Board approves new location for sports complex with 3-2 vote

By James Grob, jgrob@charlescitypress.com

After hearing from the public and debating the issue for more than 45 minutes, the Charles City Board of Education approved a new location for the future athletic complex by a 3-2 vote at Monday’s meeting.

“My time at Sportsman’s Park has been 20 years of bailing water, of riding buses, of multiple factors that inhibit playing baseball,” said Charles City varsity baseball coach Tyler Downing, who said he started playing for Charles City in 1999 and has been coaching here for 14 years. 

“Twenty years is enough,” he said. “Yesterday was the time to do this. Financially, it makes sense. Get it done. We can do it right, and we can do it right here. We can have a place for these kids to play baseball next year.”

After debate, Director Josh Mack moved on the motion, and Director Missy Freund seconded. The board voted 3-2 in favor of the high school location, with Mack and Freund voting in favor and directors Scott Dight and Jason Walker voting against. School board President Robin Macomber broke the tie.

“I don’t like the 5-12 campus option. I don’t like it at all,” Dight said. “Out of the people sitting up here, I go to more baseball games than anyone else.”

Currently, the diamonds at Sportsmen’s Park are the home of Charles City High School’s baseball and softball teams. The fields have been barely usable in recent years, due to continual flooding in the wake of heavy or even moderate rainfall.

In April 2017, the school district purchased 20 acres along Shadow Avenue, north of Sportsmen’s Park and outside of the floodplain, for the sports complex. The site is just north of Washington Elementary.

Since that time, a committee of coaches, directors and local business leaders has been raising funds to build the complex with one natural grass softball field and one synthetic turf baseball infield with a natural grass baseball outfield and a parking lot.

“The original intent when we moved forward with purchasing property, we knew we would not have the money until 2020 or 2021,” Dight said. “That’d always been my underlying time frame for when the district would have cash available to move forward with more than what we already have committed.”

At least week’s school board meeting, head varsity softball coach Brian Bohlen and assistant coach Dana Sullivan presented the board with the new proposal — a complex that includes a softball and baseball diamond and would sit on the high school/middle school campus, which is referred to as the 5-12 campus because of the grades going there.

The site is located on land adjacent to the high school and middle school, along Comet Drive.

The softball field would be located between the high school parking lot and the high school football field — at the location of the football practice field — while the baseball field would be cupped inside the Comet Drive curve on the way to the transportation center.

Charles City superintendent Mike Fisher spent much of last week breaking down the costs of both locations. He told the board at a work session Thursday that the total estimated cost of the fields at the Shadow Avenue location would range from $2.5 million at the low end to $3.1 million at the high end. The total costs of the new location would be just under $1.8 million dollars. Fisher recommended the board approve the new site.

“The $1.5 million at Shadow Avenue was without any amenities, whereas here we have a completed field,” Fisher said. “The board would like to begin moving dirt, at either field, by July 1.”

The entire project at Shadow Avenue would take anywhere from nine months to as long as three to five years, depending on how complete a sports complex the district wants to build. Many who addressed the board Monday said the time factor was important. Most wanted the project done “sooner rather than later.”

“I think it’s very important that we have the complex built in a very timely manner,” said Kim Scott, who said she had four kids — two in high school — who have all participated in athletics. “I want them to be able to play on it. I don’t want my kid who is a freshman not to have a diamond to play on. Five years for that complex would be fine, but my kids won’t get to see it.”

The board designated half of the project’s cost to come from district funds, for the purpose of grant writing. The board also directed Fisher to secure necessary funding and resources to ensure play on the new fields by spring of 2020.

Fisher said that community feedback, fiscal responsibility and timing were all very important as he made his recommendation.

“This has been a pressing topic for our community for many years, and we want to find a resolution,” Fisher said. “I believe in trusting the leadership we have in place, so the senior leadership — especially the director of finance, the activities director, and our coaches — have greatly informed and influenced this recommendation.”

Walker said he had fiscal concerns. The board discussed at length the district’s cash reserve balance, and the risk involved with letting it get too low.

“For me, that has always been one of the core pieces of information I use to look at what we can afford to do,” Walker said.

Board treasurer Terri O’Brien said that she’d run the numbers past Piper-Jaffray, and they found the low cash reserve balance to be acceptable.

“We need to decide as a board what we’re willing to accept,” O’Brien said. “They were comfortable with the balance, but that doesn’t mean that we have to be comfortable with that balance.”

Director Mack said that the vote in favor of the 5-12 site showed that the board has faith that the community is going to step up and help.

“This would be spectacular for our kids, and great for our community. It’s a wonderful opportunity that we should take advantage of, today,” Mack said. “We believe that we can get this done in a year, even though it’s a very aggressive timeline. There are some unknowns, but I think we can do it.”

A handful of current Charles City baseball and softball players also addressed the board, and all said that getting the fields done quickly was the most important thing. Baseball player Cael Bohlen said after all they’d been through at Sportsman’s Park, he thought the players and coaches were ready to start playing at the new complex as soon as possible.

Softball player Rachel Chambers agreed.

“We don’t want to wait until our last year,” she said. “We’ve worked really hard. We want it done soon, but we also want it at its best.”

Greg Heidebrink addressed the board and said he was happy to see the athletic complex moving forward, but had concerns about the high school proposal and wants more information. Heidebrink said that as a forester, we was especially concerned about losing the green space on campus.

“This is a great outdoor classroom,” he said. “We have recently planted new trees on this site, and more importantly, we would be losing some of the oldest trees on the property.

“I’m not sold on this,” he said. “I have a lot of questions that are unanswered and I’d like to make sure that we’re not rushing through this.”

Downing said that as baseball coach, he’s listened to the discussion for more than a decade now.

“You talk about this being a rushed decision, we’ve been discussing this for 11 years,” Downing said. “I think we’ve got a good plan in place. Get it done.”