COLLEGE STATION, Texas — Kristi Hosea has lived in College Station since 1992 and has seen about two tourist attractions come and go.
"If you look way back into the mid-80s, we actually had Pooh's Park, which was a water slide and roller-skating rink where Champion Firearms and Bahama Buck's is in College Station," Hosea said.
"Then where Grand Station, actually where their putt-putt golf is actually used to be an indoor roller-skating rink."
Now, the anticipated Texas Independence Ballpark Project located along Rock Prairie Road is the latest to go.
The City of College Station City Council discontinued the project at a city council meeting Thursday and is looking to citizens like Hosea to offer suggestions on its replacement.
The $23.1 million project would've added four full-length baseball fields, playgrounds, bleachers and concession stands as well as restroom facilities and lighting.
The goal of the project was to attract baseball players of all levels and serve the need of more fields for little league baseball.
"It brings people to town, tourism, helps the tourist economy that we have here. It was kind of a dual-purpose field," Mayor Nichols said.
The first phase of the project would have been funded by tax dollars and hotel occupancy tax (HOT) funds, and bonds would fund the second phase.
But unstable, unpacked soils could not hold the turf and would cost an additional $10-16 million dollars to fix.
Currently, the city has spent over $4 million from tax revenue to install water and sewer lines and make the parking lot.
Mayor Nichols just doesn't want it to go to waste.
"What kind of uses could we put in that same location that would be compatible with the condition of the soil, the drainage, and at the same time, take advantage of the infrastructure we've already built," he said.
Hosea suggests adding a facility that the city doesn't have like a roller-skating rink to serve kids in the community.
"We've got multitudes of middle schools and intermediate school and we really don’t have anything for them," Hosea said.
Mayor Nichols says the city will still add a baseball field but will look to build on a property it already owns.
But it will take time before seeing any progress on that and the replacement.
"Starting over is always starting over, which means, if you're going to build, well any park, you got to go through the design process to make sure all these things fit together," he said.
The council will allow for public comment during future meetings this fall.