WOOD COUNTY, OH (WTOL) - A new mega sportsplex is in the works for Wood County.
Officials from several municipalities joined together to create a feasibility study to see if it would work in our area. Their plan is on a grand scale.
The model is a 400-acre sportsplex with more than 30 athletic fields both indoor and outdoor, but located in Wood County.
"It's so much more than just ball fields," Perrysburg Mayor Mike Olmstead said. "The amounts of business and economic activity this can generate between hotels restaurants and additional retail has tremendous potential."
The sports complex would bring together Rossford, Perrysburg, Maumee and Wood County. This partnership is unique because it combines cities from two counties and they will create their own economic development zone.
"We look at it as an economic development tool where the park is the magnet," Maumee Mayor Rich Carr said. "And then what will go in around that will be businesses and hotels that will generate tax income for all of the participating communities."
They each paid $15,000 dollars for a feasibility study to see if the idea will work here and where it should go if the study shows it's viable.
"One of the things that holds us back in this area is we think too small," Mayor Carr explained. "We're not willing to take a risk and say, let's try to do something really grand and make this area special. We can't do it alone, but together we can."
Mayor Olmstead brought the idea to his fellow mayors in Maumee and Rossford and to the Wood County Economic Development, commissioners and Port Authority.
He visited Grand Park in Westfield Indiana about a year ago and thought it was a great idea, so great he wanted to replicate it here.
"At the end of the day all of this works towards improving the quality of life," Mayor Olmstead said. "And that's what we should be about and that's exactly what this does."
Perrysburg, Rossford, Maumee and Wood County are modeling their pitch after the massive complex and believe it will be perfect here with our highways, attractions such as the zoo, art museum and more plus their regional team approach.
"When we look at all the different attributes that not only the city of Perrysburg, but this county and region has the question really is, why not?" Mayor Olmstead said.
"This is a destination point where they would come in for an entire week and when they do and they see what we have to offer in this area, then you're going to see a lot of growth," Mayor Carr explained.
The feasibility study is expected to take about six to eight weeks and once the regional partners have those results they say they'll readdress the future of the sports complex in Wood County.
