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Chelsea City Council discusses new sports complex

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This spring, Chelsea baseball players may get the chance to play off of Grand Slam Drive.

Grand Slam Drive is one of the names that was proposed at the Jan. 19 pre-council meeting for a road leading to the baseball fields at the new Chelsea Sports Complex. Other road  names proposed at the Chelsea City Council meeting include Sports Highland Parkway or Sports Mountain Parkway.

The second road’s name depends on if the city establishes a deal with Brogdon Properties, which is building The Highlands Community behind the high school.

The road names are important to establish for 911 and emergency purposes, said Keith Hager with Insite Engineering. The road from Highway 11 has been constructed, Hager said, and a guardrail has been installed. The only thing missing is some striping on the road, he said.

“I’m satisfied we’re in pretty good shape there,” he said.

Hager also updated the council on other aspects of the sport complex’s road. He said the next few steps for the road were like dominoes, where one would have to be completed before the next step could be taken.

The city has already completed the first two steps — getting the land de-annexed from Pelham and annexing the land into Chelsea. The next step will be creating a right of way plat, Hager said, to make the road a public street. Once that is done, utility work can begin.

Hager said all of these steps have been discussed before, and now it is a matter of getting paperwork in order. Mayor Earl Niven asked if they could have a right of way plat ready in time for Monday’s Chelsea Planning Commission meeting, and Hager said they would make sure it was ready.

Utilities along the road include a water line, power lines and a gas line that will be used in The Highlands Community. There are no plans to use gas at the sports complex at this time.

One more thing to discuss, Hager said, was a segment of road between the sports complex and The Highlands. There is a steep grade on the road, and while the city will maintain the roads within the sports complex, Hager said there was no intention to maintain the road past the Grand Slam Drive and Sports Highland/Mountain Parkway intersection.

Hager suggested deeding Brogdon Properties the land with a steep grade, pending what legal counsel said.

“Clearly it’s in our best interest to not have that liability,” Hager said.

Niven said there might be a land swap in the works, and he would confer with the city attorney on deeding the land.

Also during pre-council, Niven shared the details of a recent credit profile completed on the City of Chelsea. Chelsea received a AA/Stable rating, and the profile said Chelsea has a strong economy, adequate management, strong budgetary performance, very strong budgetary flexibility, strong liquidity, adequate debt and strong institutional framework.

“I feel it’s something as a city we ought to be proud of,” Niven said.

The profile was done in regard to a potential $2 million loan. Niven said the loan would allow the city to complete the ongoing sports complex project without diminishing its accounts. He noted that city hall, for which the city took out a $2 million loan, would pay out in two years, and the water line down U.S. 280, which the city took out $3 million for, would pay out in four years.

Also at the city council meeting:

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