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Vernonia boosters seek city help to pursue state parks grant for covered high‑school stadium
Summary
Community boosters told the council they have raised more than $650,000 toward a multi‑phase covered stadium project and asked staff to explore Oregon Parks & Recreation (OPRD) grant opportunities that typically require a 20% match for large awards.
Community volunteers asked the Vernonia City Council on Aug. 5 to support exploring state park grant funding for a covered stadium at the high school.
"We started the fundraising process to build covered stadiums at the high school… We've raised over $650,000 since 2020," Gordon Charmin, identifying himself as a retired athletic director, said during the public presentation. Scott, speaking on behalf of the boosters, said the group has operated as a nonprofit partner and has secured some foundation funding, but still faces a large funding gap: "We need to raise about 1,000,000 dollars to build this covered stadium," he said.
Booster representatives asked the city to consider whether the municipality should sponsor an Oregon Parks & Recreation Department (OPRD) grant application or whether the boosters could collaborate with staff. Staff explained that large OPRD grants often require a 20% local match; for a $1,000,000 request that would mean roughly $200,000 in local match. The boosters said they have about $270,000 in cash under the boosters' control and reported in‑kind donations and fundraising to date.
Councilors asked whether OPRD scoring priorities would support a school stadium versus more broadly used park projects and urged staff to investigate past awards. A staff member said that applications are collaborative and that the city would likely be the applicant while boosters supply project data and letters of support.
The council did not take immediate action but directed staff to research OPRD scoring, look at precedent awards, clarify match rules (including whether completed phase work can count toward match), and return with a feasibility recommendation before sending the project to the Parks Committee.
