Bethel Field Projects: Baseball, Softball

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EUGENE Public Works Maintenance City of Eugene 1820 Roosevelt Boulevard Eugene, Oregon 97402 (541) 687 -5220 August 28, 1997 Stephen Barnes & Jacob Risley South Eugene Babe Ruth Baseball c/o Stephen Barnes 1786 Moonshadow Eugene, Oregon 97405 Dear Stephen and Jake: Your proposal to improve Amazon Park to accommodate Babe Ruth Baseball has been reviewed up to the department executive director. There is general agreement that we should be supportive of allowing your proposal go ahead. A technical issue that needs to be addressed is that much of the improvement would occur on areas that have been delineated as wetlands. Fortunately, we are in the process of creating some wetlands in this same park. There is to be a "banked" amount of somewhere around three acres. I am not sure of the timing relationship between getting the new wetlands functioning as wetland and disturbing existing wetland areas. Since the wetland we are creating has a relationship to the new LTD parking area that was constructed earlier, I believe we can count this dedicated banked area to cover the impact of improving ballfields that might be constructed next year. In comparing your Options 1 and 2, I find the first to be superior, both in field arrangement and in wetland impact (1.46 acres, vs. 1.78 acres for Option two). To improve on Option 1, I would suggest moving the south diamond northwest about 50 feet. The benefits would be to preserve the pin oak trees down the right field line, and to avoid a mound that has to remain as is, due to an EWEB water line. The drawbacks, both manageable, are that this adjustment would increase the wetland impact by a .1 acre or so, and it would require the overlapping soccer field to be shortened or reoriented. I feel it is essential to at least come up with a draft schedule, based on previous the year's usage, to determine if any group currently using the area would be displaced, and how the introduction of baseball there could be scheduled to minimize any conflict. Roosevelt PE soccer classes use the area for sure; I think Kidsports does, and AYSO might. Adult soccer is played only on the improved field and therefore not impacted by the baseball proposal. I know a couple soccer fields were laid out on that rough area, most of which is delineated as wetland. Two youth sized fields might still fit in between and around the diamonds, but as overlapping fields, the timing needs for games could reveal conflicts and the need to negotiate for reasonable schedules. We should be comfortable that we can reasonably accommodate existing users before encouraging an investment in nice baseball facilities.