Parks & Rec Commission to Get Debriefing on Eastlake Baseball Field

The Parks and Recreation Commission will undoubtedly be braced for substantial public comment this evening as the final details of the Eastlake Baseball Field renovation continue to be hammered out.

The commission also will hear a staff debriefing on the baseball field project, and will discuss hopes for the master planning process for the .

The city approved late last year on a 4-3 vote an agreement with the Lake Washington School District to renovate Eastlake High School's only dedicated baseball field in a $1.9 million project that includes replacing the field with astroturf and adding lighting. In exchange, the city will have access to the field for community uses.

Baseball organizations, including Little League and the Eastlake Baseball Program have been expressing displeasure with a plan to make the field a multi-use field that would include striping for other sports. The city has said it is committed to working with baseball concerns to ensure their design and scheduling needs are met as much as possible, and stakeholders have had at least one meeting with Parks and Rec staff since the council decision.

Planning for the project has been in the works for several years, and the city says its community fields currently are operating at 98 percent capacity, making adding field space soon a high priority for the Parks and Rec department.