SHARON Recreation-plan hearings draw 1

The need for more sports fields is at the top of the priority list so far.
By HAROLD GWIN
VINDICATOR SHARON BUREAU
SHARON, Pa. -- A consultant hired to help the city map out a master recreation plan wasn't discouraged when only one resident showed up for one of two public hearings.
Tuesday's hearings were only one phase of the public input portion of the study, said Bob Good of Pashek Associates of Pittsburgh.
His company will still send 1,800 questionnaires to city residents this month, interview 21 key business, community and religious leaders and rely on the Sharon Parks and Recreation Study Committee to find out what residents want.
The study committee's hearings, both at 7 p.m. Tuesday in the city building and Musser Elementary School, drew only Christopher Wallace of Stambaugh Avenue, to the city building. Officials decided to move to Musser, hoping for a bigger turnout.
Wallace, a Sharon High School English teacher and a coach in youth athletic programs, wasn't shy about making his feelings known: There just aren't enough practice fields to meet the demands of youth baseball, football and soccer programs.
There is also a big demand for a skate park for skateboarders and in-line skaters, and the city could use a system of walking and biking trails as well as sports facilities for special needs children, he said.
The study committee agreed there are major needs but suggested still others, including restoring basketball hoops removed from municipal playgrounds, resolving the lack of transportation to any new recreation site and building a toddler playground in the West Hill area.
Committee members suggested that getting privately owned Buhl Farm in nearby Hermitage to develop more ballfields would help.
Sharon has little open land, but perhaps playing fields could be developed on vacant land in Bicentennial Park, at Clark Street and Water Avenue, behind the Shenango Inn and behind West Hill School.
Priorities set by those at the hearings show more sports fields at the top of the list. A trail system and encouraging the development of more sports fields in Buhl Farm also ranked high, followed by outdoor basketball courts.
A skate park was low on the list.
Good said the goal is to complete the master plan by October so the city can make the November funding round for state recreation grants, should the master plan propose any improvements.