Softballers Hit Homer With Council Plan For Six New Fields Approved Unanimously

UNPUBLISHED CORRECTION: The proposed softball fields would be located near Holland Road and Colton Street.<

A pitch for six new softball fields was a hit Monday with Spokane City Council members who unanimously approved the proposal.

City Council members agreed to lease 31 acres of park property to the Spokane Metropolitan Softball Association. The lease will run for 20 years with a shot at two five-year renewals.

In return, the association plans to develop the land near Holton Avenue and Colton Road, just east of the Division Street Y, into six softball fields.

“This is just a beautiful use of this land,” said Mayor Jack Geraghty.

The proposal calls for a concession stand and a 331-space parking lot. All six fields will be fenced and lighted, with bleachers and covered dugouts.

The plan also includes nine automatic batting cages.

The Parks Department bought the land - a former sewer lagoon - from the Wastewater Management Department.

When the land will be developed is uncertain because the association still is working on the financing, said Assistant City Manager Bill Pupo.

The council also approved a plan to buy four acres of frontage property along the Spokane River for future replacement of the old Trent Avenue bridge.

The city will borrow $652,000 of federal taxpayer money to buy the land from Burlington Northern Railroad Company.

The state Department of Transportation plans to replace the bridge in 1998, said Irv Reed, the city’s director of planning and engineering services.

At that time, the state would reimburse the city for the land costs.

The DOT plans to move the bridge south, so that the Spokane Intercollegiate Research and Technology Institute campus won’t have to be divided by a four-lane bridge, Reed said.

, DataTimes