Observations all along the line - Kimball & the Southern Panhandle First
Observations all along the line - Kimball & the Southern Panhandle First
Nebraska, U.S. Officials Will Get Say On Trade Of Ballparks For Windbreak Property
Here's the deal: The Park and Rec executive board is looking at trading 44 acres that includes the community ballfields, above, for 4.5 acres that include the Windbreak Restaurant, below. If it goes through, residences would be built on the ballfields and the city would build new ballfields elsewhere.
The "land swap" at the Rec Area should be a topic of interest to taxpayers, baseball/softball players and golfers.
It is not actually called a land swap by the Nebraska Game and Parks, but it is called a conversion – outdoor recreation land is being converted to other outdoor recreation land.
Hannah Jones from Nebraska Game and Parks said that the Kimball Rec Area conversion is in the "early stages" and "it is not a short process." The lengthy process is meant to safeguard outdoor recreation land funded by the Land and Water Conservation Fund.
After an evening meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 27, of the Park and Rec Executive Board, Mayor John Morrison explained the process for what is known as conversion at the Rec Area.
The conversion plan that the Park and Rec Executive Board has identified is to exchange the 44.05 acres that includes four ball fields for 4.5 acres where the Windbreak Restaurant and two golf storage sheds are located.
The four ballfields – including fencing, lights, dugouts, a storage shed and a concession stand – located at the Rec Area, cover 44.05 acres that has been appraised at $227,300.
The long range vision of the Park and Rec Executive Board is to make the Windbreak building into the pro shop. The value of that property was not immediately available – but the conversion of outdoor recreation land does not have to be exchanged acre for acre; it must have roughly an equal dollar value.
Morrison said the long-term vision is to move the ballfields into town and develop the former ballfields' land into a housing development. However, because the Recreation Area received federal grant money when building the facility in the 1960s, the process must be approved by the Nebraska Game and Parks and the National Park Service.
Hannah Jones from the Nebraska Game and Parks provided the Observer with this information: "There is a conversion going on within Kimball County near the golf course that does affect the Land and Water Conservation Fund's (LWCF's) encumbered ball fields. Right now, we are in consultation with the National Park Service on finding a viable replacement for the land being taken out of outdoor recreation. We are actively working with the Kimball Recreation Executive Board on this project."
Morrison said that the ball diamonds don't have to be moved immediately, and the city would be responsible for building the ball diamonds.
