Milton To Break Ground on Bell Memorial Park Expansion

Staff Report

The city of Milton will hold a groundbreaking ceremony next week for its Bell Memorial Park expansion project.

The groundbreaking will be held at 11 a.m. Friday, Aug. 8 at the park, located at 15245 Bell Park Road in Milton.

This ceremony will mark the kick-off of the $9.4 million expansion of Bell Memorial from a 12-acre park with four baseball fields to a nearly 30-acre multi-use facility with both passive and active recreation options. A virtual tour of the facility can be done online.

The new park design will have four dedicated diamond (baseball/softball) fields with centerfield dimensions of 180, 200, 200 and 280 feet. There will also be two rectangular fields lined for football, soccer and lacrosse. The second field can also be set up as a 200-foot, fifth diamond field.

Programming between spring, summer and fall will vary the configuration of four diamonds and two rectangular fields versus five diamonds and one rectangular field.

In April through June 2013 there were three input meetings for residents interested in the proposed Bell Memorial Park expansion project. Additionally, staff contacted representatives from 11 stakeholder groups representing sports leagues, trails enthusiasts, equestrians, local neighborhoods and more to conduct focused research.

These meetings followed a Living Room Conversation in November 2012 at Shannondale Farms in which residents learned about Milton’s purchase of 14 acres to more than double the size of the park.

Milton paid $1.287 million for the land from the city’s parks acquisition budget after a unanimous City Council vote in September of 2013. City Council later approved Foresite Group’s bid of $54,000 for Bell Memorial Park master plan design and construction services. In July City Council awarded Astra Group, Inc. the $9.481 million contract to build the park.

For more information on the Bell expansion project, contact Parks and Recreation Director Jim Cregge at 678-242-2489 or jim.cregge@cityofmiltonga.us.