Commissioners approve steps to relocate unpermitted batting cage at Hidden Valley Sports Park

Comal County Commissioners on Thursday approved staff recommendations to accept a donated batting-cage structure at Hidden Valley Sports Park and to proceed with engineering plans to relocate the structure to a county common area outside an existing PEC easement.

Mister Boyd, a county parks staff presenter, told the court the batting cage was built about a year earlier by Canyon Lake Girls Softball without county approval and is currently within a PEC easement. Boyd said Nevins Engineering provided a proposal of $3,500 to prepare plans and specifications to move the structure to an area outside the easement but still within the park's common area. If the Corps of Engineers approves the new location, the county would issue a purchase order for the design work, Girls Softball would formally request an amendment to their lease limits, and the group would provide funds for relocation.

Boyd summarized the required steps: accept the structure as a donation, commission design plans, obtain a formal lease modification from the county for revised boundaries, submit a formal request to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (the landowner) for approval of the new location, and then solicit proposals to perform the relocation. He said the group could perform the relocation privately or the county could complete it once funds are provided. The court approved the action on a motion by Commissioner Crownover, seconded by Commissioner Leacock; the motion carried by voice vote.

No specific schedule or contractor was named beyond the initial $3,500 proposal for plans and specifications, and Boyd said Girls Softball would be responsible for funding the relocation work.

The action preserves the county's obligation to comply with Corps easements and requires a lease amendment before any relocation is finalized.