Ground Broken for Chestnut Grove Sports Complex

CASTANEA TOWNSHIP, PA – ‘Build it and they will come,’ that’s the hope of the Chestnut Grove Recreation Authority as ground was broken on Wednesday for its $1.5 million youth ball field project.

Authority Chairman Marci Orndorf said the initial development will be the site’s East Park, across Hanna Street from the Castanea Fire Company social hall. It will include three Little League-sized fields. She said earth-moving is underway and construction of dugouts should occur next year; the goal is for the fields to be ready for play by sometime next summer or early fall.

Orndorf said it will be a great site for local youth baseball and softball but also extolled the complex’s potential economic impact. She noted the growth of youth travel baseball, saying that so many local youth and their families pay thousands of dollars each summer to travel across Pennsylvania and adjoining states to play. She said Chestnut Grove will “bring those teams here and keep our teams here,” bringing tourism dollars to the area.

She lauded Robbie Gould’s Goulden Touch Foundation, a major contributor to Chestnut Grove. Gould, a standout NFL player, played Little League baseball while growing up in the Lock Haven area. A foundation official said some $200,000 from a recent Goulden Touch Foundation golf tournament has been provided towards Chestnut Grove.

As part of the fundraising for the $1.5 million project, Orndorf said naming opportunities will be available and said Gould and his foundation would be assisting in that effort on the national level. She thanked the Clinton County Solid Waste Authority for providing between 150 and 200 thousand dollars in in-kind services and Castanea Township for providing close to a rent-free, 50-year lease for the site. She said the authority is taking a “team approach” and welcomes community involvement.

The project’s West Park, currently the site of existing ball fields, will see further development after the East Park is completed. The west portion will include three baseball fields.