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Park to be redone for Gulfport sluggers
By SHEILA MULLANE ESTRADA
© St. Petersburg Times, GULFPORT -- Things are looking up for the Gulfport Little League, whose 300-plus youngsters have been playing baseball and softball on deteriorating fields at Tomlinson Lake Park. The City Council on Tuesday approved extensive improvements at the park, between 18th and 19th avenues and 54th and 55th streets S, that will include a larger, cleaner lake with a fountain, two regulation ball fields and expanded recreational activities. The park makeover will have cost more than $700,000 by the time it is finished in late 2002. The improvements will be financed through several grants and Penny for Pinellas funds. "It's great for Little League. It's a much-needed improvement. We'll have bigger fields and we'll be able to accommodate more children," said Sharon Gray, secretary and incoming vice president of the Gulfport Little League Association. Gray says she has been assured that construction will not interfere with the upcoming Little League seasons. The largely instructional winter season, beginning in September and ending just before Thanksgiving, involves about 100 players. The competitive summer season, from February to July, involves between 250 and 325 players, Gray said. Currently, baseball and softball teams share the single regulation field at Tomlinson, while the minor and Tee-Ball teams share the smaller field. Once the improvements are completed at the park, the league will be able to schedule regulation baseball and softball games at the same time, Gray said. "This is an exciting time for us," Mayor Michael Yakes said Tuesday. "The process may have seemed slow, but we took the time to do it right." City Manager Bob Lee said Gulfport immediately will begin grading and installing irrigation systems for the ball fields. Other work to be completed by December includes renovation of the batting cage, dugouts, restrooms, roller hockey court and skateboard court, and replanting of trees throughout the site. Lee said this work will not disrupt the city's Little League schedule. Major construction work beginning next June will include reconstruction of Tomlinson Lake, relocation of the Tot Lot, installation of bleachers, a split rail fence throughout the park and an aeration fountain. The lake is expected to almost double in size and will improve area drainage, according to Robert Brown of Tampa Bay Engineering. The redesigned lake also will result in cleaner water discharged into Tampa Bay. The existing tennis court will become a skateboard park and roller hockey court. Decorative and security lighting is planned as well as a boardwalk along the eastern edge of the lake. A concrete sidewalk will surround the park. Additional trees, benches, picnic tables, litter receptacles and water fountains also are planned. Optional amenities proposed by council members Tuesday include a pavilion, widened sidewalks and swings. These suggestions will be included as alternatives in pending construction bid specifications. Yakes also warned that the city "will not tolerate" anyone endangering the lake's ducks or littering the park. "It cannot be allowed to happen."
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From the Times South Pinellas desks |
