PenMar in February turned down a request from CSL to directly lease the property on the base in Cascade from PenMar, CSL President Carrie Grouff said Monday.
If the new lease is approved, Grouff said the group would pay the commissioners $1 a year to use the property. She said she hoped the lease would be good for five years.
PenMar Executive Director Richard Rook said PenMar would consider leasing the property to the county.
"If the county is interested in doing that, we'd certainly be willing to take a look at it," Rook said by phone Monday.
PenMar was created in 1997 by the state to redevelop the former base, which the Army closed in 1998.
The lease would help CSL financially, since it probably will have to increase its sports participation rates if it continues using facilities owned by the Washington County Board of Education, Grouff said.
Under the School Board's new policy, CSL and other organizations are charged hourly fees to use school facilities for activities.
Grouff said CSL, which is made up of volunteers, would have to pay nearly $6,000 a year to use school gyms for its basketball teams and nearly $1,600 for wrestling. She said she hasn't yet calculated what the costs would be to use the facilities for cheerleading, flag football, soccer and softball.
As a result of the School Board's fees, Grouff said CSL has had to double the group's participation fee for basketball, charging each child $60 to play. Participants had been paying fees that cover equipment, uniforms and liability insurance.
She said the increased fees have raised some complaints from parents, who say they can no longer afford to have their children play sports in the organization.
If the lease from the county is approved, she said parents would be reimbursed for the increased basketball fees and that other sports fees wouldn't have to be raised.
Commissioners President Gregory I. Snook said the county would have to work out liability issues if the commissioners lease the property and then sublease it to CSL.
"We want to try to do something, but we have to be cautious," Snook said.
Rook said PenMar denied CSL's request to lease the property in February because the group wanted to be reimbursed for any improvements they would make to the property.
"Our position is that we would not put any money into a building that's not creating jobs for us," Rook said.
