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Residents and youth baseball officials urge council to ease parking, lighting and scheduling pressures near Taylor North Central campus
Summary
Neighbors and Taylor North baseball officials asked the council for help with dark parking lots, heavy weekend traffic from tournaments and limited on-street parking near Taylor North Central campus; city staff said they are reviewing scheduling and lighting options.
Residents and Taylor North baseball representatives told the Taylor City Council the neighborhood around the Taylor North Central campus has persistent parking congestion during tournaments, limited lighting in park parking areas and safety concerns when cars line both sides of narrow streets.
Robert Morrow, a resident who said he has lived five houses from the Taylor North Central campus for more than 20 years, described heavy weekend traffic during tournaments and said the park’s parking lot is “pitch black” at night. He told the council he and his neighbors — mostly seniors — had submitted a petition seeking parking relief in 2023 and were still waiting for a response. “The parking lot at night is pitch black,” Morrow said.
Eric Hall, a Taylor North board commissioner, told the council the organization moved most weekend games to Heritage Park last year and said about 98% of tournaments were hosted there. “I believe we did improve that last year by moving all the weekend games to Heritage Park,” Hall said, adding that the youth organization tried to keep tournaments out of the neighborhood but still sometimes needed fields there.
Council members and staff responded that scheduling remains a tool to reduce neighborhood impact and that last year’s shift to Heritage Park reduced weekend pressure. Staff said they were aware of lighting issues at some parks and would look into potential lighting improvements for the Taylor North Central parking area. City staff described the municipal process for reporting potholes and other road issues (the I Care portal or customer service CRM) and said DPW compiles complaints and addresses road and pothole work by area when weather permits.
Speakers raised safety concerns when cars park on both sides of narrow streets near the park and asked the council to keep trash pickup and other city services in mind when scheduling tournaments. No formal council action was taken on the neighborhood petition during the meeting excerpted in the transcript; councilors said they would follow up with staff to review parking, lighting and scheduling options and check the status of the 2023 petition.
