from gettysburgtimes.com

Up to a dozen new soccer fields and an extended walking trail are on tap for Biglerville’s Oakside Park. Work is slated to begin this fall, according to Upper Adams JayCees Treasurer Robert Tate.

The last major project was a 15-acre expansion in 2002 that created two Little League fields

“It’s one of those things we do as we have the money (and) as the need arises,” Tate said.

The need has arisen.

“More than 200 youth in two soccer organizations, AYSO and South Penn Soccer, currently play at Oakside Park,” Tate said. “The fields they are using were laid out on a lawn area that was not designed for that purpose.”

He noted the existing soccer field is “uneven and not well drained.”

The new soccer complex, on 24 currently unused acres between the existing soccer fields and Pa. 394, will provide for up to 12 soccer fields, for players six to adult. One of the fields will be designed to allow use as a U-10 field or as several U-6 fields. New parking areas will provide overflow parking for existing baseball and softball fields.

Tate said construction bids will be solicited next month, when construction planned to begin later this fall. He said construction on a new pavilion and a bridge will not begin until next summer. The complex should be ready for use for the spring season of 2011.

The bridge will be a scaled down Guernsey Bridge, built from remaining lumber from a

wooden humpback bridge in Guernsey. After a five-year effort to preserve the structure, it was dismantled by CSX railroad to make room for natural gas-fired electricity generators to be moved to a new plant in Straban Township.

The 125-year-old structure, with its steep approaches and narrow “hump” had served as a scenic overlook where businessmen involved in the fruit growing industry stopped to look at their empire before descending to play golf at the Quaker Valley Country Club. Children played under the bridge, or crossed over it from the former Sunnyside area west of the tracks to the Guernsey Village Post Office and General Store on the east side.

When Friends of Guernsey Bridge disbanded, they gave the salvaged wood beams and decking, plus nearly $6,500, to Oakside Park with the understanding the historic bridge would find a place at the park.

Another part of the soccer project will add about a half-mile to the Esther Little biking and walking track, which currently connects the park with the borough of Biglerville.

The project carries an estimated cost of “just under a million dollars” Tate said, pointing out Oakside Community Park and the Upper Adams Jaycees have been saving money for the project for several years.

So far, $274,000 has been spent to acquire the 24-acre parcel between the existing soccer fields and Pa. 394. Another $50,000 has been assigned to planning and permitting fees.

About 75% of the total cost of the project has been saved from the profits raised by National Apple Harvest Festival and other fund raising projects. However, over $200,000 still remains to be raised.

A fund raising drive is in progress. Each donor of $50.00 or more will be honored with an engraved paver on the floor of the pavilion in the soccer complex pavilion. More information about donations may be obtained by contacting the Oakside Community Park office at (717) 677-7820.