BBSB pitches 5-year plan for Sportsplex

EDITOR'S NOTE: This is the fourth in a series on the recently released five-year plans for city of Blytheville departments.)

The Blytheville Baseball Softball Boosters have developed a five-year plan for the Blytheville Youth Sportsplex.

In the two-page letter to members of the Blytheville City Council, the BBSB officials offered suggestions to improve the decade-old facility, which annually hosts numerous tournaments that draw in out-of-town visitors, in addition to entertaining hundreds of local residents nightly during ball season. Proposed projects include electrical work, a maintenance shed, resurfacing the parking lot, replacing some equipment and installing fencing.

"As you are aware, the citizens of Blytheville passed a sales tax for the construction and maintenance of the Thunder Bayou Golf Course and Blytheville Youth Sportsplex over 12 years ago," BBSB officials wrote. "Since opening in 2001, we have proudly provided a sports program for our youth that has grown to approximately 750 children participating each year. We have programs for youth ages 4-18.

"Additionally, we have hosted numerous district, state and regional baseball and softball tournaments at our complex bringing in thousands of dollars spent in our community. At current count, we have hosted teams from 13 states and over 100 cities at our complex."

The BBSB notes that it has received hundreds of compliments about the community and the Sportsplex through the years.

"The Blytheville Youth Sportsplex is the flagship of our city parks, and we need to continue to preserve this beautiful asset of our community. It is now 11 years old and has begun to show wear."

BBSB pointed out five areas it believes need the most attention.

It proposes increasing the annual Sportsplex budget from $144,000 per year to $180,000, noting the city has replaced very little of the original maintenance equipment used at the Sportsplex, and each year the equipment continues to wear out.

The facility continues to wear out in the areas of lighting, electrical, signage, concrete, dugouts, wind barriers, sprinklers and soil erosion to name a few, the plan reads.

"As the facility ages, we know the maintenance of the facility will increase each year. This budgeted amount was $140,000 11 years ago; therefore, it has changed very little since inception."

Secondly, the BBSB cited a need for some electrical work. It says when the Sportsplex was built, the electrical wiring was installed poorly and cheaply, leading to electrical problems at the facility each year.

"We have pieced together breaker boxes and reran wiring all over the complex; however, every time we turn on the lights, we are not sure what we will get," the plan reads. "In 2012, we reran wiring on a portion of three of the fields. We would like to professionally rewire all 10 fields. We have not received estimates on the total cost of this project; however, we estimate $100,000 based on the work done in 2012."

Another suggested project is resurfacing the asphalt parking lot, which has several potholes. According to the plan, the estimated cost is $12,000.

The plan also calls for a maintenance shed to house field equipment as well as baseball and softball equipment. The shed would be approximately $80,000.

The final project is a proposed installation of fencing around all of the entrances to the complex, a job estimated to cost $10,000. The plan says the fencing would allow better control of paying visitors attending the various tournaments and also provide additional security of the complex during the off-season months.

"When the additional sales tax was passed for the construction of covered bleachers and maintenance of the facility, we constructed three covered seating areas," the plan reads. "While our wish list would be to cover all of the bleachers on all of the fields, we feel there are much better uses of the parks and recreation tax at this time.

We appreciate the City Council's support of our youth and our Sportsplex. We hope you will strongly consider our requests."

mbrasfield@blythevillecourier.com