Wilmington Mayor Mike Purzycki announced a plan to renovate and improve two city parks.
Purzycki’s park stabilization and preservation plan will result in the revamping/reconstruction of two, popular city-owned sports facilities—Eden Park on the City’s east side and Baynard Stadium on the west side.
The Baynard Stadium portion of the plan involves what is described as a public/private partnership between the city and Salesianum School. [Not a valid template]
A previous plan to rebuild the rundown Baynard site had run into opposition from political leaders who thought the boys’ Catholic high school would have too much control over the stadium, which has long been used for football games and other events in the area. Salesianum School abruptly pulled its proposal and created further controversy.
The city then went to work to hammer out an agreement after determining that it did not have funds for its upgrade of Baynard, which is actually owned by the state.
“This proposal will vastly improve two important city assets while making the facilities more readily available for sporting events and public use,” said Purzycki. “We studied very carefully the history of this issue and have found a way to make both Eden Park and Baynard Stadium more beautiful and useful facilities for everyone to enjoy. I am appreciative of the comments and suggestions over the past year or more from City Council and the public, which have guided us in compiling a plan to preserve and maintain these sporting and recreational complexes.”
The mayor said he is eager to move forward on both of these projects simultaneously. The Eden Park renovation is projected to cost $2.4 million. The mayor said most of the funding is in place for Eden Park and Requests for Proposals (RFPs) have been issued to ensure that the work begins promptly. He said a draft lease agreement with Salesianum School for the renovation of Baynard Stadium is ready for review by City Council. If approved, it would pave the way for a projected $15 to 20 million reconstruction of the stadium and sports complex, which will result in more public access to the facility and savings for taxpayers.
The project summaries are as follows:
Eden Park Athletic Field, Pool, Playground and Picnic Area—Projected cost is $2.4 million. The following is a summary of the planned improvements:
- The city will build a new multi-purpose, synthetic turf, full-size athletic field suitable for the sports of football, soccer and lacrosse; current athletic field lights and bleachers will remain in place.
- The city will re-grade and seed an existing sports field which is adjacent to the new turf field, making it available as a practice field or for events such as flag football and rugby.
- The city will add a new athletic field scoreboard.
- The city will install new fencing to border the athletic field.
- The city will resurface the basketball court, add new backboards, and remove the current fencing which prohibits movement of players.
- The city will paint and recoat three park pools (five-foot depth, three-foot depth and a baby pool).
- The city will upgrade the pool filtration systems so each pool has its own system.
- The city will create a relaxation area adjacent to the pools so family members can keep watch on their children.
- The city will add an umbrella spray feature to the pool complex.
- The city will replace park playground equipment and add a synthetic mulch playing surface to protect children from falls.
- The city will upgrade park picnic pavilions and install new picnic tables.
- The city will refurbish and seal coat the park’s parking lot.
Baynard Stadium—The City of Wilmington will retain ownership of the park and enter into a lease agreement with Salesianum School, which will commit to an estimated $15 to $20 million rehabilitation of the entire sports complex.
- Salesianum School will build a new sports facility with a turf field, track, lights, bleachers, locker rooms, restrooms, scoreboard, press box, concessions, office space, community meeting space, landscaping, and hardscaping.
- Salesianum School will maintain the sports facility in good, safe, and clean condition at its sole expense. DNREC currently maintains the facility at an approximate loss of $100,000 per year. The city has not operated the facility in nearly 50 years.
- Non-Salesianum users, including other schools and youth groups in Wilmington, currently use the stadium approximately 130 hours per year for games and events. Under the lease, such users will be contractually guaranteed a minimum of 360 hours a year to use the facility. Wilmington-based youth athletic leagues will have free access to the facility. The access would accommodate the equivalent of at least 180 two-hour sporting events each year.
- Salesianum School will make the facility calendar publicly available, so that facility use will be transparent.
- An additional 90-daylight hours per month are set aside for public access to designated areas of the stadium complex, which will be published on the public calendar.
- The cty, through the Parks and Recreation Department, will work with Salesianum to schedule its youth athletic events, during which the users will be permitted to sell food and other items and retain the funds from those sales for their own purposes.
- Local schools that currently stage their events at Baynard Stadium (Howard, St. Elizabeth, Delaware Military Academy and Padua Academy) will continue to have similar access to the facility based on their existing use.
- The initial 50-year lease agreement between the City and Salesianum would be followed by one-year extension options for up to 50-years, renewed at the option of Salesianum School unless the school defaults under the lease.
- Salesianum School would have the ability to rename all portions of the facility as part of the school’s fundraising initiatives to support capital improvements.
Mayor Purzycki said today that while Wilmington has public funding available to support the reconstruction of Eden Park, it is not in a position now, nor will it be in the foreseeable future, to repair or maintain Baynard Stadium.
He said after the work of the Baynard Stadium Task Force last year, it became clear that public dollars would not be sufficient to pay for the millions of dollars of capital improvements needed at Baynard.
