After 15 years of dreaming, planning and fund raising, the Barview Area-Charleston Area Park Association is getting ready to open the first of four ballfields in 2007.

Largely the result of Barview resident Dave Richards and his mother, Dolly, the nonprofit organization BACAPA was formed to develop recreational areas for the youth of Charleston and Barview and benefit the entire Bay Area. The group has made sporadic progress on opening a 21-acre recreational area on Libby Lane, since the Coquille Economic Development Corp. donated the property several years ago, but expects to have the first Little League softball field ready by next spring.

“The grass isn't there in terms of a field yet, but families have already been showing up and hitting balls,” said BACAPA board member Bill Otton.

The organization started in 1992, when community members and representatives from the Neighborhood Watch and the Coos County Sheriff's Office came together to discuss juvenile mischief in the Barview and Charleston area. From that meeting it was clear most kids in the neighborhood had nothing to do, and nowhere nearby to go, Otton said. While most families in Coos Bay live near one of the 10 city parks, teens in Barview and Charleston have no recreational areas, he added.

“We have tons of kids out here, and they were running through neighbors' yards and played in the street,” Dolly Richards said.

The Richards began organizing fund-raisers and coordinating the endeavor to find suitable land to open a park.

“We thought, ‘Oh, it can't be that hard to find a little piece of land for a ballfield,'” Dolly said with a laugh. “We were wrong.”

While the group has mostly been a grass-roots effort for the last 15 years, the help of CEDCO and the Ford Family Foundation has kept the organization moving forward, Otton said.

Right now the site is just a cleared field, a few trees between the future park and the roadway. Where there is wild grass and bushes, there eventually will be four manicured ballfields, as well as picnic facilities, basketball courts and hiking-walking trails.

“We're trying to provide a place where families can go together,” Otton said. Originally the plan was for only two fields, but after CEDCO donated more than 20 acres, the scope of the project broadened, he added.

“We tried to stay away from high-risk stuff, like skateboards and playground equipment - things that need parental supervision,” Otton said. “Eventually, and we hope somewhat soon, we hope to get a second field open and hold tournaments.”

Softball and baseball tournaments could bring a lot of people to the area, staying in local motels and eating in nearby restaurants, he added.

The finishing of the first softball field will be a momentous accomplishment for BACAPA, which has faced several challenges in developing the park. The group started work on the first standard-sized baseball field, but ran into significant water drainage problems on the site.

“To me, we have made a lot of progress. We have over $100,000 underground in drainage work,” Dolly said. “The community has really come on board in the last two years. I'm just excited about the public being excited about it.”

According to Dolly, once the drainage issue was resolved, seeding the field became another Herculean endeavor.

“Two years ago we had the field hydraseeded. That weekend, we had a torrential downpour and it washed all the seed away,” she said. “The next year we seeded it, and after the grass came up the elk got in and ate all the grass. We seeded it again this year and we got a flock of Canadian geese who came through and ate all the seed.”

“We should have been playing on those fields last year,” she said. “But I am confident that the field is going to be open for games, this year.”

The group plans to seed the field in late October or early November, so the grass will be thick come spring, Otton said. Once the softball field is open, BACAPA plans to finish working on the standard ballfield, but it will take years to get the entire park finished, he added.

“This isn't a fly-by-night operation,” he added. “BACAPA is here for the long haul.”

Auction fund-raiser planned

The fourth-annual BACAPA dinner and auction will be held at 5 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 21, in the Salmon Room at The Mill Casino-Hotel in North Bend.

The auction raises funds for the Barview Area-Charleston Area Park Association, a nonprofit organization that next year plans to open the first softball field in 21-acre recreation area on Libby Lane.

This year the auction will feature all kinds of goodies, said Dolly Richards, BACAPA secretary and treasurer.

“We have all kinds of paintings, a yard lighthouse, chain saws, bicycles, a generator, a tablesaw - and a ton of gift certificates,” she said. One of the best items this year is the Red Lion Escape package, a package that includes a trip and free stay at any Red Lion hotel, she added.

Tickets are $25 a person, include admission and dinner, and can be purchased at the door, or by calling 269-1503.