(The Center Square) — The Caddo Parish Commission won’t be supporting a renovation of Shreveport’s former minor league baseball stadium after the commission decided to stall a related resolution this week.
Resolution 65 was one of the few that the commission decided not to advance on Monday. This non-binding resolution expressed the support for efforts to renovate and improve Fairgrounds Field, Shreveport’s crumbling baseball stadium that the city is set to demolish.
The resolution said the commission would “support and endorse the efforts of the Friends of Fairgrounds Field to renovate and improve Fairgrounds Field.”
The city started taking bids on demolishing the ballpark, which was built in 1986 and last renovated in 2011.
It hasn’t hosted a minor league team since 2012, when the independent Shreveport–Bossier Captains left for Laredo, Texas before disbanding in 2017.
However, the committee did not deny the field needs renovation. John-Paul Young, the District 4 commissioner said, “Haste is waste.”
He and the other committee members felt starting demolition on a landmark with memories in the city would be too soon. So, they sent it to another planning committee on Thursday to further evaluate the proper way to approach a possible renovation.
Several other ordinances were introduced that had to do with deteriorated properties that must be rehabilitated to better serve the parish. The ordinances offer to donate this adjudicated land to organizations that will take over responsibilities of the property.
That sparked a conversation over what organizations should receive the property, the organization’s plans for the property and if there were stipulations in the contract.
Friends of Friends, Inc. was one group that would receive a piece of property. The commission was assured that Friends of Friends would build what they called day centers. These would have services like games and activities for the elderly during the day and for children in the afternoon, and they would also have giveaways with things like food and books.
As for requirements in the donation, the council was also assured there was usually a five-year deadline in the contract, meaning someone like Friends of Friends would have to build the promised facilities within that time frame or risk of losing the property.
