Cedar Rapids set to spend $150,000 on most urgent ballpark needs

The city is moving ahead with plans to spend $150,000 to fix the most-urgent problems at the city's near-nine-year-old minor league baseball park.

The need for the repairs have become a point of contention between the city's Veterans Memorial Commission and the park's principal tenant, the Cedar Rapids Kernels baseball team.

An estimated $110,000 of the funds will be used to fix water leaks in the stadium's roof and concourse and to fix drainage problems outside the stadium.

The additional money will be used to replace field lighting. The stadium field's current lighting has been replaced, bulb by bulb, since the stadium opened in 2002, a practice which creates uneven lighting levels, according to the city.

Last spring, the City Council identified $150,000 in its budget for capital-improvement projects to be used for stadium repairs in the current budget year.

The water-related repairs are slated to take place in March and will be completed before the Kernels' season starts in April.

Plans are expected to be filed on the project Tuesday with a public hearing on the project slated for Jan. 11.

The Veterans Memorial Commission supports the water-related repairs, but it also has revenue questions for the club related to insurance payments, naming rights and attendance.