Prospect Meadows closes in on reality

CEDAR RAPIDS - Four years of sales pitches are about to give way to real curves and fastballs.

Road work related to Prospect Meadows, the $11 million, 17-ball-field complex on 128 acres of Linn-County-owned property at Highway 13 and County Home Road, is expected to begin later this year, Jack Roeder, president and general manager of the project, said on Thursday.

In addition, Roeder, retired general manager of the Cedar Rapids Kernels baseball team, said the plan now is to grade and seed the site in 2016 and to play ball in 2017.

Prospect Meadows, which is designed to draw regional and national baseball tournaments to the complex on Marion's border, continues to push to its fundraising goal of $11 million. But Roeder and Brent Oleson, Linn County supervisor and Prospect Meadows advocate, said enough financial commitment is in place to move the project ahead.

'We have to build what we can build,” Roeder said, noting that if there are only funds to build, for example, 12 fields and the Miracle Field for disabled youngsters at the start, then that is what will happen.

Oleson said there will be sufficient funds to build it all.

'I'm confident we will meet our goal,” he said during a meeting with The Gazette editorial board.

Oleson announced that the Linn County Board of Supervisors in mid-April is slated to approve a bond sale to contribute $1.5 million in county funds to the project. The Linn County Conservation Department will contribute an additional $250,000 to the project and the Cedar Rapids/Linn County Solid Waste Agency $50,000, he said.

At the same time, Tom Treharne, Marion's director of planning and development, said the city of Marion has upped its commitment to the Prospect Meadows project by $500,000, to $1.25 million, with part coming from revenue from the city's local-option sales tax.

In addition, Cedar Rapids City Council Member Susie Weinacht said Cedar Rapids is working on a proposal designed to steer $1 million to the project over 10 years once it opens, based on the increase in hotel/motel tax that comes to the city as a result of the project.

Prospect Meadows already has secured a $1.3 million grant from the Iowa Department of Transportation to add turn lanes on Highway 13, a third lane by the project on County Home Road and a road through the ball complex that connects Highway 13 to County Home Road, Roeder said.

The DOT grant, which the project obtained in 2014, must be used within three years, and so that is helping drive the project forward, Roeder said.

He said the project has raised $2.97 million in private funds and is seeking another $1.23 million in private help and $1.5 million in additional state program help. The project also is seeking special state legislation that would permit Prospect Meadows to use revenue from sales tax generated at the complex for the complex.

Oleson and Roeder said Linn County will lease the county's 128 acres of property to Prospect Meadows for $1 a year for 95 years.

Private entity Perfect Game USA of Cedar Rapids, which holds tournaments across the country to help develop young baseball players, is contributing financially to the project and will be principal tenant.