The Fiscal Court is revisiting potentially doing major construction work at Yellow Creek Park after Thursday evening’s second July meeting. Judge-Executive Al Mattingly introduced the ideas of an outdoor stage and reworking of the baseball diamonds.
Mattingly said he is interested in reworking the baseball diamonds at the park. He said the idea has been on the table for some time now but they have just not explored it further until now.
Since the term is nearing a close for the Commission Mattingly noted the project will likely not be finished by their last day in office.
“They’re just not enough time to get it all done. So what we’re trying to do is to get the ball rolling so the next fiscal court will have the information they need. We may be able to get some bids together and then [the new Commissioners] can make a decision on whether or not they want to go with it,” Mattingly said.
Commissioner George Wathen said that the county engineers might have a plan for that area after previous talks about working on the area. However, since those plans were in roughly 2014, new plans and studies would need to be conducted.
As this was just an idea, the commissioners did not need to vote, yet they gave Mattingly permission to contact the county engineers to start looking at bids for studies and conceptual designs.
Additionally, Mattingly presented the idea of a concert space — similar to that of the Beaver Dam Amphitheater — at the park. They also previously discussed the idea in 2014. There they talked about a roofed structure with a stage.
Now, Mattingly is thinking about a stage that could be beneficial for ROMP Fest as the annual festival has to typically rent a stage from out of town.
“I think it is time for us to bring that facility to the forefront. Not to mention that it will be used. I think we work very closely with the Bluegrass Museum because they have a rental stage every year bringing it in from Nashville and set up,” Mattingly said.
He also noted that he has heard some people mention that the stage may draw competition against other venues in the city, however, he thinks it will not do so but rather enhance the different events the city and county could hold.
This would ideally go in the same grassy area that ROMP uses for the stage.
As this was not on the consent agenda, there was no need for approval however, the Commissioners did grant Mattingly permission to contact the engineers to think about studies and where to go next.
