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Miles Field's planned demise shocks sports park developer By MELISSA MARTIN Mail Tribune A former baseball coach who wants to build an all-sports park in Medford said he was surprised to learn that Miles Field will be demolished within two years. "It's an historical site - it shouldn't come down," said Loren Swan, founder and director of the Medford Parks and Recreation Foundation. His volunteer group is raising money for a sports park that would be built near the professional baseball stadium that's slated for demolition in 2003. The sports park would be built on 132 acres on Belknap Road owned by the Heitkamp family. The city of Medford made a $200,000 option payment, with another payment due in the spring and the final installment on the $4.8 million property due November 2002, said Greg Jones, Medford Parks and Recreation director. The city is funding the property purchase partly from a voter-approved increase in the hotel/motel tax. The sports park would initially include baseball, softball, soccer, football fields and basketball courts, Jones said. But foundation members hope it eventually includes Olympic-sized swimming pools and a bicycle racing track, Swan said. The nonprofit Bear Creek Greenway Foundation also is eager for the purchase of the Heitkamp farm because it will allow the bike path extension to stay close to the creek. "We just owned a little, tiny strip by the freeway and it would have been crowded," said Karen Smith, special project manager for Jackson County. The two projects - the sports park and the greenway path - would share one bridge to reduce environmental impacts to Bear Creek and save on construction costs, Smith said. The $1.92 million, two-mile stretch of path from Barnett to South Stage roads is already funded, mostly from federal transportation enhancement money, she said. The project must go to bid between November 2002 and February 2003, or the funds will be lost. Aside from the city's efforts to find funds for the sports park, the nonprofit sports park foundation is raising $1 million and hopes to secure a $1 million state economic development grant, Swan said. The foundation also hopes to purchase 100 more acres that would connect the sports park to the Babe Ruth field situated behind Miles Field on Highway 99. "That's why we wanted to keep Miles Field because we wanted it to be a playoff field for Babe Ruth," Swan said. Babe Ruth, American Legion, high school players and other youth have used Miles Field since the Oakland A's farm team, the Timberjacks, left for Vancouver, British Columbia, after their 1999 season. The professional baseball stadium is slated for demolition because a developer has expressed interest in the county-owned land the stadium sits on, Medford Urban Renewal Agency officials announced this week. The property sale proceeds would be used to build a replacement field at the proposed sports park, urban renewal officials said. Medford needs more practice fields, said Tom Hilton, recreation superintendent for Medford Parks and Recreation. Every spring and fall, 167 adult softball teams compete with 400 children's soccer and Little League teams for a place to practice. "When you divide that by seven ballfields that we have in Medford, you have all these players vying for a patch of green grass," Hilton said. "It's not uncommon to drive by an elementary school in Medford and see five teams trying to practice on the same field." A sports park would also allow Medford to host more tournaments, which generate tourism revenue for local businesses, Hilton said. "We get a lot of calls from teams in Portland that say, 'It's raining up here. Can we play in a Medford tournament?' or folks in Redding looking for a cooler place to play," Hilton said. Reach reporter Melissa Martin at 776-4497, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.