- May 6, 2024
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With the goal of becoming a destination for regional and national tournaments and offering more year-round facilities for local youth and adult sports, the Sarasota County Commission last week approved including three adult softball fields to the first phase of the reimagined 17th Street Regional Park.
At their Oct. 24 meeting, commissioners unanimously approved adding the $8 million spend to the now $65 million project, which will emphasize the athletic fields portion of the park that will eventually include an event lawn, renovated dog park, a destination playground, nature park and more. It will also be connected to the Legacy Trail through the adjacent Bobby Jones Golf Course and nature preserve.
Commissioners also approved the staff's proposed funding strategy for the entire first phase.
“Since I've been here, this is the most satisfying motion I've ever made,” said Commissioner Mike Moran in making the motion to approve the addition of three adult softball fields for Phase 1. “This is in my district, I was involved from the very beginning on this when it was a conceptual conversation.”
It was an easy sell to commissioners for Parks, Recreation and Natural Resources Director Nicole Rissler despite an initial $8 million funding gap, which was closed by applying additional Surtax IV and tourist development tax (TDT) revenues. In its current form the park has six youth softball fields that are the home of Miss Sarasota Softball, four adult softball fields next to land that was formerly the Bobby Jones Golf Course, a dog park, the now closed Circus Hammock natural area and some open field space for soccer and other activities.
The master plan for later phases on the west side of the property shows a reopened Circus Hammock once flooding issues are addressed, an event lawn on the current adult softball fields location, a refurbished dog park and a playground area.
When Phase 1 is complete the park with have eight multipurpose fields on land that is currently utility property, an eight-field youth softball complex including a championship field.
“This will be one of the only complexes in the Southeast that will be built with 220-foot outfield fences, which is what college women's softball and pro softball went to about a year-and-a-half ago,” Rissler said. “We're already fielding inquiries about when this will be open so that they can bring their tournament and teams here to play.”
The three adult softball fields will have 300-foot fences, which can be converted into youth fields if necessary.
“We can bring in temporary fencing and really extend our youth softball complex to 11 fields in the future,” Rissler said.
The multipurpose athletic fields will be built in four rectangles convertible to a variety of uses.
“Those will be artificial turf,” Rissler said. “They will be the first artificial turf fields we have in our system, hopefully not the last.”
Two of the fields will have permanent lines for soccer and lacrosse, but all four will accommodate several sports, including football.
More than a recreational facility, county officials see the new park as an economic engine, bringing youth sports organizations across the region and country for tournaments, and their tourism dollars with them.
Those dollars include the perpetually voter-renewed penny surtax revenues, which are designated for capital projects by both the city and the county. That’s one reason commissioners approved including adult softball.
“I think this thing is going to have success beyond anybody's wildest dreams,” Moran said. “If we're truly talking about economic development, and economic stimulus, if we truly believe what we're doing here with the economic development incentive funds to use that money to spur more activity, you’re going to see it. You won’t be able to put it on a chart.”
The park does contain some value engineering. For example, a food truck staging area allowed planners to scale back on concession structures with the added benefit of better serving larger tournaments. Plans also provide space for mobile restrooms rather than building enough permanent facilities to serve the largest tournament crowds.
Capital funding will come from a variety of sources.
“Ultimately, it is truly a tapestry quilt of funding sources,” Rissler said. “Our staff recommendation is to approve the updated funding strategy of Phase 1 to include adult softball. If upon approval of the updated funding, strategy and confirmation the project scope and facilities to be constructed, staff will bring back to the board a future budget amendment amending that capital improvement project.”
Design work is 90% complete, Rissler told commissioners, and construction is expected to begin in March 2024 following the conclusion of the Sarasota Miss Softball season and be completed in fall 2025.
