CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The Charleston City Council on Monday approved a resolution altering plans to renovate athletic fields.
Council members approved a measure in December to renovate two Little League baseball fields along Bigley Avenue, a Little League baseball field at the Kanawha City Community Center and a Little League field at the North Charleston Community Center. The city would seek $1.97 million in grants from the federal Land and Water Conservation Fund for the projects.
The council rescinded the measure Monday to replace the Bigley Avenue fields with two soccer field areas at Cato Park. The city would instead apply for $2 million.
According to City Manager Jonathan Storage, attorneys learned during property title searches that the West Virginia Division of Highways owns some parts of the Bigley Avenue fields and leases the areas to the city. State representatives expressed concerns about how the ownership would impact the chances of securing grants.
“A couple of corners of the property are part of a DOH-federal right-of-way from the interstate, and they are subject to a long-term lease we have with the DOH,” he said.
“When it goes to the federal process, we have to have title. It has to be left open to the public and perpetuity for the purposes for which the grant was given, and we simply didn’t have enough time to get clear title — if we could ever get it — from the DOH and the Federal Highway Administration to fully, permanently establish all areas of those fields as ball fields in perpetuity.”
Storage said Cato Park is already part of the Land and Water Conservation Fund program.
“It makes it really easy because it’s already been vetted and they already have title and all those other things,” he added
The city is committed to making a 50% cash match as part of securing the grant.