Council Tables Request to Terminate Lease

Council Tables Request to Terminate Lease - The Missourian: Washington

Posted: Friday, February 1, 2013 10:00 am

Council Tables Request to Terminate Lease By Karen Butterfield, Missourian Staff Writer The Missourian

The Washington City Council Monday night tabled a request to terminate its lease with the Washington Youth Sports Association for land near the wastewater treatment plant, off Simmonds Avenue.

The parks commission recommended the termination of the lease so it could pursue other park projects in the area.

The sports association has had the $1 per year lease since 2006, but hasn’t yet moved forward with developing baseball fields to be used for practice.

Mike Stapp, president of the WYSA, told the council it has taken until now to raise funds to begin developing the fields. It first had to pay off a $40,000 loan from the city for fencing at Barklage Field.

Stapp said the association has earmarked $50-$60,000 for the project and is ready to begin work.

The association is not interested in the practice fields being a part of the park system, he said.

“We really don’t want it to be a part of the park property. We would rather do it ourselves and build it ourselves,” he said. “That way we can kind of be in control of our own destiny.”

The only caveat, he said, is if the city would be interested in helping build the fields.

Stapp agreed that the location is not the best for fields, but said there is no where else to put much-needed practice fields.

“The day we build it, I think it will be better than it is at Burger Park,” he said.

The council tabled action on the request for further research.

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Posted in Washington on Friday, February 1, 2013 10:00 am.