When Crofton community leaders pushed and petitioned for new athletic fields three years ago, county officials told them the earliest they could start playing on them would be 1998.
Now, it looks as if Crofton youngsters will be able to play on those fields a year ahead of schedule.
In the last month, the county has bought 80 acres of land next to the Arundel Volunteer Fire Department on Davidsonville Road and hired Towson landscape architects Human and Rohde to design the master plan, said Jack Keene, planning and construction chief for the county Recreation and Parks department.
Preliminary drawings for the complex, which will have five multi-purpose playing fields and three baseball diamonds, were unveiled at a public meeting last week, one in a series the county will hold with Crofton residents to develop the final plan for the $3.1 million project.
The next meeting will be March 6 at the Crofton Town Hall.
Ground for the complex is to be broken in the spring of 1996 and the fields are to be ready for play in 1997, said Mr. Keene.
When the fields are ready, the complex will be one of the largest in the county, said Mr. Keene.
Crofton residents say they are grateful for the additional space.
"I was very pleased with the initial plans," said Robert Lindsay, Crofton Athletic Council president. "Our community is growing at a rapid pace. Our number of children is increasing. We're just happy to get anything."
The athletic council organizes 2,700 children in eight sports: baseball, basketball, cheerleading, football, lacrosse, soccer, softball and wrestling.
The push for more fields began three years ago when the council ran out of fields for teams to play on and had to invoke its bylaws that restricted membership to Crofton Middle School children.
The athletic council then began lobbying the County Council and the county executive to buy vacant property off Route 424, arguing that Crofton was outgrowing its fields rapidly and that the fields were used so much they were beginning to wear down.
At the meeting last week, George Dupont, who lives near the newly acquired property, worried about the effect on well water, traffic and lighting. But he added that many in the 10-home community of Nancarles support the complex. "It's something our community needs," he said.