MCLENNAN COUNTY, Texas (KXXV) — The City of Waco has a total of 21 baseball fields, but according to a ballfield assessment from national firm, Hunden Partners, 13 of them didn’t score very well based on amenities like ADA compliance, restrooms, lighting and concession stands.
- City of Waco Parks and Recreation along with Hunden partners presented an assessment of local ballfields to Waco city council leaders August 20th.
- Strategies were presented to help make improvements to the 21 local fields like user agreements, field scheduling, a maintenance plan, and field rentals.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
The City of Waco has a total of 21 baseball fields, but according to a ballfield assessment from national firm, Hunden Partners, 13 of them didn’t score very well based on amenities like ADA compliance, restrooms, lighting and concession stands.
“Some of them aren’t in very good condition and part of our initiative is to get those fields in shape for people to use throughout the year,” said Mayor of Waco, Jim Holmes.
Hunden Partners along with the City of Waco Parks and Rec purposed a framework to mitigate those challenges so everyone and anyone can use the fields
“We need to spruce up for people to use, not only an organized baseball and select little league, but also if they just want to come out and use the local sandlot baseball fields,” said Mayor Jim Holmes.
Some strategies and solutions the assessment listed were user agreements, field scheduling, a maintenance plan, and field rentals.
“I disagree with more than 50 percent of you strategies and goals” said Councilmember Alice Rodriguez.
But councilmember Alice Rodriguez did have some concerns regarding those goals,saying she spends a great deal of time out at those fields, and would appreciate discussing a better action plan.
“All the kids in Waco are mine, and I want the best for them and I want everything to be equal for them, but some of these strategies that you put up here, I will fight you before I see them to be put as a goal for us,” said Councilmember Rodriguez.
The assessment also found our 21 fields meet the demand for local use, but the quality needs improvement.
“I’ve got a 13 year old son who’s played little league baseball for nine years, and we often go to temple of Dallas area to these weekend tournaments, and they have nice facilities there. And I think we have the level of facilities that we need here in Waco, we just have to coordinate our resources,” said Holmes.
Now this was just an assessment, but Holmes tells me they will work on putting a team together hopefully by 2026 add some implementation from a final approved strategy.
