REGINA – The directors of the Pacers Baseball club are frustrated because there’s no plan yet for their park’s relocation after it’s expropriated for the Regina bypass project.
The Pacers have been around for more than fifty years and have used the current location on Tower Road and Arcola Avenue for the past 15 years.
Twenty-two-hundred baseball and slo-pitch players use the diamonds every year. However, the interchange is slated to pass right through the ballpark on city owned land.
“It’s becoming very frustrating to this point and we’re at a loss about what we’re going to do in 2016,” said Jim Fink, one of the club’s directors.
“We just wish we knew where we’re moving and when,” said Tony Kuffner, the club’s president.
The club’s directors estimate there’s only space for three of its 14 ball diamonds after the bypass goes through.
They say they aren’t opposed to the project, but rather are frustrated with a lack of information over a new site for relocation.
“We have has several discussions with the city and with the ministry of highways and they have suggested that they’re working really hard on our behalf but we don’t see any results,” said Fink.
Both levels of government say they’re trying to find a new location.
“There are a number of options that we continue to look at that are under active consideration,” said Doug Wakabayashi with the highways and infrastructure ministry.
“The sites that we have looked at, due to location of the sites and servicing of the sites, are not the best fit,” said Kim Onrait, executive director of Regina city services.
Onrait said the city has put forward a proposal for another site and it echoes the club’s frustration while awaiting the ministry’s response.
However, Fink said time has already run out for a new site: “To build a park is anywhere from two to three years.”
The bypass is the largest infrastructure project in Saskatchewan’s history. Construction is expected to begin this summer and be completed in 2019.
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