together and accomplish something for the benefit of everyone.”