Damaged baseball field will not be repaired before end of season

Newton Cardinals may not be able to play home baseball games at Woodland Park this year.

The baseball field damaged by the March 5 storm will not be repaired before the season ends, Newton Superintendent Tom Messinger said during the April 11 school board meeting. However, the city-owned field may get some temporary repairs which could allow for safe play. Otherwise, home games will be moved.

“Realistically, the option is at this point in time is to say we’re not going to have any home ball games and move all those games to either the team we’re playing against or finding a school close to us that will allow us to use their facilities to host some games we can call home games,” Messinger said.

As a result of the storm damages, administrators are opening a broader discussion about future plans regarding the baseball program. Specifically, whether the district wants to consider purchasing the city-owned baseball field at Woodland Park or building its own on another school property.

When the storm came through Newton last month, it took out the first base dugout, knocked out some lights and damaged one-third of the the backstop fences so badly they are in need of replacement. Other fence posts on the backstop on the remaining two-thirds are also bent and damaged, Messinger said.

The city obtained estimates for the repairs and developed an initial timeline for those projects. The chain link fence and new posts will cost about $14,000, plus the expense of concrete work. The dugout would cost about $4,000 in materials. Messinger said the timeline to get these installed would be the end of July.

In the mean time, the city is expected to install safety netting material and temporary poles along that one-third of the backstop, which cannot be salvaged. The dugout, however, can be built using city staff and some volunteers. But Messinger said those solutions would not be the final solutions.

“Some decisions are going to have to be made on this,” Messinger said. “It’s a city-owned property. As a result of it being city-owned property, the school district is the agency that utilizes that property. We do use it for all of our high school practices and games. We can’t just go out and pay for all the repairs.”

Newton Community Services Director Brian Laube told Newton News the city is doing everything it can to get the field ready for baseball season, but staff is gated by delivery dates of equipment. At this time, Laube estimates the temporary fixes will begin sometime in early May.

To have the school put in money for permanent fixtures at the baseball field is “not probably the wisest thing to do,” Messinger added. Although the city owns the property, the superintendent said it is unfair for the school district to expect Newton to put a lot money into the facility when its primarily for Cardinal use.

“So I think one of the decisions we have to face here in the future is: What do we envision as part of our plan with our baseball program?” Messinger said. “Is it having conversations with the city about obtaining that property? Is it building a baseball field on a property we currently own?”

Although Messinger was not looking for answers from board members, he wanted to give an update on where the district stands. In the end, the city does receive some insurance settlement to help pay for the repairs. The field was already “in pretty rough shape,” and repairs only cover so much.

“You’re going to have a backstop that one-third of it is new and the other two-thirds of it are not new,” Messinger said. “You’re going to have dugouts that aren’t really going to match. There are still some field surfacing work that needs done, as well as some other updates on that field.”

Time is on the school district’s side. While it is not going to be ideal, Messinger said the city’s temporary fixes could allow safe gameplay.

“We don’t want people to think that is our long-term vision for our field. So having some kind of sign there or signage saying that our field is under repair due to storm damage, to let people know we’re aware it’s not the caliber of field that we want or expect here in Newton and that we’re working on it,” Messinger said.

School board member Mark Thayer suggested the district collect people with expertise to get involved in a subcommittee to make some recommendations. Other school board members inquired about obtaining estimates for what it could cost to construct a new, district-owned baseball field.

Regardless, the storm damaged baseball field is offering the district some time to think about what it wants to do next.

“This provides us with an opportunity to take a look at a long-term vision for what’s going to be best for our program,” Messinger said. “I don’t want to rush into it … I want to make sure we do it right, both from a financial standpoint as well as a facility that is going to be nicer. The field has seen better days.”

Contact Christopher Braunschweig at 641-792-3121 ext. 6560 or cbraunschweig@newtondailynews.com