While Lakeland is awash with city, county and a state parks, city leaders say there is a great need for more multi-use and baseball fields — something that is not currently in the city’s parks and recreation capital improvement budget.
“We have less than half of the recommended multipurpose ball fields and only two-thirds of the recommended baseball, softball (diamonds) recommended by the National Recreation Parks Association,” Deputy Director of Parks and Recreation Pam Page told city commissioners during their annual strategic planning retreat.
Why it matters: “The lack of ball fields is a great concern and one that we field the most complaints from our users,” Page said. “We don’t have enough ball fields to accommodate the leagues and programs in our community … We’re turning folks away every day.”
Multi-use fields allow for football, soccer and lacrosse. Page said she has meetings at least two or three times a month with a league that has a group of children ready to register, but the city doesn’t have a field they can use.
City to replace grass fields with artificial turf
Page said one way the city plans to save money is to convert multi-purpose fields to artificial turf, cutting down on maintenance and watering costs. The turf, she said, lasts for up to eight years.
“Artificial ball fields will eventually replace our natural turf fields,” she said. “The only way a landlocked municipality like Lakeland can provide continued level of service is to provide the artificial surfacing that enables more play time and can accommodate additional programs.”
A budget request is coming: Page didn’t outright ask city leaders for funding for more ball fields — that will come during the city’s June budget meetings — but she told them an increase would be necessary eventually. “We’re not keeping up with our infrastructure demands,” she said.
10 community parks have active ball fields
Page said the City of Lakeland has 56 parks in its inventory that are equitably distributed throughout the city limits. Of the 56 parks, there are 25 community parks with active ball fields, competitive running trails and an additional park waiting to be developed in the English Creek area in southwest Lakeland.
A new park for southwest Lakeland: In 2021, the city approved paying $7 million for 101.5 acres to house a community park near Pipkin Road and Medulla Road, southwest of the airport. It’s adjacent to the Riverstone community.
When English Creek Park is built, Page said it should be constructed with artificial turf multipurpose fields to accommodate the 19,000 people in the 7,800 residential units nearby.
By the numbers: The Parks and Recreation Department receives 17% of the city’s budget — nearly $30 million of $172.67 million in the city’s total expenditures in this fiscal year’s budget. Much of its funding comes from Lakeland Electric revenue.
Editor’s note: This story has been corrected to show there are 25 city community parks with multi-use fields.
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