Sports Complex May Rise in Ashburn

Backers Say Area Needs More Fields

By Arianne Aryanpur (Contact)

Thursday, May 15, 2008

A private company headed by a high school baseball coach has proposed to build a $40 million sports complex in Ashburn that would include a dozen athletic fields, a leadership training center and several restaurants.

Backers of the project say it would relieve a shortage of practice and playing facilities for youth sports teams in eastern Loudoun County. The complex would be built on Belmont Ridge Road near Route 7.

Nine of the fields would be outdoors and three would be inside a 225,000-square-foot building that also would house three volleyball and basketball courts, the restaurants, and a library and classrooms for the training center. Two smaller buildings would house offices and a swimming facility.

The 40-acre complex will be discussed today at 6 p.m. during a Loudoun County Planning Commission public hearing.

In memos, Planning Department staff members have said that the proposed land use is consistent with the county's overall plans for the area, but they have expressed concerns about traffic, lighting, noise, storm water management and pedestrian and bicycle access. A staff report recommends that Planning Commission members discuss those topics.

The project is the brainchild of Chris Bourassa, a 45-year-old former software company owner who lives in Leesburg and coaches baseball at Freedom High School in South Riding. He founded Play to Win, the company seeking to build the sports complex, in 2006.

Bourassa said he sold his software company in the late 1990s and began coaching football and baseball. Years of coaching convinced him that the county needed more athletic fields and more programs to teach leadership skills to youths, which led him to develop a project that could address both needs, he said.

"It was pretty obvious to me that the kids needed structured leadership and character development in addition to the sports training they were getting. That was the catalyst for it," said Bourassa, who also sees a space crunch.

"We've got kids jammed onto fields not getting the practice time they need," he said.

Bourassa said the facility would be the first of its kind in the region. "We haven't found any place that's doing this combination of things," he said. "There are facilities that are similar in that they have indoor and outdoor recreation, but what we're building is more like a mall. We're trying to make it a destination location."

He said he is negotiating with two property owners to purchase the land and expects to complete those deals this month.

Bourassa acknowledged that some neighbors are worried about noise and lighting. To address those concerns, Bourassa said he would erect a fence and plant trees. He also has agreed to limit the hours of use for the outdoor lights and to some restrictions on the use of a public-address system.

The cost of renting field and court space at the center would be similar to rental fees at other sports facilities in the area, Bourassa said.

Four of the outdoor fields would have artificial turf, which is easier to maintain than grass and drains more quickly, leading to fewer cancellations of games because of rain, he said.

He said several groups already have agreed to use the fields, including two youth sports leagues — Loudoun Soccer and Triple Edge Lacrosse — and Washington Glory, a professional women's softball team.

Those groups also have agreed to operate offices at the center, as has MASE Training, an athletic training organization founded by former NFL linebacker Eddie Mason, Bourassa said. Love Thy Neighbor Community Development and Opportunity Corp., a nonprofit organization started by former Washington Redskins player Troy Vincent, also is interested in participating, he said.

He said that if the project is approved by the Board of Supervisors, construction will begin in July and the center could open as early as next summer.

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