$1.5 million field house planned; County inks deal with soccer club

The Northern Virginia Soccer Club, Inc. will build a $1.5 million field house at George Hellwig Community Park, 14418 Bristow Road, near Dale City.

The field house will provide an indoor play place with artificial turf. The soccer club will build the field house on the 132-acre park, which county taxpayers own. The county’s parks and recreation department will provide basic maintenance for 10 years as part of the deal.

According to county documents, basic maintenance entails Brooming/light raking/adding infill to the field “hot spots” (goalie area, penalty kick) once a week, sweeping/tine grooming once per month using equipment provided by NVSC, Inc.

If the contractor builds bathrooms inside the building, NVSC, Inc. must maintain the restrooms, documents state. Meanwhile, NVSC has until October 2024 to present construction plans to obtain bundling permits.

The Prince William Board of County Supervisors approved the resolution without comment.

The project will expand the number of playing surfaces in the county for youth soccer. NVSC, Inc. will get first dibs when scheduling the facility’s use.

In 2019, county residents said they wanted more indoor parks and recreation facilities when they approved a $41 million parks and recreation bond.

WHEREAS, Prince William County (County) is a political subdivision of the
Commonwealth of Virginia that owns 132.73 acres of land located known as George Hellwig Memorial Park (Hellwig Park) located at 14418 Bristow Road in the Coles Magisterial District; and

WHEREAS, the Department of Parks, Recreation, and Tourism (DPRT), as a
Department within the County government with the authority to act on behalf of the County, has a long-standing partnership with Northern Virginia Soccer Club, Inc. (NVSC) to provide youth soccer programming for County residents at Hellwig Park, which serves as NVSC’s home facility; and

WHEREAS, NVSC is a community partner providing youth soccer programing
for residents of the County for nearly fifty years; and
WHEREAS, NVSC, subject to obtaining necessary funding, desires to privately
fund the development of an indoor facility with an artificial turf field (Field House) at Hellwig Park for an estimated cost of $1,500,000; and

WHEREAS, NVSC proposes to manage the design, permitting, and construction
of the Field House in coordination with DPRT; and

WHEREAS, in exchange for their financial contribution towards the Field House,
NVSC shall have priority use scheduling of the facility and the DPRT shall be responsible for long term maintenance of the facility; and

WHEREAS, the Prince William Board of County Supervisors (Board) recognizes
the significant community benefit that the citizens of the County derive from public-private partnerships and desire to work with NVSC to expand recreational opportunity for local youth at Hellwig Park; and

WHEREAS, the County currently lacks indoor artificial turf on park property and
the addition of indoor artificial turf will meet a significant community demand, as evidenced by WHEREAS, the projects aligns with Objective 3 of the Resilient Economy Goal in the 2021 – 2024 Strategic Plan: Invest in economic development, parks, recreation and tourism programs, projects and infrastructure that drive business and creates a sought-after quality of life attractive to residents, visitors, and business investors; and

WHEREAS, the projects aligns with TOUR 2.4 Policy in the 2020 Comprehensive
Plan: consider public / private partnerships to develop and operate new tourism related facilities; and

WHEREAS, the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) will leverage approximately
$1,500,000 in private funds; and

WHEREAS, DPRT will require approximately $100,000 in deferred maintenance
costs over the term of the agreement, which staff anticipates will be provided by Building and Facilities Maintenance program;

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Prince William Board of County
Supervisors hereby authorizes a Memorandum of Understanding between the Prince William Board of County Supervisors and the Northern Virginia Soccer Club, Inc. for construction of a field house at George Hellwig Memorial Park;

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Prince William Board of County Supervisors
hereby authorizes the Department Director to execute such documents necessary to affect the intent of this resolution as reviewed and approved as to form by the County Attorney’s Office.