City seeks ways to pay for park

The sale of 12 acres that adjoins Ramsey Park becomes official next week, but the city is still looking for ways to pay for the land that will eventually become a baseball complex.

Lake City Development Corp., the city’s urban renewal agency, voted Wednesday to help Coeur d’Alene finance the $967,000 sale.

The development agency will pay the owners $467,000, money that the city will pay back to the agency during the next three years.

The Coeur d’Alene City Council voted earlier this month to put a $400,000 down payment on the property. And during the last two years, the city has paid the owners about $100,000 to reserve the option to buy the land.

“We are just going to act as facilitators to help acquire the land,” LCDC Executive Director Tony Berns said.

City Parks Director Doug Eastwood said the city will now work with the Parks Foundation, a private nonprofit that raises money for parks project, to come up with the cash.

“Our work is really just beginning,” Eastwood said.

Once the city figures out how to pay for the 12 acres that was used by the East Side Highway District, Eastwood said plans for how to develop the park will begin. He estimates development costs at about $4 million.

Buying this property is the city’s first step in remodeling McEuen Field downtown. The city wants to eventually move the current McEuen baseball diamond to the Ramsey location.

In 2002, the council adopted a new master plan for sweeping changes to McEuen that eliminates the baseball field. The decision angered many American Legion members who wanted to keep baseball at the park nestled between City Hall and Tubbs Hill with a lakefront view. The city promised not to move the baseball field until a replacement of equal or better value was found.

This Ramsey land is the spot, Eastwood said.

The city wants to develop two baseball fields at the Ramsey location, one that would meet minor league standards. The other field would be the same size but wouldn’t have the same fences, seating or player amenities required by the minor league.

Coeur d’Alene isn’t currently soliciting a minor league team, similar to the Spokane Indians, but Eastwood said the city wants a field capable of accommodating such a team if one ever becomes available.

The existing Ramsey Park already has softball and soccer fields, tennis courts, basketball and a park area for picnics. Besides American Legion, Eastwood anticipates that local high school teams would play on the fields, as well as a North Idaho College team if the school ever reinstates its baseball program.

The property also has a commercially zoned section that fronts Ramsey Road that city officials said would work for a fast-food restaurant.

Not everyone embraces the McEuen renovation.

Councilman Ron Edinger is opposed to moving the baseball field to Ramsey Road because he thinks it will hurt downtown businesses. He also questions where the city will get the money to buy and develop the Ramsey Fields.

Edinger said the city had the opportunity to buy the Ramsey property about four years ago from the highway district when the price tag was about $370,000. Now, he said the city is paying nearly three times as much money.