A mutli-million dollar sports complex is coming to Shelby County.  The project has been in the works for years in Chelsea and now construction could start in the next couple months.

“It's an exciting time in Chelsea right now,” said Chelsea City Councilor Tony Picklesimer.  He said the Sports Complex will include, “8 baseball fields of assorted sizes some for baseball and some for softball, a youth football field, a new soccer complex and a competition tennis complex.”

 The complex will be located off County Road 11 near Chelsea High School.  Already work has started on a road to provide access to the complex and a water line has been brought in to the area.  Before construction can begin on the athletic facilities the City Counicl needs to finalize the plans and put the project out for bid.  Picklesimer expects that to happen in early August.

He said the city’s current athletic facilities aren’t meeting the demand.  “Chelsea is one of the fastest growing cities not only in Shelby County but in Alabama…this will be our third athletic complex and we're just trying to keep up with the growth.  We've got all these kids and all these young people and Chelsea's slogan is we're all about family and we want to be sure the infrastructure is there that our city needs.”

Chelsea Middle School Principal, Andrew Gunn, agrees.  He said there is a great need for another sports complex.  “We have ball teams and travel ball clubs that travel 50-60 miles just to practice,” said Gunn, “in a growing community like this you need those kinds of things you need to give kids an outlet, need to give kids a place where they can be healthy, where they can get out and exercise and just be around each other.”

Picklesimer hopes phase one of the complex can open in the spring of 2016 but it is a four phase project and he said it could take five years to complete everything.

 

abc3340.com

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