Oxford Parks and Recreation Director Casey Wooddell said the work has been under way for two years as financing permits, but work will be completed this year using the grant money from two sources. The project will complete the conversion of one of the four ball fields in the original park design into three fields for youth baseball games.
City Council formally accepted a $12,000 grant from the Oxford Community Foundation at the March 1 meeting on a 6-0 vote with Mayor Bill Snavely unable to attend the meeting.
That grant required a Council vote of acceptance because it was more than the threshold set by the city for staff acceptance. Another $5,000 grant from the Oxford Rotary Club was less than that threshold and was also accepted for the ball field renovations.
The $17,000 from the two grants will supplement a $15,000 allotment included in the city’s Capital Improvement Project funds and allow the work to be completed this year.
“Parks and Recreation is very appreciative of the partnerships we have with local organizations like Oxford Rotary Club and Oxford Community Foundation,” Woodell said later. “We’re able to make a bigger impact on the Oxford community thanks to their support and generosity.”
He also noted Miami Little League supported the project last year with an allocation from their budget.
He said the changes are in response to an increase in interest in youth baseball and softball and decreasing numbers of adults playing those sports.
“It’s just where we see use of the park going. Adult softball is still around but not as much as we used to see,” Wooddell said. “This gets more families to the park at one time instead of splitting families when they have kids playing in different places.”
The change will provide the opportunity for youth baseball tournaments, too, with three youth-sized fields in one place. The first such tournament will be held June 11-12 this summer, something not done here for some years.
The park was designed with four fields in a wagon wheel alignment around the concession stand. Three of those fields will remain as they are, with the southeast-most field, nearest the maintenance barn, divided to convert it into three fields instead of one.
“We started two years ago, a small piece at a time. One of the fields is complete and done. The second field was mostly done in 2021. There is no outfield,” the OPRD director said. “We played games on it in 2021.”
That was not ideal but the capital improvement funds were set to extend the work a little farther this year. The grant money will allow it to be completed in 2022. The work includes adding dugouts to the new field as well as removal of sod and dirt in what was outfield space in the original configuration to create new infields.
In his staff report to City Council recommending approval of the Oxford Community Foundation grant, Wooddell wrote that they had applied for the grant in December and were notified last month of its acceptance.
“This field renovation project will allow OPRD to serve more games and teams at Oxford Community Park, host regional tournaments to bring visitors and teams to Oxford and help produce additional revenue for the concessions operation.”
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