Queens University of Charlotte wants to spend $12 million to turn Marion Diehl Park in south Charlotte into a multi-sport athletic complex.
The move, which requires approval from the city of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County, would ease a space crunch at the fields the university shares with Myers Park Traditional elementary school.
"Can you imagine what we'd be able to accomplish with better than average — and that's being generous, to say the least — facilities?" said Craig Murden, Queens' associate vice president for university relations.
The new 59-acre complex off Tyvola Road, nearly four miles from Queens' campus in Myers Park, would house 11 of Queens' 16 varsity sports in NCAA Division II. Men's and women's soccer, tennis, lacrosse, track and cross-country and women's softball would practice and play there.
The plan goes to the county's Park and Recreation Commission tonight. Mecklenburg would continue to own the land but would lease it to the university. The county already had plans — but no money — to develop recreational athletic fields at Marion Diehl Park, said park planner Tyrelle Evans.
Under the proposal, the university would build a softball field, a field house, eight to 12 tennis courts, trails and a championship-style field for soccer, lacrosse and track.
The plan calls for a baseball field, even though Queens doesn't field a team now.
"Some of the design elements are to be phased in, including baseball," Murden said. "With 60 acres to play with, baseball would certainly serve our future purposes, and it would also serve the community's."
The plan would not affect the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Senior Center or the Marion Diehl Center, which provides recreational opportunities to disabled people. Queens would also build a special "therapeutic" field that would be accessible to the disabled.
Whenever Queens isn't using the fields, the county would operate them like a normal park.
But some neighbors aren't pleased with the plan, saying the development is too intense. Lamar Gunter, who lives nearby, said he worries about traffic along already-busy Tyvola Road.
"We feel that they're trying to rush this thing too fast," he said. "It needs to be slowed down a bit and looked at real, real carefully."
Murden stressed the school wants to work with the surrounding neighborhoods and doesn't want to disrupt the area's quality of life. He said the plan calls for the natural resources of the park to be maintained, as well as a buffer zone for light and sound.
"We've heard their concerns," Murden said. "We hope to address the concerns we've heard and those we haven't heard."
A new athletics complex would also help the school's intramural program, which would remain on campus using the shared fields — but without the competition from the varsity sports for time and space.
Queens has a joint-use agreement with Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools for the fields it uses now. There's barely room for a soccer field, softball diamond and playground equipment for the schoolchildren. It's so crowded that the two fields overlap.
Despite the cramped conditions, Queens has had athletic success.
The Royals' men's soccer team and both cross-country teams competed in postseason NCAA competition in 2002.
Judy Horn, vice chair of the Park and Recreation Commission, said she was excited about the proposal.
Queens will "benefit from it," she said. "The public will benefit from it and some specialty groups will benefit from it."
