Rainfall has caused a delay in the building of baseball fields at Townsend Park, Pine Bluff Parks and Recreation Department Director April Layher said.
She originally expected the athletic fields would be finished by early May.
“If the weather had cooperated, we would have been ready,” Layher said. “We work with the Northern Little League that uses our field. I have no idea what the weather can do. I hope it will be ready before their baseball season ends in July.
“It is proceeding slowly with all approved parts. We are getting everything needed. It it a muddy mess. Electricity is going in. The scoreboards have been ordered. It is just a matter of the weather.”
During a city council meeting on April 6, baseball coach Sebastian Stargell addressed the ongoing building of baseball fields at Townsend Park. He said that the dugouts are too small, the light fixtures are too short and the outfield fences are too shallow.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
“I feel like the person who is responsible for doing the field is doing half a job,” Stargell said at the April 6 meeting. “The benches hold 10 kids but we need benches to hold 25 kids. Non-baseball people are building the fields. [When a batter hits a high fly ball,] the kids will lose the ball because the light fixtures are not high enough.”
Layher told The Commercial that the baseball fields are the correct size in accordance with specifications and there is enough distance from home plate to the outfield fences. She said that the dugouts are small because of financial constraints. To accommodate more baseball players, Layher suggested adding extra benches to the dugouts.
Layher said the light stanchions are tall enough. Layher said the Pine Bluff City Council approved money to pay for a scoreboard, the conduits for electricity, bleachers, canopies over the bleachers to keep people out of the sun and stands for the scorekeepers.
The Parks and Recreation Commission had planned to meet on Monday, April 27. But there were not enough commission members to constitute a quorum so they postponed the meeting until 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, May 5, at Saracen Landing.
The Parks and Recreation Department is still planning to dedicate the splash park at 10 a.m. on Friday, May 22, Layher said.
“We are just about ready to open. There was a small issue with the drinking fountain,” Layher said. “The Lake Saracen Project Association worked to get money for the walking trail around the lake and for the splash pad. They made a lot of effort to make this come to pass.”