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NORA KOCHWill Tarpon Springs swing and spring for a property next to Sisler Field? Will T-ball players get a field of their own?
TARPON SPRINGS - A dormant local chapter of the Jaycees wants to get rid of three-quarters of an acre next to Sisler Field. The city's Little League needs more ball fields.
Is this a major league match?
City leaders think so. With ballot deadlines approaching, the City Commission wants to add a referendum to the November ballot asking residents for permission to purchase the property off Meres Boulevard.
The Jaycees have offered to sell it to the city for about $53,000, an officer said.
Little League leaders, citizen recreation advisers and city officials are well aware of the desperate need for more ball fields in Tarpon Springs, and many have expressed support for purchasing the Jaycees' land and converting it into a T-ball field.
If the referendum passes, the City Commission could then decide to buy the land. It would be paid for with capital funds dedicated to buying park land, City Attorney John Hubbard said.
For half a century, the Tarpon Springs Jaycees have owned the property and, until recently, met inside a Quonset hut there, said Paul Wikle, who was president of the group in the 1980s and is now a trustee of the organization's holdings.
Membership fell to a minimum a few years ago and the Tarpon Springs group has basically gone inactive, Wikle said.
So the organization is looking to sell the small tract of land and put the proceeds in a trust that can be used by the new North County Jaycees or by anyone wishing to revive the Tarpon Springs group, Wikle said.
Wikle, a real estate agent, said a Clearwater company recently appraised the land at $105,000. The Jaycees decided to donate about half of the value to the city, Wikle said.
The city already leases a portion of the property, using another hut on the property to store maintenance equipment for its municipal golf course next door.
Little League, softball and T-ball have been in dire need of more fields for at least the past decade, said Susan Welch, chairwoman of the city's parks and recreation advisory board.
Welch's board recommended the city purchase the property. Whether it becomes home to a new ball field or not, it is a good buy for Tarpon Springs, which owns adjacent land on more than one side, she said.
But passing the referendum and acquiring the land are just an initial step, Welch said.
"This is not going to solve our problems," Welch said. "We're still going to have to look ahead to the future. And baseball is going to have to step up and make some contributions, too."
City officials estimated a cost of more than $200,000 to construct facilities that include bleachers, restrooms, a snack bar and lights.
Baseball officials said the job could be done at a far lower price if high-cost items like field lights are omitted.
Welch said the cost of the field will go beyond the land purchase. "Turning that property into a usable facility, whatever kind of facility, is going to take cooperation from the entire community."
The Little League is most interested in reaching into its resources to pull off the new T-ball field, league president Cissy David said.
With more than 500 players on baseball, softball and T-ball teams, fitting in games and practices on five fields, plus creative use of other sports fields, is an art, David said.
Sisler Field's three diamonds host 18 games a week in season, David said. The league also uses high school fields, a Rotary Club field and other city parks for games and practice.
"It's a scheduling nightmare trying to fit them all on the fields," David said.
One more T-ball field would make a significant difference, David said, because T-ball and softball games are sometimes played on the same field.
A new diamond would free up a softball field to be used for that league, which sometimes has to play "home" games at other locations in the county.