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Pedersen Valley ball field plan OK’d by council
by Rick DeClue · News · April 13, 2017
The West Branch City Council decided to move forward with the most recent design for Phase 1 of the proposed recreation center in Pedersen Valley on Monday. The plan shows three ball fields — one of which may eventually disappear.
After months of review by both the Parks and Recreation Commission and the council, the park’s design and stormwater management plans can move into their next stages in anticipation of starting the substantial grading and earthwork on the site later this year.
Nate Kass of Fehr Graham Engineering and Environmental presented drawings containing an industry standard Little League field, an adult field and a “practice” field, along with parking, concessions and restrooms.
The practice field would occupy space that may be used for a pool complex in future park phases. Initially, costs for such things as irrigation and full fencing for this field will be saved, though Kass said they can be upgraded later if the city changes direction on future uses for the available space.
Council members Tim Shields and Colton Miller not only wanted a third permanent field, but were disappointed with the practice field “solution” to site restrictions which include an underlying oil pipeline running north to south across the property, space required to mitigate stormwater and flood plain requirements, and parking design.
Shields requested that Kass at least take another look at alignment of the practice field to address its size, the fact that home plate and stands were not located near the concessions area like the two permanent fields, and even the risk of broken windshields in parking spaces along the west side of the outfield.
Mayor Roger Laughlin also looked for possible shifts in parking, but was ready to move forward.
Kass said he thought the firm had considered every possible alignment and discussed them at length with the commission members, but agreed to review them again.
Council member Mary Beth Stevenson agreed the issues had been discussed at length, and urged the council to move forward with the current design.
Future phases, such as a swimming pool, are likely years down the line, council member Brian Pierce said. He also pointed out that space for the future recreation center/proposed library located east of the oil pipeline will — until then — be graded to accommodate other uses such as T-ball or even youth soccer.
Parks and Recreation Director Melissa Russell added that the practice field as drawn was larger than any field the city currently uses for Little League.
While not likely to affect the ball field designs, the council also provided direction on stormwater and wetland issues for the site.
Kass and John Fuller, head of the city’s Planning and Zoning Commission, both noted that they had sought on-site mitigation of stormwater issues based on discussions at the start of the design work. They told the council that consideration of some form of off-site mitigation might loosen some of the restrictions on usable space at the site.
In addition, Kass raised the option of purchasing credits from an existing wetland “bank” to meet its requirement to provide a half-acre of wetland as part of the development. The Iowa Department of Natural Resources allows developers with excess wetland to sell the credits, as long as they exist in the same watershed.
Kass said the credit in this case would cost $26,000, but eliminate costs to create the wetland on-site as well as maintaining and monitoring the site in the future.
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