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75 °F Forecast | Road Cams Saturday, August 28, 2004 Today's News | Classifieds | Autos | Homes | Jobs | Tempo | Health | Community | Home Delivery SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion - Politics Tempo AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map SPECIAL SECTIONS Since We Asked Outdoor Journal Prime Times Wellness Connection Readers' Choice Real Estate Showcase Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Wedding Guide Rogue Valley's Finest EXTRA Newspaper in Education Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People MARKETPLACE Find a Car Find a Home Find a Job Classifieds Place an ad eSouthernOregon Automotive Communities Entertainment Publications Recreation Calendar CUSTOMER SERVICE Frequent Questions Advertising Information Home Delivery Employment Contact Us Media Kit Network Affiliate Oregon Road Conditions & Cams Email Story to a Friend July 4, 2004 Rest of sports park to come in gradually By KRIS HENRY Mail Tribune While a groundbreaking ceremony for a new baseball stadium appears destined for September, the lion’s share of construction for the proposed 132-acre sports park to be built between Highway 99 and Interstate 5 is on a much different track. Medford Parks and Recreation Director Scott Archer says the project on the former Heitkamp farm near Bear Creek Corp. is moving forward but is still three to five years away from completion. "It’s definitely important for people to understand that this is a multiyear project," says Archer. "We’re trying to build a first-class facility and to do that and do it right, we need to take this opportunity and take our time. "It’s easy to get impatient and start throwing fields in there, but what we need to do is step back and take extra effort to do this right the first time." A master plan for the Medford Sports Park was adopted earlier this year, and a piece of the puzzle was recently completed with the installation of the Rotary Bridge, which connects both sides of the proposed park over Bear Creek. Advertisement Archer says the next phase this year will involve providing infrastructure to the park in terms of utilities and roadways. Roughly $700,000 remains in the budget for such projects, which Archer says are currently in the engineering stage. After that, the timeline for completion of any and all other projects at the sports park is purely speculation at this point. "That’s really the big question right now," Archer says. "It’s a moving target. The answer to that question is, once we have the funding available, that will be when we start building all those other things." Archer estimates the high-end cost for the proposed sports park is about $17.4 million, with a midrange estimate of $13 million. The cost differences essentially involve quality of materials used, i.e. artificial turf in the main field-sport area instead of grass, lighting for all fields and number of support facilities built (concessions, press boxes, etc.). At a recent retreat, the City Council came to a consensus on two general obligation bonds for the November ballot: one to build sidewalks near elementary schools and another to go toward the sports park. The latter proposal involves asking Medford residents to pay 20 cents per $1,000 of assessed property value — or $20 for a $100,000 house — to help raise about $10 million toward the sports park. The proposed bond measures still must formally be approved by the council. "I think both items are very important, and I hope we can make progress on both of them," says Councilman Jim Kuntz. "A regional sports park would be a real source of generating revenue for our valley, as we’ve seen with the (Rogue Valley Cup) soccer tournament." Archer certainly would welcome such a commitment from the city of Medford should the council opt to put the sports park bond measure on the November ballot and gain voter approval. "That would be a huge amount of progress toward the end goal," he says. Archer says he’s in the process of developing a capital fund-raising strategy for the remainder of funds needed. He says construction of Harry and David Baseball Park could be beneficial to getting the financial ball rolling. "If people see that pop up and see, ‘Wow, this thing is happening,’" says Archer, "then maybe it becomes easier to put energy and resources behind the sports park." "This is definitely a project that the community is going to have to rally around and support," he adds. "The more community support we get, the quicker it’ll all get built." Reach reporter Kris Henry at 776-4488, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life Opinion - Politics | AP News | Archives | Site Map E Southern Oregon | Classified Copyright © 1997-2004 Mail Tribune. All rights reserved. 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