BUCKHANNON – The Upshur County Commission on Thursday approved a request from the Upshur County Youth Soccer Association to renew their three-year lease at the Wellness Complex along the Brushy Fork Road.

Kevin Nicholson, speaking on behalf of the Upshur County Youth Soccer Association, said Upshur County Youth Soccer made a promise to the commission three years ago to maintain the property in exchange for its use.

“The county graciously agreed to a three-year lease on the property on the condition

that we maintain the property,” Nicholson said. “In less than 30 days from the inception of the lease, our volunteers spent approximately 100-man hours clearing the property.”

He said they hosted their first event on the field on the first Sunday of October in 2017 when 150 children were playing soccer on the field.

“Since then, over the last three years, we have spent over a thousand-man hours and over $8,000 maintaining and improving the property, with the help of the commission,” Nicholson said. “I especially want to thank Terry (Cutright, commission president) for personally going out there with a brush hog last year and brush hogging the entire property – now, that is leadership in government.”

Nicolson said he was grateful the commission decided to conduct an H&H, or hydrologic and hydraulic, study on the property. An H&H study will elucidate the movement of water, including the volume and rate of flow as it travels over the land.

“Former board member Shawn Tucker, who sadly passed away last year, developed a plan to utilize the entire 14 acres of this property, but we were unable to acquire the necessary permits,” Nicholson said. “The commission, with the cooperation of the City of Buckhannon, funded an H&H study which is going to allow us to see what can be done.”

Nicholson said he wanted to renew the three-year lease on the property during the Aug. 6 meeting, but he was also asking to come back and request a longer lease after the H&H study is completed.

“Today, I come before you seeking to exercise our option to renew the three-year lease based on the terms that we agreed three years ago,” Nicholson said. “I’d also like to [request] that, depending upon the results of the H&H study, we’d be allowed to come back before you all and talk about a longer-term lease for the property.”

Nicholson said when they heard about the study, the board started looking at grants for the field, but most of them require a longer lease.

“Most of these grant opportunities require a 10-year lease, and today we just want to renew the three-year, but I want to put that on minds, that if we get positive results out of the H&H study, we would like to do a longer-term lease, so we can throw in some more resources,” Nicholson said.

Commissioner Sam Nolte made the motion to renew their lease for three years, but also left the option open for Nicholson to come back and discuss a 10-year lease in the future after the H&H study concludes. Commissioner Kristie Tenney seconded the motion, and it was approved unanimously.