First phase of work on new Richardson Stadium planned

By Melinda J. Overstreet / Glasgow News 1
Plans are underway to get John E. Richardson Stadium to at least a basic point where ballgames can take place there by mid-March.
The facility at Gorin Park was severely damaged by a July 7 fire; what wasn’t burned mostly was not safe to leave standing and has been demolished.
Monday evening, the Glasgow Common Council Planning and Development Committee, better known as the Parks and Recreation Committee, met at the offices of Alliance Corp.
Glasgow News 1 did not attend that meeting but followed up with Eddie Furlong, director of the Glasgow Parks and Recreation Department, the following afternoon.
“Basically, the entire meeting was to discuss the design for Richardson Stadium, the ballpark itself,” Furlong said.
The design presented to the committee was a collaboration among Furlong, Mayor Harold Armstong, Glasgow High School baseball coach Sam Royse, and Matt Gumm and Kyle Boston, the last two of whom are staff members at Alliance Corp., he said.
Furlong said they decided not to publicize the proposed design yet, because it could change.
“Part of the meeting last night was to get the [council committee] on board with it, and they are on board with it,” he said, and all members were present. “So the next step, the reason we’re not presenting anything – we want to see where Glasgow [Independent] Schools, what their commitment is, because if they’re not going to be committed to it, the design could change. The way it’s designed currently, it’s going to be a nice baseball field for a high school baseball team, but if the high school doesn’t plan on being out there very long, then it may turn into a nice municipal field with a design change.”
For example, he said, there likely wouldn’t be as many bleachers and there would not be roofing over the bleachers if its simply a municipal park facility.
“You would save a lot on costs by getting rid of some of those things,” Furlong said.
The design still calls for the bathrooms to be positioned in such a way that they are accessible whether or not baseball games are happening.
“We were going to build two new [sets of] bathrooms at the park anyways. With the bathroom being destroyed in the fire, one of the new bathrooms will be dual purpose. It will serve the baseball stadium and the park as well,” he said.
The construction would come in phases, with part of the game plan being to have the facility usable by GHS’ first game of the season, which is March 18.
“Phase 1 of the project is going to include doing the ground work for the site preparation, because right now, it’s still kind of a hole where the old stadium was, so that’ll have to be leveled out for the new build. Part of that process is having a new backstop installed; it was partially destroyed in the fire, so since we have to rebuild it anyways, we’re going to put a new backstop system in and straighten it out, with netting instead of chain-link fence, which is what everybody goes to nowadays. … Also part of Phase 1 is getting electric back to the facility, because that’s what the cause of the fire was, and there’s no longer any electrical service to there as we speak.”
The Sam Royse Field itself was untouched by the fire, he said, so really the only thing preventing play right now is the lack of backstop. Regardless of the school system’s involvement, these Phase 1 items would have to be completed, he said.
Temporary bleachers would be used at first until the next phase can be started.
The funds to be expended at this point are all from insurance reimbursement and what had been designated for construction of one set of bathrooms, he said.
At Monday’s meeting, the group agreed to let Furlong advertise requests for proposals for the Phase 1 work to be completed, he said, and he hopes to get that ad posted in the next seven to 10 days.