Private development will eventually solve this issue, and someone is going to make a lot of money.

ukbb2003 said:

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The focus at the end of the video seemed to solely focus on the impact to Little League. There are just as many, if not more, kids that play travel ball that use the fields at Bachmann. I am not trying to say that one is more important than the other. All I'm saying is that both need to be considered when calculating the impact of the Bachmann renovations.

Wayne Smith only has the smaller fields so you can't send the older kids there.

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All age groups, both LL and select ball, are being significantly affected by the Bachmann construction. My son plays 14U ball here in town for Twelve, and the only full sized fields periodically available from the city for them to practice on are Bee Creek and they're dirt infields. Any rain = closed fields.

We practiced at Bombers Field some in the fall, but the competition to book time there increases during the Spring. A majority of the Twelve teams will have to practice in Franklin this Spring due to the limited number of fields in BCS. The construction at Bachmann and new fields at Veterans can't be done soon enough!

@Mr. Yancy, what's the expected timeline for the new fields to be built?

Butterfly alley looks great!

Where is that?

MsDoubleD81 said:

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Where is that?

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A new path in lick creek park


I inked it and circled it in the light blue. It connects to a nice neighborhood walkway in that neighborhood off rock prairie road.

Thank you. My pup will love it!

Bob Yancy said:

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UhOhNoAgTag said:

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Yancy, what is going on at SE/Independence Park? What is the structure out there? Anything else planned? What should we be calling it?

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Howdy! Just saw this, sorry!

It's Independence Park at Midtown. Southeast Park has been formally dropped as a moniker.

All infrastructure was repurposed and saved after the substandard soils debacle. No taxpayer money was wasted on infrastructure, as it is all being used.

It's going to have a mix of walking trails, frisbee golf, dog park and extreme off road biking hills and moguls and other amenities still in design.

Texas A&M architecture students were asked to submit concepts and we received some really cool ones. Staff have worked hard to rescue the dedicated park land to something fun and cost effective, and given the circumstances I feel like they are doing that.

It has neighborhood connectivity and it's integrated with the extensive bike trails we have traversing the city.

Apologies to the taxpayers that this happened at all. But now that it has, I don't know what else staff and council could have done to rescue the project affordably and when you see the finished product, I hope you agree.

Respectfully,

-yancy

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Please update with current expenditures for "rescuing" this project. Currently at $25 million as of tonight's meeting?

MsDoubleD81 said:

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Bob Yancy said:

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UhOhNoAgTag said:

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Yancy, what is going on at SE/Independence Park? What is the structure out there? Anything else planned? What should we be calling it?

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Howdy! Just saw this, sorry!

It's Independence Park at Midtown. Southeast Park has been formally dropped as a moniker.

All infrastructure was repurposed and saved after the substandard soils debacle. No taxpayer money was wasted on infrastructure, as it is all being used.

It's going to have a mix of walking trails, frisbee golf, dog park and extreme off road biking hills and moguls and other amenities still in design.

Texas A&M architecture students were asked to submit concepts and we received some really cool ones. Staff have worked hard to rescue the dedicated park land to something fun and cost effective, and given the circumstances I feel like they are doing that.

It has neighborhood connectivity and it's integrated with the extensive bike trails we have traversing the city.

Apologies to the taxpayers that this happened at all. But now that it has, I don't know what else staff and council could have done to rescue the project affordably and when you see the finished product, I hope you agree.

Respectfully,

-yancy

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Please update with current expenditures for "rescuing" this project. Currently at $25 million as of tonight's meeting?

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The total project budget for 4 ballfields at Texas Indy Ballpark was $23,000,000. For the new citizen/staff designed Texas Independence Park at Midtown the estimated project total (expended plus remaining budgeted) is $25m.

It may come in under the original ballfields in ACTUAL expenditures but we won't know until the end when we cut the ribbon. Staff usually come in lower on Capital Improvement Projects (CIP). Yes, one could argue they budget high to do so, but I'd rather be safe than sorry.

The reason this park is an estimated $2m more than the original is because of the engineering fail. Specifically, in geotesting their grid pattern was too sparse and they missed the extent of a poor soil condition. My opinion given the docs I've seen. Most of the $2m was paid to that engineer.

Council directed staff to send a demand letter to the engineer to make it right. We did that last night.

Transparently yours

Yancy

Thank you.