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Parents, coaches press Parks board for more public access to city baseball fields
Summary
Volunteer coaches and parents told the Parks, Natural Resources and Cultural Affairs Advisory Board that organized leagues limit community access to Fayetteville fields and asked staff for clearer scheduling and more open play dates.
Volunteer coaches and parents told the Parks, Natural Resources and Cultural Affairs Advisory Board on April (date not specified) that they are having trouble finding public practice space for youth baseball teams and asked the city to increase and better publicize access outside organized league schedules.
Amanda Goodman, a volunteer coach, said her team’s players are Fayetteville residents but struggle to find practice space. “We cannot find a field to practice on. We’ve been run off fields. We’ve had the cops fall upon our children being on a Mount Kessler Field,” Goodman said.
The board heard that closure of some fields and heavy use by organized leagues — which reserve fields for extended spring and fall seasons and weekend tournaments — have reduced available public space. Parks staff said they introduced a pilot this year to help. “We have implemented starting this year, to open 1 weekend per month available to anyone in the community to preserve Lakeland’s facilities, or community play or practice sessions,” a parks staff member said, adding the program is in its inaugural year and staff will monitor how it works.
Staff described the seasonal cadence for permitted league use as roughly mid-February through mid-July, resuming in mid-August through October. Parks staff acknowledged the single monthly open weekend will not fully meet demand and asked the community to provide usage data so the city can consider fields in future capital planning. Staff said they will provide a predetermined monthly schedule for the open weekends and post it publicly; they also said individuals may reserve fields through the city’s online permit system to guarantee access.
Speakers and public commenters also suggested practical sharing approaches — for example, allowing two teams to share a single field when turnout is low — and noted that modest increases in fees for reserved fields would make youth travel programs cost-prohibitive for some families. Goodman estimated that charging $500 per month for field access would add “$1,400 extra a child per season” and said public access helps keep programs affordable.
Staff listed several facilities that remain available by reservation or first-come, first-served use, including Kessler, White River, Wilson Park, Gary Hampton and Lake Fayetteville, and said the Wilson Park field is now reservable online. Staff said they will email commenters a schedule of the monthly open weekends and improve newsletter and social media outreach to increase community awareness.
Board members thanked the commenters and encouraged continued communication so staff can gather evidence for future capital requests.
