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Pasco moving forward with sports complex

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By KEVIN WIATROWSKI | The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 9, 2009

DADE CITY - Pasco County commissioners signed on today with California-based Sportsplex USA to develop a multisport, multifield athletic complex somewhere in the county.

The exact location for the complex will be decided later after county officials consult with Sportsplex officials, said Michele Baker, chief assistant county administrator.

Commissioners threw their lot in with Sportsplex a few minutes after officially dropping their plans for a tennis stadium in Wesley Chapel.

Those long-held plans for a national-level tennis stadium died last month when Saddlebrook Resort owner Tom Dempsey pulled out of negotiations to build and run the complex.

Sportsplex became the county's last hope for developing a destination that could attract out-of-county sports leagues after Big League Dreams, which builds youth-league replicas of historic ball parks, dropped out last fall.

The county expects to have more than $11 million available for tourism construction by the end of the current budget year, Baker said. Sportsplex has told the county it can build a complex mixing baseball, softball, soccer, batting cages, a field house and a restaurant for between $10.5 million and $11.6 million.

Any Pasco sports complex will compete with similar facilities across the state in the race to lure teams to compete in Florida's mild winter weather. In recent years, Pasco has drawn lacrosse and soccer tournaments to county parks, with the goal of generating hotel tax revenue.

Last month, commissioners raised the county's hotel tax to 3 percent, the first boost since the tax was established at 2 percent in 1991.

Today's vote sets the wheels in motion for county staff and Sportsplex officials to begin sorting out details regarding the size, location and cost for the new facility. During Sportsplex' preliminary visit to Pasco earlier this year, company officials looked at several sites where developers have donated land for county parks, Baker said.

The jockeying to host Sportsplex' future complex began even before commissioners OK'd negotiations with the company. Commission Chairman Jack Mariano urged county staffers to include two sites in Hudson.

Commissioner Ted Schrader suggested combining the 24-acre former tennis stadium site with 16 acres in neighboring Wiregrass Ranch in Wesley Chapel. That property could be without direct road access until 2013, however, unless the county finds a way to build Porter Boulevard ahead of schedule.

Schrader said the county should open the quest for a Sportsplex site to any large-scale developers willing to put up part of their land.

"If we open this back up to any and all sites, then we can have a fair evaluation," Schrader said.

As commissioners look to youth-league sports to generate tourism dollars, a successful deal with Sportsplex could bring in millions of dollars each year in both hotel taxes and a 7-to-8 percent commission paid to the county.

Commissioners acknowledged the future sports complex needs two things to thrive: access to a major highway and a supply of hotel rooms nearby. Those two requirements are likely to limit the options for finding a home for the complex.

"The bottom line is we need to make this an attraction," said Commissioner Michael Cox.

Reporter Kevin Wiatrowski can be reached at (813) 731-8168.

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