Jamestown Mayor Eddie Sundquist said the transfer of Diethrick Stadium to Jamestown Community College has been discussed for many years.
Sundquist said the earliest conversations go back to former Mayor Sam Teresi‘s administration.
JCC President Dr. Daniel DeMarte said in his presentation to the County Planning Board that the original request made to Teresi that still stands is to have the city transfer the ownership to the college while continuing to staff and maintain the stadium for a “period of time” until the college was ready to assume the ongoing operating costs of the stadium.
Sundquist said there hasn’t been any recent progress on those discussions and his administration’s position is to wait to see if the college can raise funds for the multi-sport athletic complex before moving forward, “Plus, there’s a lot of other discussions that need to happen with City Council on the transfer of ownership, approval of various items that have to go along with it, so we’re kind of in a holding pattern.”
Sundquist said the city has not received additional requests for financial support from JCC.
When it comes to the city transferring the stadium property to JCC, Sundquist said normally under state law, the city would have to create new equivalent park land, “In this case, the park land would stay with a state agency and would continue to be reserved for park land space. So, there would be no real transfer, no change in this process.”
Sundquist said to his knowledge the property transfer would not require state approval.
Tune to Community Matters at 5:00 p.m. tonight on 107.9 FM to hear Mayor Sundquist’s full comments on the JCC Athletic Complex project.
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