The Lebanon Park Board is weighing a possible $1.8 million project to add turf to 10 city ballfields in an effort to keep bringing in out-of-town visitors to city tournaments.
At the Park Board meeting on Wednesday of last week, Parks Director John Shelton said the plan could call for the city to borrow about $2 million for the project. Shelton said the turf installation is not a done deal at this point, but the ability to borrow the money is included in the fiscal year 2027 budget set for final city council approval June 22.
Shelton said the decision on whether to proceed is still up to the Park Board.
“You would still make your decision and then have to go to City Council and they would still have to vote to approve it. Please don't think that anybody was trying to force you into making a decision. That was not the case at all,” he told the board.
The park board has been discussing installing turf after some tournaments and games have been rained out, including four tournaments. City officials are concerned about the economic impact of Lebanon losing teams and tournaments to surrounding communities that have turf fields.
In a recent press release, the city touted the importance of the baseball tournaments to the local economy.
“On a major tournament weekend at Nelson Park and Sports Complex and Atchley Park, Lebanon sees between 3,500 and 4,200 visits — more than three out of four from outside the city. Based on visitor counts and youth sports tourism industry spending benchmarks, those weekends generate an estimated $150,000 to $200,000 in direct economic activity for Lebanon businesses. Across a full season running March through October, the program is estimated to produce hundreds of thousands of dollars in directvisitor spending annually,” according to the city release.
“That spending doesn't stay at the ballpark. Out-of-town visitors fill local restaurants, fuel up at gas stations, shop at retailers, and in some cases stay overnight. For Lebanon businesses, a tournament Saturday is measurably different from an ordinary one. For the city as a whole, it means stronger local businesses, more local jobs, and sales tax revenue that funds services every resident depends on,” according to the release.
Shelton said that while there could still be downtime due to stormy weather, turf would usuallow play to resume after waiting out lightning.
Board members discussed options including adding turf to all fields or only on some fields and also the need to explain the issues to the public.
Outgoing Park Board President Carrie Plassmeyer said the city’s parks have been very successful and asked board members to weigh the numbers and issues carefully.
“We’ve done some really amazing things and done really well at finding those extra dollars and spending wisely. We’ve been able to get great quality parks and maintain things at a certain level and we don’t want to mess that up,” she said. “These are taxpayer dollars for the whole community that we’re using and we’re getting the added bonus of bringing in these outside dollars so let’s use this to everybody’s best advantage.”
The board discussion about the possible turf project and complete board meeting is online on Youtube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jkhwiN7F598&t=1693s
Also at last week’s park board meeting, Assistant Parks Director Elliot Wilburn reviewed attendance data from Placer AI that reported 5,863 people visited Atchley Park for recent tournaments with a 204-minute average dwell time, 43% of them from Lebanon. 7,600 total visitors came to Lebanon’s Nelson Park with a 278-minute average dwell time with 19% from Lebanon.
For the June 5 and 6 Route 66 Festival, 5,900 visitors were reported with a 75-minute average dwell time and 59% from Lebanon. The event drew visitors from New York, Virginia, California, Florida, Iowa, Michigan, Kansas, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Texas.
The board approved a skate park project of up to $100,000 for the American Ramp Company to work on the design. The Park Board will approve the final design before work begins.
For more stories, see Wednesday's LCR.
