TodayMunicipal officials discuss Memorial Park stadium
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Article RatingA lunch meeting Thursday brought two Shippensburg Area School District directors together with elected municipal officials to examine the future of athletic facilities at Shippensburg's Veterans' Memorial Park.
Steve Oldt, executive director of the Shippensburg Area Chamber of Commerce, says he organized the session in response to feedback from the community that indicates the 50-year-old football/baseball stadium is deficient.
"What I'm hearing from kids, parents and boosters is that the park is the worst field in the Mid-Penn Conference that Shippensburg competes in," Oldt said following the summit at the Shippen Place Hotel's Black Horse Restaurant.
Oldt says he has been informed of the school district's athletic facility feasibility study, but decided the time was right for this examination.
Just the stadium
"What we've done is start the process of discussing ideas and options. This has nothing to do with the rest of the park at Memorial Park, just the stadium."
Memorial Park is owned by the Borough of Shippensburg. Shippensburg's middle school and high school athletes use the playing fields -- primarily for football, but also for baseball and soccer.
Students from Shippensburg Township, Hopewell Township and Southampton Township in both Cumberland and Franklin counties attend Shippensburg schools.
"It's a community field and we need to start looking five or 10 years out," Oldt said following the meeting. He said the prospect of grants to finance improvements was discussed, but made no mention of potential spending by the various municipalities to fund improvements.
"It was a good meeting," Oldt said. " We'll go back the boosters and others for input and meet again. We have a long way to go, but getting together was beneficial."
School directors Tom Enderlein and Dave Lovett were at the meeting, along with Shippensburg Borough Council President Earl Parshall, Supervisor Sam Cressler of Southampton, Franklin; Supervisor Tom Ginnick of Southampton, Cumberland; and Supervisor Curt Myers of Hopewell Township.
John Bard of Shippensburg Township was unable to attend, but Oldt said Bard has expressed support for the cooperative venture.
