City gives ballfields to school

Clarendon’s baseball and softball fields are now entirely the property of the public school following action by the city council and school board in the last few days.

The city and school district have had split ownership of the ballparks for many decades, with the city owning the McClelland Field adjacent to Prospect Park, the school owning Hart-Moore Field where the little league plays, and each entity owning half of the softball field.

The City Council at their regular meeting last Thursday, December 8, approved conveying the properties to the school, and the Clarendon ISD Board of Trustees accepted the deal Monday night.

Talks about consolidating ownership of the ballparks started several months ago as the city began preparations for a USDA-funded water system improvement project. As a condition of that $3.9 million project, USDA has mandated that the city can no longer give away water to anyone and all water use must be metered.

“We estimated that about two million gallons of water was being used on the baseball and softball fields annually,” City Administrator David Dockery told the Enterprise.

The city’s wholesale cost of that water was about $5,200 per year, but the primary user of the properties is the school district.

CISD Superintendent Mike Norrell said the deal just makes sense for the school district.

“We fertilize, maintain, and utilize the fields,” Norrell said. “They are covered on our insurance.”

Both sides say there are no conditions on the deal, although the school board did give assurances to the city that the properties would always be used for athletic purposes to benefit youth.

The city conveyed the entirety of McClellan Field, including a four-foot easement beyond each existing fence and a 20-foot right-of-way easement along the north side of Seventh Street between Jefferson Street and Prospect Park where the right outfield fence already encroaches on the platted street.

The city also conveyed to the school the west half of the block on which the softball field is situated.

As far as water usage going forward, Norrell says the school district is weighing its options, including the possibility of drilling a well to irrigate those fields.