We all recognize that parking at the complex is a challenge and the problem is not being ignored. This is a quick rendition of the steps that we are taking with the Pickerington Area Soccer Association (PASA) to alleviate the situation as much as we can until a permanent solution can be arranged. (PASA and PYAA own the complex and have joint responsibility for the driveway and parking lot.)
The PYAA coordinates our sport schedules as much as we can. For example, Saturday activities at the complex begin with Football in the morning. Junior League Baseball doesn’t begin until the afternoon when traffic flow is lighter. Lacrosse clinics are conducted on Sundays so as not to conflict with either.
PASA keeps the PYAA informed of its major events so that traffic conditions are known in advance. For example, a major soccer tournament is planned for mid-October when PYAA activities will be concluding. When traffic is expected to be intense, a police officer is arranged to facilitate entry and exit from the complex. This service was arranged for this past Saturday.
Since there is only one entrance/exit to the complex until other roadways are built, we have to deal with the traffic pattern that exists.
In an attempt to facilitate driveway operations, a recent expansion was completed of the third lane at the driveway entrance. This improvement allows more vehicles to line up for their eventual introduction to the Hill Road traffic flow. It seems to have lessened the congestion at the entrance.
Inquiries have been made of Seton Parish to use their parking facilities for complex activities. Although they have been reluctant in the past to grant permission to use their improved parking areas, PASA has (on occasion) been granted permission to use an open field in the back of their property for overflow parking. Hermann and Henry Eyecare own the open field to the west of the baseball fields (diamonds one thru four) and they do not wish to allow use of the field for parking. Purchase inquiries have been rebuffed in the past. The land north of the law offices was being offered at one time with a price tag of $100,000 per acre. However, such a cost did not seem to be a reasonable expenditure for parking.
Other options have been explored in the last seven years and the PYAA has been in very serious negotiations with owners of two different properties to create second sites. However, for various reasons, these two purchase opportunities did not materialize. Either one would have helped to relieve the congestion at the Youth Athletic Complex.
Currently, serious negotiations are being conducted for another purchase attempt. If events transpire as hoped, a major announcement could be forthcoming by the end of the year. Even in the best case scenario, though, it will be at least a couple of years before the situation at the complex is brought to a more satisfactory status.
The complex was conceived during an earlier generation when the population in Pickerington was half the size it is today. Steps are being taken to assure future generations that there will be ample room for growth and access. But solutions will not be forthcoming overnight and we need to ask for everyone’s patience while steps are taken to implement changes and improvements that will benefit all.
