El Paso Sportspark To Close Several Months For Renovations

The El Paso County Sportspark will be shut down for six months beginning in August. If trends from last year continues, that means approximately 150 13-player baseball teams, and several tournaments, would not be able to use the park between August and February 2013. It will result in an estimated $94,000 loss for the county.

“I know it’s not ideal,” said Ernesto Carrizal as he spoke before County Commissioners court on Monday.

According to the county’s Public Works Department, the loss would be less than the initial plan to rotate construction over a longer time to rehabilitate the park.

Several members of the El Paso County Commission expressed relief that the project was finally underway, however, no one mentioned the amount of money wasted over the past five years.

In 2007, El Paso County residents voted, and approved, a $9.9 million bond for Sportspark improvements. Inaction left that money sitting in a bank account. As the park deteriorated, so did the money with $2.49 million wastefully being spent on interest. What it means is more than 25 percent of the available money for the project has disappeared over a five-year period.

The new plan calls for shutting down the park for six months to allow construction to move faster, reopening the park in March with half of the park in operation. The park is expected to reopen in March with tee ball fields, restrooms and a small concession stand operational.

The remaining portion of the park, including the main concession stand, would remain under construction for an additional six to eight months.

Commissioner Sergio Lewis was the only commissioner who seemed hesitant on the issue. Despite five years of negotiations and discussion, he felt several of his questions remained unanswered including where the displaced children would go to find a safe play environment. The public works director did little to ease his worries, telling him that they would determine how they would accommodate the children when baseball season began.

“When I think baseball I think children and quality of life,” said Lewis, who added that the lack of information presented to him on Monday raised red flags.

Last year roughly 2,000 children participated in a combination of baseball or softball teams. The current plan has not accounted for how they will accommodate those kids, and their games, at Ascarate Park or El Paso parks.

Ultimately, the other commissioners agreed the plan had been postponed far too long, citing that talks to improve the park have went on for several years. While commissioners all discussed the inconvenience of closing down the park, Commissioner Anna Perez pointed out that the constituents that will be affected would rather have a completed park than spending several more sports season rotating construction and dealing with the hassle of a half-operational park for the next few years.

County Judge Veronica Escobar recommended the county work with the city of El Paso to ensure that they could find places for hundreds of children who will not be able to use the park during the shutdown.