Authority disagrees with Bailey Park plan
Uniontown Redevelopment Authority officials on Tuesday said the ball field at Bailey Park needs only minor work to be ready for baseball in the spring.
John Oris, chairman of the authority’s board of directors, said the city recreation board’s plans to add 6 inches of topsoil to the outfield and plant new grass next year so the field could be used in 2013 seems unnecessary and would result in wasted money and time.
He said he visited the field after he attended a recreation board meeting last week and he believes the outfield is in pretty good condition.
“I don’t see anything wrong with the outfield at Bailey Park,” Oris said.
Mayor Ed Fike said he agrees with Oris. Both men said they played on fields in worse condition when they played baseball in their youths.
Fike agreed that laying 6 inches of topsoil on the outfield would be expensive.
“I agree that would be very, very expensive,” Fike said.
He said many Uniontown Area High School students and parents would like the field to be ready for the varsity baseball team in the spring.
Oris said the outfield needs a little work such as using dirt to fill in some small holes, planting grass seeds in some areas and using a roller to help make it level. In addition, the ball field needs new fencing and a dugouts before baseball season begins, he said.
“I didn’t see anything drastically wrong with it. It’s not perfect,” Oris said.
A landscaper who attended the recreation board meeting told the board that the field could be used in the spring if it were aerated and grass seeds were planted in places, Oris said.
Authority executive director Mark Yauger said city engineer Terry McMillen is meeting with recreation board members at the park to assess the field on Friday. Yauger and Oris said they also would attend.
The authority used Community Development Block Grant money to begin a park-wide renovation over the summer in hopes of having the high school baseball team play there next year.
The work included refurbishing lights and relocating the light standards and bleachers so the field could be enlarged to meet WPIAL standards.
A contract to install new fencing and a backstop was awarded in the spring, but that work never took place. The field was supposed to be graded before the fencing was installed, but the grading work wasn’t done.
In other business, the authority agreed to continue meeting on the second Tuesday of each month at 12:30 p.m. next year and to hold the board’s annual meeting at Meloni’s Restaurant in Uniontown on March 13.