Group to propose baseball complex at county landfill

A ballpark next to the county landfill?

“It's a little out of the box,” said Richard Bice.

Bice, 78, of Marion, is a member of  Eastern Iowa Complex Inc., a new nonprofit looking to build a 16-field baseball facility  - “the largest sports complex in the Midwest” -  on 78 acres next to the  Cedar Rapids-Linn County Solid Waste Agency's landfill at 1954 County Home Rd., just off Highway 151 north of Marion.

Bice said the group has commissioned a feasibility study and will make a second pitch to the waste agency board. The  first proposal was rejected by agency staff.

“It didn't meet all our standards” for unsolicited proposals,  said agency sp0kesman Joe Horaney. He also said the initial plan doesn't meet agency policy for use of the buffer area.

“There is no specific use for the buffer ground other than to serve as exactly that, and that's how we'd like to keep it,” Horaney said. “Having a multiplex baseball field there with 30,000 people didn't really sit.”

But Bice said the Eastern Iowa Complex board thinks it's worth another look. He's a former member of the board of Bluestem, the waste agency's predecessor.

“One of the big discussions was, what's going to happen to the buffer, because no one's going to build there,” he said.

As outlined in documents provided to the waste agency, the plan calls for 16 diamonds, 12 with lighting, west of the landfill. The four unlit diamonds could be used for both baseball and softball.

There would also be a full complement of support facilities – a 400-space parking lot, rest rooms, concessions, and an office building – as well as a supervised playground, and a two-acre flower garden.

The initial plan had Eastern Iowa Complex leasing the 78 acres from the waste agency for 75 years at $1 a year, and receiving $2 million over four years from the waste agency for improvements to its land. The waste agency would also provide the office building.

Alternatively, the waste agency would donate the land directly to the project,  according to the original proposal submitted to the waste agency.

The estimated total cost of the project is $6 million. Eastern Iowa Complex is seeking grants and would launch a capital campaign for the balance of the cost, according to its proposal document.

“First thing we've got to nail down is the agreement on the land,” said Bice.

Based on a 16-tournament a season, the Eastern Iowa Complex board figures the facility would draw 600 teams and 60,000 spectators who would spend $2.6 million. Maintenance would cost about $1.2 million a year.

“From what I have learned in trying to do sporting events here, a facility like this would be a major addition,” said Mary Lee Malmberg, director of sports tourism at the Cedar Rapids Area Convention & Visitors Bureau. “We're baseball-field challenged.”

Tournament organizers now are limited to fields scattered at area schools, said Malmberg. She's listed as a member of Eastern Iowa Complex's board, but said she hasn't heard from the project's backers since their initial inquiry.

Organizers hoped to have the complex ready for play by the 2012 season. Bice said they now hope to bring the proposal back to the waste agency by the end of the year.