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October 2009 |
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The Victoria GAZETTE |
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Fruit of the Field |
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by Sue Orsen It’s been a challenging decade growing Diethelm Park and the Victoria Field House, not unlike with a vineyard where you put up the stakes, tend the vines, deal with adverse elements, gather the grapes, and taste the best wine years later. Responding to the seasons, the City of Victoria wanted more ball fields because it saw the thirst for them in a growing community. They purchased the acreage, planted the fields and the field house, plowed through bills, seeded new programs, fertilized old programs, watered the arena, cultivated the gymnasium, hired the laborers, and harvested generous accolades from the citizenry but also rivers of debt. In other words, the fruit of the field has been bittersweet. It might be a good thing to review briefly some of its history and relatively short life in this city of very long life. If we don’t know where we’ve been, do we know where we’re going? The 40 acres of Diethelm Park were purchased by the City of Victoria for $1.2 million in 1998. The number of new plats and new homes coming to town was phenomenal. Victoria farmland was selling for an unheard of $20,000 per acre one year, then $30,000 per acre the following year. Originally baptized as the Victoria Field House, now confirmed in 2009 as the Victoria Recreation Center, it was conceived for Diethelm Park in these boom years. A decision to build the Field House was approved in December of 2001 and came with controversy among councilmembers because of the financial risk, but cheers and support from the populace. By 2002, city officials were projecting and budgeting for 150 new homes annually for Victoria. Some developers were requesting 300 to 400 at a crack. In March of 2003, the Grand Opening for the $6.2 million Victoria Field House occurred and over 800 people attended the gala event. By 2005 the City of Victoria hit an all time high of 174 new home permits. That number dropped significantly to 97 in 2006, and in 2008 it dropped in a startling way to only 43. A lot of anticipated city revenue also swirled in that direction. As the boom was busting, Victoria lacked substantial park improvement fees from developers to help pay the projected annual cost of the Field House. It lacked the anticipated hordes of families to purchase more memberships. It especially lacked the steady guiding hand of its vine-dresser who spent much time tending the fields in Afghanistan and Iraq. During this decade the people loved their vineyard but city councilmembers choked on the debt. Finally, after years of fermenting alone in the barrel, the City of Victoria opened the cask and there in the Wine Tasting Room stood School District 112. The City and the School came to sit together in partnership, holding hands like sweethearts. The fruit of the field has been much improved. Fine wine takes time.
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