Old Settlers Park Sports Complex Improvement Project

Mission critical

Welcome to the first post of the Old Settlers Park Sports Complex Improvement Project blog. This post will be short and sweet, but there will be much more to follow soon. There are a number of issues we are seeking public input on, so we’ll have a post for each issue, just to keep things organized and easy to follow.

 

If you need some background on the project, click here.

 

Our first item for input will be the project mission. The project team met with representatives from the boards of Old Settlers Express Baseball, Sam Bass Youth Baseball and Round Rock Youth Baseball on June 4 and 5. During those meetings, we realized our mission statement needed some tweaking. Here’s what we’ve got at present:

Maximize the benefits to the community of the sports complex at Old Settlers Park, and recover a reasonable portion of the City’s cost to maintain them. 

What’s missing is something about the project being primarily for the benefit of Round Rock kids. It's understood in our minds this project is for the youth in our community, but that’s not clear in the mission statement. So we’d like your ideas on how to incorporate that critical point into the statement. We’ll be working on updating the statement as well, but we’re open to all the good ideas we can get. So let us know what you think. (Be sure to read our Terms of Use, and join Community Conversations if you want to comment.)


We want to get the mission updated in time for the Monday, June 11, open house meeting. If you haven't already heard, we've also scheduled another open house meeting for Thursday, June 21.

 

Again, we’ll have more topics posted over the next few days so you can give us the input we need to make this project successful.

 

UPDATE: We've revised our Mission Statement for the project. It now reads: Maximize the benefits of the sports complex at Old Settlers Park to the community, primarily the youth of Round Rock, and recover a reasonable portion of the City’s maintenance costs.

 

We've also created a new page on the web site that has more detailed information about fees, maintenance and management of the Sports Complex at Old Settlers Park. It answers many of the questions that have come up in the comments we've received.

Posted: Jun 06 2007, 04:45 PM by Will Hampton | with 11 comment(s)
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Comments

Rusty Charlton said:

While it seems a little redundant, how about the following? It may be a little wordy. Maximize the benefits of the sports complex at Old Settlers Park to the youth sports participants of Round Rock, and recover a reasonable portion of the City’s cost to maintain them. The main community of the sports complex at Old Settlers Park is the youth of Round Rock.
# June 7, 2007 3:43 PM

motherofthree said:

It has come to my attention that there is a meeting to discuss the improvements to Old Settlers park.

I apologize that I will not be able to attend the meeting on Monday, so I am going to put a few questions down that I would like to have answered.

What is the bottom line?  How much money does it take to maintain the fields?  Would it not teach the youth of Round Rock many lessons to work the fields themselves which would save the city money?  How exactly is the money going to be recovered--through the leagues?  How is that going to be assessed?  What is the bottom line difference between what is being done now and proposed for the future?  Have the maintenance fees suddenly increased which would make them much more expensive to keep up?  If so, why?  Isn't the original money for the improvements coming out of the bond?  

How do other cities do this?  Are leagues charged to play on city fields?  

How large was the group that said that no new taxes were desired?  How old were the participants?  

I think that these questions should be answered before you can move forward.

Without knowing the particulars, I would suggest the following:

Maximize the benefits of the Old Settlers Park Sports Complex to Round Rock youth.

# June 7, 2007 5:27 PM

Bryan Wiseman said:

Based on my review the City made this recommendation based on feedback from roughly 560 people in the community. RRYB alone has 850+ kids participating in this past Spring baseball, that doesn't inclued OSE or Sam Bass. I bet if you polled those parents you would have a MUCH different feedback. The city and the city parks should be focused on SUPPORTING our kids in our community. They should WANT them to play here and not other places (note many Hutto kids come to RRYB to play ball because it is MUCH better here!!). The goal to make the fields better appears to be more about a slogan "Sports Capital of Texas" and bringing in more tournaments then making a great place for local kids to play.

If the goal truely is about our kids, then pass the cost on to the tournaments, not the kids whose parents are already suppoting the city with taxes (including sales tax). The goal should be "What can we do for our kids as a community?" not "What can the kids pay the city to play baseball?"

As someone already mentioned, I don't know ALL the details and am interested in all of it.

Making RR the best place to play sports, with all kids and incomes in mind.

# June 10, 2007 9:05 PM

Bryan Wiseman said:

Here are some of my concerns....this is a public park that is being used to support local baseball, softball, football. The majority of kids playing every week out here are on league teams. League's where the goal is for ALL kids to play, regardless of talent and to learn the game and learn life lessons/skills. The city SHOULD be supporting the kids of RR. As the Sports Capital of Texas we should be investing in our own kids first.

If the city see's a need to improve the park, then they should do that. To ask the parents of those kids to fund the project is really backwards. If we are funding it, then WE should have control over it. I know the city wants to have more tournaments and bring in more tourism dollars ( I am all for that!!), let that route be how we fund the improvements.

As 3 different leagues WE are the ones bringing these families and kids to the park by getting them involved and having their kids participate and creating a place where they WANT to play ball. Some kids come from other towns because of the experiences they had and prefer ours.

Let's reward we our kids with a great place to play.

I'm curious as to how much more work it will be for a city crew to mow 5 more fields then what they are doing now. This is part of having a park, are we going to gate the park in and start charging everyone that comes in a user fee? If not, then why select out the people that are using it for all the right reasons.

I can't make the meeting tonight, as we have baseball practice and need to be with my team. However, I hope to send a representative to gather info.

# June 11, 2007 9:13 AM

Will Hampton said:

motherofthree and Bryan Wiseman ask some great questions. We've created a new page that explains in more detail the fees, management and maintenance issues related to the project, that answers most of their questions. Here's the link:

www.roundrocktexas.gov/home/index.asp?page=1369

We'll have posts on specific issues like fees and field scheduling in the near future.

But let me answer a couple of the questions about funding soures. The physical improvements to the fields will be paid for by all property taxpayers. The City Council is scheduled to authorize the issuance of the $12.6 million in Certificates of Obligation (COs) on July 12. The COs are paid back through property taxes. The costs for the ongoing, day-to-day maintenance of the fields are not included in the COs. Maintenance costs are paid for out of the City's General Fund, which is funded by sales taxes, franchise fees, permit fees and other revenue sources, including property taxes.

Bottom line, the entire community is paying for the physical improvements to Old Settlers Park. We believe that providing space for children to play organized sports is a valuable and important role for local government. We are asking that users of those facilities begin to pay more for the ongoing costs the City incurs to maintain them. How much of the cost recovery comes from recreational league play, select league play and tournament play is something we're asking for input on.

# June 11, 2007 4:43 PM

Rusty Charlton said:

Will

First, let me say thanks for providing information on the improvement project and anticipated changes from PARD.  This is a great opportunity for citizens to see what is coming up and voice their comments.

Related to Field Allocation and Management Plan – We need to determine the impact of CVB tournaments for the one weekend each month.  It looks like field usage in these tournaments is approximately 16-24 hours for that weekend alone.  Will league usage of the fields have to be eliminated for the complete week to allow for the heavy usage by CVB?  As it is currently, we are allowed to play Monday – Thursday.  If you factor in 1 CVB tournament each month, Spring Break, Easter, TAKS testing and 2 internal league tournaments, a typical Spring season allows for <40 playable days (not counting rain out days – 11 in Spring 2007).  Cutting 12 playable days out of an already tight schedule would be significant.

# June 13, 2007 10:29 AM

Nancy Yawn said:

The Sports Capital of Texas campaign is an effort to position Round Rock as the premier location for sports for BOTH our local citizens and our out of town guests.  Following are a few bullet points addressing some of the above comments and highlighting some of the ways that tournaments and our out of town guests contribute to the overall economic vitality of Round Rock:

• The Sports Capital of Texas tournaments are held only one weekend a month in partnership with one of the local baseball organizations.  

• These tournaments benefit the local kids because local teams can play in quality tournaments without the expense and hassle of travel.

• Visitors stay in local hotels, eat in local restaurants and shop in local stores.

• The money that tournaments bring into the economy generates sales tax which helps pay for city services including parks and field maintenance.  So these tournaments are already contributing tax dollars, just like our local citizens.

• The sales tax generated by our visitors who come to play in these tournaments also helps keep our property taxes low.

• Out-of-town dollars generate sales tax revenue that helps pay for City road projects, public safety and creates jobs.

• Tournaments also provide fund-raising opportunities for our local leagues.

Nancy Yawn

Director, Round Rock Convention and Visitors Bureau

# June 15, 2007 2:22 PM

Will Hampton said:

Rusty,

You ask great questions about the field managment and allocation plan. That's a topic for another post, which we will get to in coming days. FYI, Nancy wasn't addressing your comment directly; in fact, she had not seen it before writing her comment. (I reviewed and published them both at the same time.) She just wanted to weigh in generally on the other comments on the Sports Capital of Texas tournaments.

Will

# June 15, 2007 5:09 PM

local coach said:

I have been reading all of the comments about the Improvements Project.  

The bottom line is that this project will be beneficial to the entire community for many different reasons, and several of those reasons are the benefits that will directly impact the youth, and their families in our community.  

I don't see where it will be impacting the current field use to the Round Rock youth.

Spring Break & Easter can't be counted toward or against league play. No one ever plays during these times. IF you choose to get a week back(due to a Holiday) start league play a week early or end a week late.  These breaks typically are greatly appreciated by coaches, parents, and kids.  The kids and parents are certainly more eager to play after a short break.  However, for those eager to keep playing do.  This has never stopped some from holding a practice/scrimmage during these times!  

TAKS testing  -  taks are during the week and have never affected weekend play.  In fact it only affects the night before testing and nothing more! A weeknight game is simply scheduled around. This is the same for surrounding leagues.

2 internal league tournaments - mid season tournament and end of season tournament are directly for the league youth.

1 CVB weekend a month - that our youth can play in if they so choose to.

The overall picture is the league gets plenty of play time.  The CVB will not be taking anything away that the youth is already currently getting.  40 Playable days.  

Now it will become 40 Playable days on better fields with better drainage (Might not be some many rainouts), trees for the families and babies to be under and out of the sun, covered bleachers where it will be more comfortable for grandparents to come watch and be out of the sun and out of the danger of a foul ball, and playgrounds - where brothers and sister can have fun and give mom and dad a chance to watch the game.  

Overall each of the improvements provide so much to our youth, moms, dads, grandparents, coaches and more.  Not to mention the economic benefit it brings to the entire town of Round Rock.  

Improvement Project is a WIN WIN!!

# June 21, 2007 3:42 PM

Infochick said:

Hi there. I would like to know what PARD has planned for the softball girls for the Fall '08 season. We have heard MANY rumors about the girls not having a place to play for the Fall season and we would like to know what the OFFICIAL word is - straight from the source.

There was another posting on the blog that said:

"The T-ball fields (Fields 1-4), and southwest fields (Fields 9-10) of the baseball complex are currently closed for construction. They are scheduled to re-open in June 2008. The remaining fields in the baseball complex will close for construction in September 2008 and are scheduled to re-open in February 2009. The girls softball complex will close in September 2008 to be renovated to baseball fields, and the new softball complex currently under construction will open in fall 2008."

Since construction did not begin until late January of this year on the girls softball complex, closing the current softball fields in September '08 leaves the girls with no place to play this Fall. What is PARD going to do for the girls?

# May 11, 2008 10:48 PM

Terri Waggoner said:

We are meeting with the League President's this week to discuss construction and the fall season.

# May 12, 2008 3:32 PM
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