Highland High School has drafted a contract and presented it before the Sugar House Park Authority Board of Trustees. If approved by the board, the contract will allow the school to renovate and use the park's baseball diamond for its boys baseball program.
Board members said they need to review the contract before proceeding further. Instead of holding a public hearing Thursday, the board encouraged concerned residents to review the contract themselves and submit comments or concerns in writing. However, the board will hold one more public hearing before the final decision is reached.Among the contract's highlights, it states that although the Park Authority will be responsible for scheduling the baseball field, it will give priority to the existing Little League group and to Highland's baseball program.
"Accommodation of the Highland High School baseball program will not displace the existing Little League program that currently uses the field," the contract states.
The contract also points out that "the construction of the ball field will necessitate the removal of several trees and the relocation of others." According to the contract, the school "will be responsible for the cost of relocating the specified trees and reimbursing the Park Au-thor-ity for the value of the trees that have to be removed. The price of said trees shall be determined by the Urban Forestry Coordinator for the State of Utah Division of State Lands and Forestry."
Along with the contract draft, the high school issued a preliminary opinion of cost with a revised list of park renovations. Board members expressed surprise at the new proposed budget, which has been reduced in the past two months from $410,000 to $288,000.
The lower cost is mainly due to the elimination of lighting and the significant reduction of the scoreboard, according to a Highland spokesman.
In February, the board voted tentatively to let the high school use the field after listening to several hours of comments about the proposal. At that time it requested the school draft a formal agreement detailing the ball field's design and its plans to cover con-struc-tion costs.
"The board has to be careful to make sure that the dollars are going to be there so that we won't have a half-built field that we'll have to pay for," a board member said.
However, the contract states, "Construction will not be allowed to proceed until proof of funding for the complete project is provided by Highland to the Park Authority. The Park Authority will not contribute any funds to the renovation project." Thus far, the school has raised $150,000 of the total cost, the school spokesman said.
Upon quick inspection, another board member pointed out that the contract does not have an "escape clause for the Sugar House Park authorities if the Highland people do not live up to their agreement."
The board agreed to have a county attorney representative present in its next meeting.