Agreement reached for Lindenstrasse football facility | News for Fenton, Linden, Holly MI

At the meeting of the Genesee County Parks Commission committee meeting on May 13, SLPR was granted a sublicense for approximately 40 acres of Deer Run Soccer Park with the intention of subleasing it to DRSA, said Ed Koledo, SLPR’s executive director.

The three soccer groups American Youth Soccer Organization (AYSO), Nationals Genesee and La Forza Soccer Club (now Michigan Jaguars FC Genesee) formed the DRSA. Rick Miracle, president of DRSA, said they created the organization for the purpose of running the facility and the groups are still separate.

SLPR and the DRSA entered into a sub-license agreement that was approved by the SLPR Board of Directors at their monthly meeting on May 27th. It states that the DRSA will operate the plant under the conditions of the sub-license of the district. SLPR pays the county $ 1 annually for the sublicense and DRSA pays SLPR $ 1 annually for the secondary sublicense, Koledo said.

It is a rolling, three-year agreement effective July 1, 2021 that will continue as long as all three parties are satisfied.

According to Miracle, around 1,200 children play there every week. You completed the trial training this week. The facility is still a public park and can be used by everyone. The area is busy when the soccer groups are training, but there are other fields, Miracle said.

“It’s really for the purpose of being a community park,” Miracle said, and the three soccer groups that pay for the maintenance also serve the community.

Miracle said a sticking point at the beginning of the negotiations was parents were concerned about the prices

because the programs would increase if SLPR became the mediator. SLPR informed them that they would do everything possible to accommodate these families and there are no longer any concerns about rising prices.

“Working with (SLPR) has been great,” said Miracle. “We feel really good where we are.”

Koledo said he “loved” the new agreement.

“It is a big part of SLPR’s mission to support parks and recreation in our community. What the football programs have done to this park over the past 20-25 years is incredible and SLPR is proud to be able to step in as an intermediary to facilitate further programming by the DRSA, ”he said.

Fenton Township had been the previous go-between between the county and the soccer groups, and the board had worked to give up the sub-license agreement. After more than two decades, Fenton Township is no longer involved.

“I’m happy to announce, and most of you may know, that you have signed an agreement with the county and SLPR for the Deer Run football complex,” said Vince Lorraine, Fenton Community Leader, at a meeting At the beginning of June.

“We have 750 happy families with children playing soccer in our township,” said Lorraine. He thanked Shaun Shumaker, the Genesee County Commissioner for District 6, and Koledo.

Shumaker said the football association could not lease it directly from the county as it was not a government organization.

He said the DRSA had done so much to maintain and develop the soccer fields. He credits Koledo and says he is the driving factor behind the new deal.

“It finally came together,” said Shumaker.

Shumaker’s children took part in AYSO football. He said it was a “wonderful program” and the benefit of these fields and the agreement is that the children are outside and active.

“I think it’s wonderful that we’re allowing our youth in the region to train and play in this field for many decades to come,” he said.