Build a ball field and the players will come, instructed the film'Field of Dreams.' But first you need money.
Friday, the Yakima Greenway and three area athletic organizationsreceived a $300,000 grant to help pay for the construction of amillion-dollar sports complex in Terrace Heights.
Out of 61 similar requests from across the state, Yakima wastabbed as the second most in need of new ball fields. It was the No.1 project in the region, said Al Brown, event coordinator for theYakima Greenway Foundation.
The money comes from a $10 million fund created by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen for youth activity facilities around the state.Several million dollars were awarded across the state.
Winners were chosen Friday on the basis of community need,availability of property and other priorities. 'This gets the ballrolling,' Brown said.
The project, planned to be built on Hartford Road, west ofButterfield Road, was unveiled in July. Studies have shown theoriginal price tag of $2.5 million was too low. Construction costsfor the project now are estimated to be between $3 million and $4million, Brown said. The proposal calls for 24 fields on 60 acresfor girls' fastpitch softball, Little League baseball and youthsoccer, as well as acreage for small neighborhood parks andpathways.
Additional money will come from fund-raisers and contributions bythe Greater Yakima Girls Softball Association, Yakima NationalLittle League and Yakima Youth Soccer Association.
The four organizations jointly will design, build, manage andmaintain the fields. Officials for the Greenway project say theyhope to begin excavating the site next year and want to have thefields in use by 2003. The project would be constructed in twophases, with the six fastpitch softball and eight youth baseballfields in the first phase and up to 10 soccer fields in the secondphase.
Currently, the three associations provide athletic programs forabout 4,500 Yakima Valley youths, ages 6-18. Mark Fischer,president of the youth soccer league, said the grant money bringsthe sports complex closer to reality. It will be a big relief forhis organization's 2,700 soccer players, who are already battlingfor field time with adult leagues on the Valley's 20 fields. 'Grassjust can't hold up to that sort of use,' he said. 'There's a majorneed for it.' The fastpitch league with 450 players now uses a four-field complex near Union Gap. The sport is growing in popularitybecause that's what high school and college teams play, said BillHarris, fastpitch president. So the need for more fields is alsogreat. He said the sports organizations may contribute as much as$100,000 each for the park and will help raise money. Still, thegrant money is welcome, he said.
'Three hundred thousand dollars is a good chunk of change,' hesaid. 'But that's still a small part to the overall project. Thething about this project is the property is already acquired.There's no rezoning and no having to buy individual houses.' TheGreenway owns 45 acres and is still in negotiations to buy or lease15-acres of state Department of Transportation property for thesoccer fields.
