Some residents call foul on Waterloo ball parks

WATERLOO — Some residents are worried about where the city plans to put new baseball diamonds once it decommissions two of them in Waterloo Park.

City staff suggested looking into two neighbourhood diamonds in Eastbridge and Laurelwood as potential replacements at a council meeting on Monday, but area residents were not keen on the idea.

“Many would consider Laurelwood as a quiet, family-oriented neighbourhood,” Aaron Bauer told council.

“There is a lot of general noise that comes with baseball diamonds.”

He also worries about where people will park and the potential for foul balls landing in his backyard.

“Some folks said they would be more comfortable if there were more sites considered, not just two,” John Griffin, project manager, said.

Right now the baseball diamonds in Eastbridge and Laurelwood parks are for free use. The city is proposing these diamonds are renovated and used for minor sports programming.

Earlier this year, council decided to decommission two park diamonds over a three-year period as it looks for suitable spots for new fields. The only problem is that the city doesn’t have any space to build new baseball diamonds so staff is looking at other options to ensure there are enough fields to use.

If minor sports are moved to two neighbourhood diamonds it will free up RIM Park’s diamonds for the displaced adult leagues from Waterloo Park, staff said.

Three unlit baseball diamonds at RIM Park would be upgraded with lighting so adult leagues can play there.

Some residents continued to rally to keep Waterloo Park’s diamonds even though council approved their eventual removal in January.

“The fields in Waterloo Park … are ‘A’ grade fields,” Aaron Hornostaj, a former professional baseball player for 20 years and volunteer minor baseball coach, told council.

“These are not suitable replacements,” he said of the Eastbridge and Laurelwood proposal.

He added it would be a shame to lose Waterloo Park’s diamonds when interest in baseball is growing.

This agitated some politicians who felt like the outdoor sports field strategy update presented by staff on Monday was being misunderstood.

“It is disturbing that you have painted this as a removal of programs and a removal of fields,” Coun. Brian Bourke said to Aaron Hornostaj.

“We’re not taking away programming for kids.”

Others echoed Bourke’s comments.

“In three years we will have more baseball diamonds. I think that is important,” Coun. Melissa Durrell said.

City staff will continue to look at other options for replacement baseball diamonds. One of them is to look into whether minor sports can use school or university fields which would also solve the parking issue at Laurelwood and Eastbridge. Staff hopes to have a final report June 2018.