Four new baseball fields are coming to Propst Park.
Columbus City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to begin the design process and to solicit bids on four new youth fields — completing the five-field “wheel” begun with the construction of the Field of Dreams — at a projected cost of around $2.1 million.
The city has about $1.2 million of that on hand from proceeds from the 2 percent tourism tax. The city gets about $400,000 annually, which is earmarked for recreation, which it has banked over the past three years. The city intends to pursue grants, private donations and other funding opportunities while planning is underway to make up the difference.
The council’s decision to move forward at Propst Park came a day after the Lowndes County Board of Supervisors voted to begin construction at its own park west of the river, which will include eight baseball fields.
The vote came after City Engineer Kevin Stafford made a lengthy presentation about the Propst Park study, which started last year. After a survey that closed in January, a series of public meetings to get feedback on preliminary plans resulting from those surveys and then some tweaks, Stafford presented a multi-phase $25.8 million master plan Tuesday night.
Stafford said the No. 1 priority from stakeholders was finishing out the “wheel” of fields, which had been planned by an earlier study but never acted on.
“We have talked about it for years,” Stafford said. “It was in the 2000 plan, and I think in 2014 (then Columbus-Lowndes Recreation Authority Director Roger Short) we made a presentation on that. The (mostly privately funded) Field of Dreams beat us to doing anything, so we are looking at finishing that out.”
Stafford said the cost to do just the fields was $2.1 million. About $750,000 of that is lighting, he said, which could be reduced if Columbus Light and Water would do some of that work and if less expensive lighting than was present at the soccer complex was used.
“This will be your curb appeal as people come by the park,” he said. “This is one way when you go by, you know you’ve arrived. This would gain you that front youth sports access.”
Stafford estimated it would take about three months for design and then a month to bid.
Ward 4 Councilman Pierre Beard said he wanted to proceed.
“I personally want to see us start something very soon because we’ve been kicking around this for a while,” Beard said. “We’ve got about $1.2 million, and we’ve got (Columbus Light and Water General Manager Angela Verdell) in the audience, and I’ll pull on her coattail for some in-kind services.”
Recreation Director Greg Lewis pointed out that the city would get another $400,000 this year from the — percent tax, raising the total recreation funds available to $1.6 million.
“That means we’re actually going to be only $500,000 (short), and we don’t know where we can trim to get that $500,000,” Lewis said.
Beard made a motion to start the design process and get bids, with a second from Ward 5 Councilman Stephen Jones.
The motion passed unanimously.
Beyond the four new baseball fields, the master plan included a few things not present in the original proposal floated earlier this year. Stafford said he had gotten requests to add two new softball fields to allow for league play, as well as a multi-purpose building that would contain an indoor basketball court.
Security features were also added, including emergency call stations scattered throughout the park and 10 security cameras at “hub” areas and along the walking trails.
All that is in addition to the multi-purpose field, playground areas, new T-ball field and reworking the tennis courts to include pickleball. The original draft also included walking and running trails, disc golf and access to the Luxapalila Creek.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 41 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 41 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
Join the Discussion