Feasibility Study

A private consultant's long-awaited feasibility study was released Friday, giving city and Washington County officials information about the possibilities and effects of constructing a $30 million multiuse stadium and events center in the downtown Hagerstown. The city would be “unambiguously strengthened” by the development of a new downtown multiuse sports and events center, according to the report by Ripken Design, a Baltimore consulting headed by Orioles Hall of Famer Cal Ripken Jr. The multiuse center and an adjacent parking deck would have a total direct, indirect and induced economic impact of approximately $44.5 million over the first 10 years, the report concluded.

The Montgomery-Peters-Mercersburg Connectivity (MPMC) plan is expected to take a giant step forward today when group leaders meet with Campbell Thomas & Co. to sign a contract for a feasibility study to develop a plan for walking and biking connectivity between the Borough of Mercersburg and Montgomery and Peters townships. The connectivity includes neighborhoods, schools, parks, business areas, historical and recreational opportunities, according to a news release. The public is invited to the kickoff event tonight at 6 in the James Buchanan Middle School Library to learn more about the study, meet the community architects and study team, and thank the donors who have funded the study.

Consultants are finishing a feasibility study to find possible walking and biking trails in the Borough of Mercersburg, Montgomery Township and Peters Township. The study from Philadelphia firm Campbell Thomas & Co. includes an action plan with four phases to create a corridor of trails. The Mercersburg Area Council for Wellness, or MACWell, a wellness organization, commissioned the study. “Of all the projects I've worked on, this has to be the most enthusiastic group. They're highly organized,” consultant Bob Thomas said.

Tantara West Virginia Inc., the company credited with prodding Berkeley County into establishing an inland port, "just kind of went away," but the economic development initiative is still very much alive, officials said this week. A master plan that serves as a general outline for the port concept has received state approval, and the Eastern Panhandle Inland Port Coalition now needs funding for a feasibility study, coalition Chairman Hunter Wilson said Thursday. The study will lay out what would be needed to make the inland port a reality from "point A to the end," Wilson said.

For 18 grand, I'll do the study. No wait, if you call now, I'll do it for $16,000. But wait, there's more. If the City of Fredericksburg, Va., calls within the next half hour I will send it two studies for the price of one. Just pay separate shipping and processing. If none of this is making sense to you, allow me to back up and say that Fredericksburg is considering a “multiuse stadium” (where have we heard that term before) in order to attract some sort of sporting entity, perhaps a baseball-like team of some type that some people believe might turn out to be our own Hagerstown Suns.

A feasibility study is needed to determine whether it's worth developing a 69-acre lot near Interstate 81 into a new business park for the city of Hagerstown, officials said Tuesday. The land includes a proposed site for a minor league baseball stadium, which would limit the number of lots that could be developed to about eight, said Deborah Everhart, the city's economic development coordinator. "Realistically, you're looking at six to eight lots, not a great number of lots," Everhart said.

pepperb@herald-mail.com WASHINGTON COUNTY - The Washington County Board of Education on Tuesday voted unanimously to close Conococheague Elementary School after renovations and an expansion of Maugansville Elementary School are completed. Conococheague Elementary is not expected to close before August 2006. Tuesday's vote, one more step in the process to officially close Conococheague Elementary, was inevitable, Schools Superintendent Elizabeth Morgan said. "This has been deliberated for years because of the economic situation," Morgan said.

chambersburg@herald-mail.com CHAMBERSBURG, Pa. - A Mechanicsburg, Pa., firm will get first crack at doing a feasibility study on the future of Chambersburg Area Senior High School after a vote Wednesday night by the Chambersburg School Board. Instead of voting outright to recommend the hiring of one of three firms in contention for the contract, the board instead voted to rank the three and authorize the administration to begin negotiations with Crabtree, Rohrbaugh Associates.

pepperb@herald-mail.com WASHINGTON COUNTY - The Washington County Board of Education is appealing a state panel's decision that could delay the closing of Conococheague Elementary School and will hold a public hearing on the issue tonight. The hearing will be at 7 p.m. at Western Heights Middle School. The Maryland School Construction Program deferred sending the School Board's plans to renovate Maugansville Elementary School to the Maryland Board of Public Works because a feasibility study on the matter had not been completed.

The YMCA is looking for 15 to 30 acres in or around Hagerstown on which to build a $3 million to $5 million complex, YMCA Board Chairman David Beachley told the Washington County Commissioners Tuesday. The complex could include items such as an indoor swimming pool and a child-care center, Beachley said. The association hasn't conducted a feasibility study yet. Once the feasibility study is complete, the association would try to raise all of the money needed for the new facilities.

For 18 grand, I'll do the study. No wait, if you call now, I'll do it for $16,000. But wait, there's more. If the City of Fredericksburg, Va., calls within the next half hour I will send it two studies for the price of one. Just pay separate shipping and processing. If none of this is making sense to you, allow me to back up and say that Fredericksburg is considering a “multiuse stadium” (where have we heard that term before) in order to attract some sort of sporting entity, perhaps a baseball-like team of some type that some people believe might turn out to be our own Hagerstown Suns.

A draft of the follow-up study that looks at the economic feasibility of two additional sites for a new ballpark for the Hagerstown Suns has been sent to the city for review, a Ripken Design official said Wednesday afternoon. Dan Taylor, project manager with Ripken Design, said a copy of the report was delivered to Jill Estavillo, the city's economic development manager. Taylor said he expects the city to review the draft over the next “week or two” and then report back to the firm with any requested revisions or changes.

The manner in which a feasibility study examining potential sites for moving the Washington County Board of Education central offices to downtown Hagerstown was conducted spurred a local economic development official to speak out last week. “The most troubling part about this study is not the study, but the manner in which it was veiled from the community at large,” said Ron Bowers, vice chairman of the Hagerstown-Washington County Economic Development Commission (EDC). “That's what the problem is.” The study, compiled by a Greater Hagerstown Committee (GHC)

Relocating the Washington County Board of Education central offices to downtown Hagerstown is “both physically and economically feasible,” according to a study released Tuesday by a Greater Hagerstown Committee task force. The study examined 12 potential sites before selecting its four preferred locations and presenting them to Mayor David S. Gysberts and the Hagerstown City Council on Tuesday at City Hall. The four highest-scoring sites, considered to have the best potential for both redeveloping the downtown as well as accommodating the BOE's needs, were three locations along West and East Washington streets (Sites titled F/G, A and J)

With an eye toward a major citywide redevelopment effort, Hagerstown officials Tuesday discussed the possibility of bringing back Ripken Design to examine the feasibility of two additional locations for a potential stadium project. If approved by the five-member council later this month, Ripken Design would come back and expand its initial study to include the current site of Municipal Stadium as well as the former Washington County Hospital site, located toward the city's East End. “It's clear that there has been a great opposition to the downtown site,” City Councilman Lewis C. Metzner said.

During a May 28 game between the Boston Red Sox and the Detroit Tigers, Mike Aviles of the Red Sox was at the plate. The umpire mistakenly ruled that the catcher had dropped a tipped third strike. Aviles should have been out. Instead, on the next pitch he lined a two out single, igniting a rally leading the Red Sox to victory. After the game Aviles said, “I got another swing … it helped us out, gave us momentum, and we kept rolling from there.” This scenario seems analogous to the current debate over a new downtown stadium.

Consultants are finishing a feasibility study to find possible walking and biking trails in the Borough of Mercersburg, Montgomery Township and Peters Township. The study from Philadelphia firm Campbell Thomas & Co. includes an action plan with four phases to create a corridor of trails. The Mercersburg Area Council for Wellness, or MACWell, a wellness organization, commissioned the study. “Of all the projects I've worked on, this has to be the most enthusiastic group. They're highly organized,” consultant Bob Thomas said.

Why was rail trail killed without notice? To the editor: To the Washington County Commissioners: Your July 10 vote to kill the Civil War Railroad Trail, with no notice to the public and even before the report on the June 21 public meeting was available on the county's website, is astounding and a real slap in the face of the many trail supporters. I question how this vote can be legal when there was nothing about it on the published agenda. You have ignored the fact that as of July 12, you have received about 114 comments from individuals who support the trail, and about 74 from opponents.  In addition, you received 19 comments from organizations, businesses, clubs, associations, towns, etc., supporting the trail and only one against.  Organizations supporting the trail include the Hagerstown-Washington County Chamber of Commerce, the Hagerstown Washington County Convention & Visitors Bureau, the C&O Canal Association, C&O Canal Trust, Save Historic Antietam Foundation and the Town of Keedysville.

It's no secret that Hagerstown Suns majority owner Bruce Quinn has been considering moving the team to Winchester, Va., where the idea of a stadium in a new location has been gaining momentum. However, the release last week of Ripken Design's feasibility study for a new multiuse sports and events center in downtown Hagerstown is setting up an interesting scenario for Quinn. City and Washington County elected officials were joined Tuesday afternoon by members of the state legislative delegation to review the study and talk about constructing the proposed $30 million downtown facility near the intersection of East Baltimore Street and Summit Avenue.

A private consultant's long-awaited feasibility study was released Friday, giving city and Washington County officials information about the possibilities and effects of constructing a $30 million multiuse stadium and events center in the downtown Hagerstown. The city would be “unambiguously strengthened” by the development of a new downtown multiuse sports and events center, according to the report by Ripken Design, a Baltimore consulting headed by Orioles Hall of Famer Cal Ripken Jr. The multiuse center and an adjacent parking deck would have a total direct, indirect and induced economic impact of approximately $44.5 million over the first 10 years, the report concluded.