Community group asks board to clear way for privately funded athletic facility; organizers cite major $100,000 commitments

A community fundraising group updated the Bellbrook-Sugarcreek Local Board of Education on June 11 about plans for a privately financed athletic training facility adjacent to school athletic areas and asked the board to allow a design change and to clear the way for construction to start.

Resident organizer Greg Roberto, who said he's leading private fundraising, told the board the project is intended to serve all school teams and students. He presented renderings showing an approximately 80-by-100 facility with a weight room portion and a turf/skill area for speed and agility work. Roberto said the structure would not be attached to school buildings and that boosters would manage funds during construction; once complete the boosters would donate the finished facility to the district.

Roberto listed major commitments, saying several individuals and groups had pledged $100,000 each (he named Austin Stler, the Lions Club, the boosters and the Borch family among those donors), and said those large gifts and other community commitments put organizers close to their target for building the structure. He told the board the original estimate in 2024 was about $954,000; he described material- and design-driven cost increases since then and proposed a design change that he said would reduce finish costs by about $90,000 and produce an estimated adjusted building cost around $964,000, with additional equipment costs still to be fundraised.

Roberto asked that the board modify an earlier agreement language that called for "cash on hand" (he said an earlier board-approved term referenced a $1 million cash-on-hand requirement) so that the boosters could begin construction based on commitments and a call for pledged funds rather than every dollar being delivered in advance. He said local commitment agreements have been prepared by an attorney and that donors are ready to release funds once the boosters can call them.

Board members asked practical questions about footprint, building materials, attachment to existing structures, permitting and timing. Roberto said construction would likely take four to five months from the start and that permits and final contract language would be required before work begins.

No formal board vote was taken; administration and the boosters said they would return with the formal agreement language, and the board's legal/real-estate adviser and the district attorney will be involved in finalizing any donation/ownership documents.