Document text
59 °F Forecast | Road Cams Wednesday, April 27, 2005 Today's News | Shop Our Valley | Tempo | Health | Community | Home Delivery | Contact Us SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion Tempo AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map SPECIAL SECTIONS Since We Asked Outdoor Journal Menu Guide How To Guide Health Readers' Choice Real Estate Showcase Real Estate Guide Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Wedding Guide Passport to the Rogue Valley SHOP OUR VALLEY AutoFinder HomeFinder JobFinder Classified Place an ad TOP JOBS EXTRA Ashland News NIE Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People Volunteer Moving here? eSouthernOregon CUSTOMER SERVICE FAQ's Advertise with us Home Delivery Employment Contact Us Media Kit Oregon Road Conditions & Cams Email Story to a Friend July 15, 2004 Ballfield plans could reach first base Replacement diamond, stadium seating will be built with $2.3 million from sale to Wal-Mart By MEG LANDERS Mail Tribune Using $2.3 million from the county’s sale of Miles Field to Wal-Mart, Medford officials hope to have a replacement ballfield finished at a new sports park by next spring. The City Council will consider two ordinances today: one to accept $2.3 million from Jackson County for the new field and another to give the Medford Youth Baseball Society the responsibility for having it built. The MYBS is a nonprofit corporation created to build, support and maintain suitable youth baseball fields in Medford. "Medford Youth Baseball Society has use of Miles Field until Sept. 30," said Gary Miller, MYBS chairman. The field will be demolished after that date, he said. Wal-Mart purchased the Miles Field site and surrounding property for $8 million in May. Wal-Mart has proposed a 207,000-square-foot "supercenter" for the site, but the City Council rejected the original plan as incompatible with its surroundings. Wal-Mart has appealed to the state Land Use Board of Appeals. Advertisement The replacement ballfield will be at Medford’s new 132-acre sports park on Highway 99 across from Bear Creek Corp. The new ballfield, to be named Harry and David Baseball Park, is in its design phase. Arbuckle Costic Architects Inc. in Salem has drafted plans for a 1,500-seat stadium, with the potential to increase it to 4,500 seats with portable bleachers. Groundbreaking for the new ballfield is scheduled for September, with sod laid in the infield and hydroseed sprayed in the outfield by the first week of October. Meanwhile, the rest of the sports park is moving forward. Merlin McDaniel, hired by the city in April 2003 to organize the new sports park’s design and construction, said he’d like to use some of the 270,000 cubic yards of dirt to be excavated for a new city parking structure at downtown’s Winetrout site. The dirt could smooth holes and dips in the now-empty sports park. "It’s reducing costs for the city as well as Urban Renewal," he said. The park’s architects, Walker Macy of Portland, are working with Hardey Engineering of Medford to design roads and parking for the sports park, said McDaniel. Mail Tribune Home | Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life | Opinion AP News | Archives | Site Map | Community | Classified Copyright © 1997-2005 Mail Tribune, Inc. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions | Website Feedback Free Music Downloads Conference Calls - $50/Month Home Security Systems Trunks, Footlocker, Trunk, Footlockers home equity loans helzberg Distance Education Diamonds Online Poker Slippers Student Loans Tatoo tcg student loan consolidation teleconferencing Website Design & Marketing Memory Foam Mattress w2 forms Tatoos Advertisement s