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La Porte trims Pecan Park turf plan, shifts to field maintenance and limits cost to $550,000
Summary
After a public hearing and comments, the board approved changing the Pecan Park Field Upgrades project to 'Baseball Field Maintenance,' shifting work from installing turf to laser grading and reducing the not-to-exceed budget from a published $2,000,000 to $550,000; the board voted 5-0 to approve the amendment.
Haley (staff) opened a public hearing on the Pecan Park project and reminded the board that in the FY25 budget the board had allocated $550,000 to "Turf Fields at Pecan Park" and that the project had been published at $2,000,000 to be funded over multiple years. Haley said the board added an additional $1,050,000 for the project in this year's budget, but after discussions with the La Porte Baseball Association staff were directed to laser-grade the fields rather than install turf. Staff proposed renaming the project from "Pecan Park Field Upgrades" to "Baseball Field Maintenance," changing the scope to laser grading and maintenance, and decreasing the project cost to an amount not to exceed $550,000.
The board heard public comment: one speaker said he and other residents were disappointed the board changed the approach and argued the city may be losing tourism and revenue opportunities tied to higher-spec fields; another speaker urged reevaluation after the maintenance work is complete and noted laser grading on a more frequent schedule could be considered. Staff confirmed some work had already been completed so fields would be playable for opening day. Chair called for a motion to adopt the scope and budget changes; the motion passed 5-0.
