Agency board supports $50K contribution to Prospect Meadows project

The board of the Cedar Rapids/Linn County Solid Waste Agency has expressed support for contributing $50,000 to the $9.4-million Prospect Meadows Ball Fields project.

The agency's contribution, a formal vote on which will take place in April, will come in two, $25,000 payments, and the money will be used for a trail on the ball fields' site.

The 17-field baseball and softball complex is planned for land owned by Linn County at Highway 13 and County Home Road outside Marion across Highway 13 from the Solid Waste Agency's Site 2 landfill.

Brent Oleson, a Linn County supervisor and a member of the Solid Waste Agency board, said Wednesday that the agency's $50,000 contribution to the project will give the agency the ability to name the trail at the complex and will give the agency an opportunity to create signage to explain the value of recycling and the function of the landfill.

Last month, the city of Marion agreed to contribute $750,000 to the project in payments over five years.

The Linn County supervisors have agreed to lease the 121-acre site for the ball field project for $1 a year for 20 years with three 25-year options.

Jack Roeder, president of the non-profit Prospect Meadows Inc., said last month that he hopes to raise $4.2 million in private donations and garner $5.2 million in state and local funds to finance the project. He said he hopes construction on the project can start in 2014 and open in 2015.