"If it's simply: 'Don't build a stadium,' I don't agree with that," he said. "We're not going to address everybody's concerns."
County Commissioner Wayne Cooper (D-White Plains) added: "It makes good business sense to invest $6 million in an $18 million stadium and then own it once it's finished."
Peter Kirk of Maryland Baseball LLC says a team would probably be chosen by year's end.
(Mark Gail -- The Washington Post)
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Kirk said he has dealt with similar community resistance in the 12 other minor league stadiums Maryland Baseball has helped build. He plans to convince the residents of Hughesville the same way he has in other neighborhoods.
"It's only in recent times people have talked about economic development," Kirk said. "People have always talked about, 'I wanted more places and times to spend with my family and friends and not spend a lot of money.'
"What I've stressed is: Don't believe us. Talk to people in other communities who have been through what you're going through. Find out what homework they did. Ask them, 'If you could do it all over again, would you?' "
The Hughesville ballpark has the support of the Maryland Stadium Authority, a state agency that has agreed to work as construction manager of the project, a role it held in the construction of Oriole Park at Camden Yards and Ravens Stadium, both in Baltimore. Gary A. McGuigan, a project executive with the stadium authority, said "everyone's hopeful" the state will fund the project in the upcoming session of the General Assembly.
"It's been well received, but a lot depends on the budget situation," he said. "We will not know for sure [about state funding] until March or April."
Kirk said a team would probably be chosen to play in Hughesville before the end of this year.
