Gwinnett Daily Post

Photo by Kristen Ralph

HOSCHTON -- Signature Park will be one-of-a-kind for a long list of reasons.

The 11-field, 53-acre sports park will be located on U.S. Highway 211, conveniently near the confluence of Gwinnett, Barrow, Jackson and Hall counties.

Scheduled to officially open its first phase next spring, the $8.3-million project has been masterminded mostly by a team of parents and dreamers, working with contractors and architects to create a park their way.

Then, of course, there's the green initiative -- plans for synthetic turf, wind turbines and solar panels geared to help the environment and educate young ballplayers and their parents alike.

Ideas for the complex already churning, the latter was spurred by a relatively simple experience.

"What happened was I was actually driving down the road one day, and I saw someone throw a McDonald's bag out of a car," co-founder Chris Palomba said. "And it just kind of irked me. Then I started thinking about it, and what better place than a sports complex to teach your kids about going green?"

All but a few of the fields at Signature Park will be made of synthetic, recycled materials. Wind turbines will be installed atop many of the light towers, creating power that can then be "sold back to the grid," Palomba said. Solar panels will grace the top of training buildings, concession stands and other light poles, creating even more energy.

Education will be of the utmost importance, with classes on sustainability and green living offered.

In addition to the baseball/softball fields, plans include a field doubling for football and lacrosse, as well as an ADA-accessible "Hope Field" where children with disabilities can play.

Age-specific playgrounds will be installed throughout the sprawling park.

"They're trying to create a positive environment where kids can be and grow and develop and learn values," said Carol Wroble, a mother of ballplayers and marketing volunteer for Signature. "This is where my kids are going to want to be. It's hard to hear them talk about this and not want to jump on board and help drive it."

Kevin Renz -- the baseball training guru who has worked in Gwinnett for the better part of two decades -- will handle the actual baseball and softball side of things, training and preparing the travel teams that will call Signature Park home.

Plans to invite teams from around the Southeast and the country, host big-time tournaments and showcases and other family-friendly events are already in the works.

Phase I will open next spring. The entire facility, just a few miles from Chateau Elan, is scheduled to be operating in full force by fall 2011.

"We already have hotels that are greatly interested in the progress of this, because they see traveling teams from all over the Southeast that are coming," said Tommy Jenkins, the president of the Barrow County Chamber of Commerce and a Signature Park board member.

"You've got full hotels on weekends that normally don't have any business travelers, and you've got restaurants that suddenly have teams in them all the time. It's a development engine ... that we see great potential in."

Almost three years ago, Palomba, who had a backyard field where several local teams practiced nightly, saw a community need.

With the help of parents, friends and neighbors, that need became a dream, a vision and then a reality -- and they did it their way.

"We're not developers, we don't do this for a living. We're learning as we go," Palomba said. "We're working with some good architects, some good engineers that have partnered with us ... But the folks that have been helping us out in terms of leading us in the right direction, giving us ideas and suggestions, are moms and dads."

For more information on Signature Park, visit www.thesignaturepark.com.