On Thursday, October 6, 2011 there was a meeting at the Bellingham Technical College to answer neighbor’s questions on the development of Squalicum Creek Park.
The park is entering Phase Three of construction, which includes a new baseball park, specifically for youth ages 13 to 15, an off-leash area for dogs, a trail, playground and field lighting for the existing baseball field.
Members of the Columbia and Birchwood Neighborhoods, as well as kids and adults involved in community sports showed up to express their concerns and have questions answered.
Vern Yake is a Bellingham Youth Baseball coach who attended the meeting. He came to hear about the plans and support the development of a new field.
His team uses the current field at Squalicum Creek Park for practices and games, but they run out of practice time.
The team also plays games at Jerri Field.
Yake said Jerri Field is made more for softball. The bases are closer together and a fiber glass basing mound has to be brought in for games. Kids cannot wear their cleats on the fiber glass mound so they have to pitch in tennis shoes.
There are also safety concerns at Jerry Field.
“We have to worry about balls flying in the road,” Yake said.
The thought of having an artificial or synthetic turf put into the new field, making it available for multiuse, came up at the meeting.
Yake said he thought this is a great idea.
He said it is less maintenance and it holds water better. It would reduce the amount of games that get cancelled because of rain.
He expressed concern about the dangers of a wet ball getting too slippery.
“A kid could get hit in the head,” Yake said.
Yake grew up in Bellingham and is excited there is something more than a gravel pit for the kids to play in these days. He is excited for the new developments and it allowing kids to stay involved in sports.
John Heritage is a lacrosse coach who was at the meeting.
Heritage came to the meeting to have the lacrosse voice heard.
“The program is growing by leaps and bounds,” Heritage said.
Heritage said lacrosse is the fastest growing sport in the nation, Washington and, specifically, Bellingham.
He has a concern with the amount of field space and it can be challenging when they have to share the field.
Currently, when his team does practice Heritage said there are two ways to go about getting field space.
The first is to reserve the space through parks and recreation. To reserve the field they have to pay for the space at a rate of $8 an hour. The other option is for the team to show up at a field and risk the chance of another team playing there.
Heritage said it is hard to plan a program and keep consistency when fields have to be shared.
Heritage also has concerns with safety. He said it is dangerous to have an older boys lacrosse team practicing, with players who can throw a ball hard, next to a little girls soccer team.
He thought the idea of having synthetic turf put into the new baseball field was a great idea.
He said lacrosse is turning into a year round sport and the field could be more useable.
Heritage thinks it makes more sense to spend the money on synthetic turf because the extra money spent to put it in would cut out some of the maintenance costs and end up paying for itself.
Heritage said his next steps are to speak with Jonathan Schilk, who ran the meeting, and ask him who to talk to about getting synthetic surface.
Schilk works for the Bellingham Parks and Recreation as a landscape architect. He said synthetic surface being put in to the baseball field is driven by available budget.
He said Joe Martin Stadium, which is the semi-pro field, has first priority for synthetic field.
Squalicum Creek Park was purchased in 2002 to serve as a community park and athletic field complex.
Phase One was completed in 2008. This consisted of construction of a baseball field, public restroom, parking lot lighting and destruction of existing paved surfaces. Phase Two was completed in 2010 and consisted of the salmon enhancement project.
Construction for Phase Three is expected to happen in 2014.
