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January 12, 2006 - Concept Drawings Presented - Big League
Dreams shrink
Purkiss-Rose RSI, prime consultant for design of a proposed $18+
million multi-sports complex being considered for a Cordelia Rd site
next to the sewage treatment plant, presented two drawings showing the
elements being considered for the complex in two different
configurations. Potential operator Big League Dreams said it could only
operate and maintain less than half the fields, and the city would have
to take care of the less profitable facilities.
The Meeting
Six representatives of some local baseball and soccer leagues were
double-teamed by a crowd of 12 consultants, representatives from
developer Triad Communities and Fairfield city staff.
Sports interests represented were Northern Solano Babe Ruth Baseball,
Fairfield Masters Baseball, Fairfield Pacific Little League, Semi-Pro
Baseball and Fairfield Suisun Youth Soccer League.
Girls' softball was not
represented, nor were the adult soccer leagues or flag football teams,
and other groups that do not use Allan Witt Park fields were not
invited to see the design concepts or provide input.
The Purkiss-Rose consulting agreement and December 13 Kickoff meeting
action item specified four designs to be completed by January 6, 2006.
Only 2 were presented, and no explanation was given.
The Design Elements
Both concept drawings (Concept A
and Concept B) showed
essentially the same elements arranged differently:
- 4 BLD replica fields, with Stadium Club
- Multi-purpose Pavillion
(rectangular)
- Batting Cages
- Administration Building
- Concession/Restroom Building
- Parking (two lots in A, one big lot in B)
- Detention Basin (at least 3 acres
required)
- 2 Little League Fields
- Babe Ruth Field
- Multi-purpose (rectangular) Field -
soccer, football
- Buffer tree plantings along the south
and east boudaries (where the RR tracks are)
In addition, Concept A has a rectangular open
area, replaced in Concept B by
a potential fullsize American Legion baseball field, which may be built if a hinted-at donation can be
worked out.
Concept
A showed many trees (drawn full grown, of course) in the spaces
between elements, which would not offer much shade or protection for
many years, assuming they survive the winds.
Big League Dreams' Turf
Shrinks
Until now we have been told that BLD
(or perhaps another private company) would operate and maintain the
complex, if and when it is built. Surprisingly BLD now says it would
only be willing to maintain and operate elements 1-5. BLD sees the
other elements as lacking the profit potential to be worth their time
and effort. Replacement fields proposed to be removed from Allan Witt
Park and rebuilt at the new site would still be run by the city and
would still be maintained by the leagues! All that changes for them is
the location, it seems, and maybe an increase in cost.
The BLD-operated portion is basically a cookie-cutter piece inside a
fence consisting of 4 replica fields with sports bar/restaurant, a
muitipurpose pavillion building, an administration building and
possibly a concession stand. The other elements are arranged around it,
outside the fence.
The Winner is...?
One might ask just who benefits from this multi-million dollar
expenditure of public funds? And is it worth it? Let's suppose the
project is approved and the complex gets built for $18 million. Little
League will still have two fields that it maintains at its own expense.
Babe Ruth will still have one field that it maintains. Soccer gains
access to one additional field. The adult Masters and Semi-Pro baseball
players will no doubt use the BLD fields.
It seems reasonable to assume that BLD would make a profit for its
effort - having been handed a brand new publicly-funded facility built
to its specifications. BLD can choose the most profitable segments of
the market and focus on those. But are the youth better served? Are the
other (non-baseball) sports like football, soccer, volleyball and
tennis better served? Is the community that lives near and uses Allan
Witt Park better served? Is Fairfield better served?
If the expected avalanche of tournaments floods Fairfield with tourist
dollars as world-class sports teams clamor for a shot at using
Fairfield's BLD replica facilities, then the hotels, motels and some
restaurants may see increased business. Even under optimistic
projections, however, it would be decades before we reach a point where
the project would be more profitable than simply giving the $18 million
away. What if the market shifts again and the popularity of replica
facilities fades as the novelty wears off? Remember when the Golf
Courses were hyped to hold such enormous potential? Might we have
learned a lesson?
The
Redding Sports Complex
Wrigley
Field in
Redding, showing
outfield billboard posters - Photo: Fintech Precast, Inc.
 A facility in Redding CA is generating
a lot of
the excitement and enthusiasm for the proposal to shrink Allan Witt
Park. City leaders would like to see a similar facility in Fairfield -
on Cordelia Rd at Chadbourne, next to the Wastewater Treatment Plant.
The project that has aroused the City's interest is called the Redding Big League Dreams Sports Complex,
a public-private
partnership between the City of Redding and a Southern California
corporation called Big League Dreams USA that will operate and maintain
the complex, keeping all revenue for the first four years. After that
Redding
will receive 6% of the gross revenues. The main attractions are 3
three-quarter scale replicas of famous baseball parks - a miniature
Wrigley Field, Fenway Park and Yankee Stadium, complete with giant
billboards of fans in the outfield. See what the project looks like by
visiting
the website
at http://www.ci.redding.ca.us/comsrv/sports_complex/sports_complex.htm
The complex cost $19.6 million. Here's what Redding's website says
about the
design, cost, funding and purpose of the
project, and
Redding's Big Dreams about what it will do for their city (from the About
page at http://www.ci.redding.ca.us/comsrv/sports_complex/sports_complex_about.htm)
| The Redding
Big League Dreams Sports Complex, which opened July 31, 2004, is a
world-class facility, featuring unique Big League Dreams
state-of-the-art themes
and design features. While it's designed to be a destination park,
attracting
tournament teams (youth and adult) from all over the country, it also
provides
local residents with a spectacular family entertainment venue. Thus,
the City of
Redding adds significant tourism while enhancing its reputation as an
attractive,
family-friendly city. |
| The Sports
Complex is the result of efforts by two citizens committees and the
Redding City Council. Funding for the project comes from $10,000,000 in
two State
grants, $3,000,000 in Redevelopment Funds, and $2,650,000 from the
City's General
Fund and surplus property sales. |
| The design
team on the project included Purkiss Rose RSI (landscape architecture),
Crane Architecture Group (building design), SHN Consulting (civil
engineering) and
other speciality design firms. |
| Operational
management of the Sports Complex will be provided by Big League
Dreams, a southern-California company with several existing operations.
The unique
partnership between the City and Big League Dreams ensures professional
maintenance for the facility while also generating an income stream for
the City
that will help pay the construction costs. |
Redding's sports complex features:
- Three softball fields
constructed to replicate the historic major-league stadiums of Boston's
Fenway Park, Chicago's Wrigley Field and New York's Yankee Stadium
- One non-replica softball field
- One non-replica combination
softball and hardball field
- Softer artificial turf surface
- A nine-station batting cage
- An indoor 20,000 square foot
multi-sport field house designed to accommodate inline hockey,
indoor soccer, basketball, volleyball, and corporate and special
events, with concession stand
- The Stadium Club, a sports-bar and
restaurant with spectacular views of on-going games at the three
replica stadiums
- Four sand volleyball courts
- Tiny tot playground
- Parking for 400 cars, full
landscaping and utilities
Note that Redding built their dreams on State grants and redevelopment
funds, and not by
selling off assets like Allan Witt Park that had already been built.
According to a recent Sacramento Bee
article, the State money came from
a $2.6 billion parks bond measure
passed by California voters in 2000. Fairfield city staff are working
with
Redding
city officials, but the word from Fairfield's newest Economic
Development Senior Project
Manager, David White, is that we (Fairfield) don't have access to the
state bond money used by Redding. He did not elaborate.
Could the prospect of world-class baseball teams and tournaments
traveling to
Fairfield be influencing the decision to sell off parts of Allan Witt
Park? If a Big League Dreams facility is what the
city wants, officials and the Council should just say so and stop
trying to mask the project behind rhetoric about wanting to improve
Allan Witt Park.
It remains to be seen how much money this idea would generate for
Fairfield. On the surface it sounds good. In addition to the Redding
complex, Big League Dreams (BLD) is operating Replica Sports Complexes
in
Cathedral City (Palm Springs area), Chino Hills, and Mira Loma
(Riverside area), with facilities in various stages of development in
Redlands, Colton, West Covina, Manteca, Long Beach, Mansfield (TX), and
League City (TX).
The experience thus far seems to have been encouraging, and BLD has
collected a sheaf of endorsement letters. Major community concerns have
been
traffic, noise, glare, alcohol (served in the Stadium Club), entrance
fees, prohibition on bringing food and beverages into the facility, and
safety/security. Though financed and built by the host cities, the
facilities are built based on BLD design templates, then
operations are turned over to the corporation on a long term contract -
not a bad deal for BLD. Cities retain ownership of the facilities, but
are relieved of the costs of staffing, utilities, upkeep, scheduling
and promotion to attract clubs and tournaments. BLD even provides
referees and umpires.
The tradeoff is that players and spectators pay a $1 or $2 admission
charge, and cannot bring food or drinks into the complex, and must
abide by BLD's other policies.
Facilities are operated as though
privately owned, and the city sees no direct return on its investment
for at least four years. These are sports complexes, not parks.
Residents cannot go for a picnic on the artificial turf, or to fly a
kite or throw a frisbee around, but for those in baseball and softball
leagues, these fields are superior to most.
The Big League Dreams complex could be a very good project for
Fairfield. The bottom line, however, is how to pay for the $20 to $25
million
facility. Fairfield, it seems cannot find the money without selling off
some prime park land dedicated to the city for Allan Witt Park. If the
money cannot be found we need to postpone and reprioritize other
projects such as the Cordelia Community Park, or the Laurel Creek Park
expansion, or the renovation of the Allan Witt Pool.
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