Baseball league donation to fund ballfields at Brookside Park

A $30,000 donation from the Jackson Youth Baseball League means two new fields will be constructed in Brookside Park, city officials said.

Jackson parks and recreation director Shane Anderson said the park board accepted the donation earlier this month, and since it's more than $5,000, the Board of Aldermen needed to approve it as well.

At the regular Aldermen meeting Dec. 17, city administrator Jim Roach said the project will include two smaller fields on the site originally intended for one larger field, east of Brookside Memorial in Brookside Park, just east of Highway 61, not far from the Route D intersection.

"Initially, several years ago, one larger, full-size baseball field (was planned)," Roach said at the meeting.

But the idea now, he said, is for two smaller fields to give athletes younger than age 12 more practice space.

The area was graded by the Missouri National Guard several years ago in anticipation of the larger field, Roach said, but the new plan will require slightly more work.

Roach added that the focus will be to get one field playable ahead of next year's baseball season.

Anderson agreed, saying, "We're heading in that direction."

Total cost hasn't been arrived at yet, he said, but a "large portion" of the work will be done in house.

Roach said city engineer Clint Brown is doing design work, and the parks and street department will do some labor.

In response to Alderman James Hitt's question about whether the fields are expandable as young athletes age up, Anderson said the current Brookside fields can handle ages 9 to 12, and the Armory field has space for t-ball and 6 to 8 year old players.

"The numbers drop off after age 12," Roach noted.

Alderman Paul Sander asked if the $30,000 donation came with earmarks, and Anderson said the donation will go toward building the fields, not toward roads or parking lots that would serve the fields.

Roach said some money has been budgeted for roadwork, and the major expense with this project, aside from the grading, will be adding fences.

"We're going to use almost all available land," Anderson said in response to Sander's question of whether another ballfield would be planned after these two are built. "We wanted to make the best use of ground available," Anderson added.

Roach noted that more of the park will include green space and pavilion areas, as much of the park includes rolling land that would be difficult to grade into a playable field.

mniederkorn@semissourian.com

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