Baseball Group Pitches for Another Site as Grant Deadline Nears

Neighbors protest park

CLOVIS CA -- Clovis City Council members told city staff to study 19 acres at Fowler and Shepherd avenues for a future ballpark despite the familiar cries of neighbors who don't want a baseball complex in their back yard.

With a new site on the table, the Clovis Babe Ruth Youth Baseball League asked the city to look further into the possibility of building a ballpark near the southwest corner of Fowler and Shepherd avenues. The land was offered for a sale price of $50,000 per acre.

The league, with a $1.2 million state grant that must be spent by June, has been searching for land on which to build a ballpark for two years. The league represents about 2,500 youth baseball players in the area who currently arrange games at parks and schools.

Several sites for a league complex have been located since the grant became available in 2001, only to be shot down for one reason or another.

Increasing real estate prices and decreasing land availability has made it nearly impossible for the league to locate enough affordable land to build the baseball park.

Fresno County Board of Supervisors opposed annexation of 20 acres northeast of Shepherd and Temperance avenues for the project this fall.

A Metropolitan Flood Control District basin near Nees and Temperance avenues could provide at least 10 fields for league play, but neighbors there expressed strong opposition, citing noise, increased traffic and bright lights as some things that would change the character of the neighborhood. The basin, they said, is also home to several types of wildlife and is a natural habitat that should not be destroyed.

Another site, 10 acres near Highway 168 and Locan Avenue, is less likely to be chosen for the future ballpark. That land is excess California Department of Transportation land offered for $200,000. The city purchased an option on the property in September.

Lori Mayfield, chairwoman of the league's facilities group, said funds are not adequate to make street, water and sewer improvements to the site and have enough money left to complete the park.

On Dec. 8, several neighbors of the most recent site spoke in opposition of accommodating up to eight baseball fields on the 19 acres.

Again, neighbors said building a ballpark would disrupt their serene, rural country lifestyle. Noise, traffic and lights from a ballpark are not welcome in their neighborhood, they said. The debate went on for nearly two hours.

"There is something incongruous about taking this kind of facility and putting it someplace that is rural residential," said neighbor Dan Delgado.

Darren Riley, another resident, said he chose his property because it was in the country.
"I bought this piece of land to get away from all of that," he said. "Don't shove this down our throat because they've run out of time."

Mayfield said the league would do everything it could to be a good neighbor. She also said if a ballpark is not built on the property, homes would most likely be developed there.

"Developers are standing in line behind us to buy this site," she said. "A green landscape ... is a far less intrusive use than having hundreds of families moving in there."

Council members gave their approval for city staff to study further the feasibility of the site, but not before Council Member Harry Armstrong issued one warning. He said he was concerned that the city would not be able to fulfill all the requirements of the grant if too much money is spent acquiring land.

The grant was issued to build baseball fields, Armstrong said. If the city and the league do not get the fields built, Armstrong said the city's reputation, and its ability to secure future grants, could be affected.

"I want a very good answer to this when you go out to do the studies," Armstrong said. "I don't want it to impact the city in future grants."

Mayor Lynne Ashbeck voted against further evaluation of the site.

"I think the intensity is just way too much at this point," Ashbeck said.