Diamond and Facilities Update

Published March 17, 2012

 Have you been to Sherwood Heights lately?

Are you curious as to what is going on?

Sherwood Heights is the first baseball facility created in Sherwood Park and for many years has been SPMBA's central Baseball facility for our House League and Rep baseball programs. It was initially built in 1970's and has remained basically the same since then. There have been many exciting memories generated at this complex, but over the years it has begun to show it's age. In the 1980's Strathcona Athletic Park was created and four new baseball diamonds were built here. It was predominantly a rep facility for our Midget level and our PeeWee level. It has gone through many upgrades and retrofits over the years and continues to be a main part of our Rep Program.

In 2010, Strathcona County introduced the "Open Space and Recreation Facility Strategy" (OSRFS) as well as the "Sportsfield Strategy", identifying that sports groups who utilize Strathcona County infrastructure (ball diamonds, soccer fields, etc.) would like to revitalize existing sites in order to meet their growth and tournament play. The Sportsfield Strategy recommended reconfiguring some existing sites to better suit the sports groups needs.

Click to review these County strategies:

• Open Space and Recreation Facility Strategy

• Sportsfield Strategy

To take advantage of this opportunity, SPMBA prepared a report "SPMBA Diamond and Facility Needs" that was presented to County councillors and administration outlining our facility requirements for the future!

• To review the report - Click Here (.pdf 416kb)

For the past several years, SPMBA executive have been working closely with Strathcona County Administration to move our facility vision forward and in 2010, it started to take shape.

Following are major announcements on ball facilities in the County:

• December 14th, 2010 - County council approves $250,000 as part of the 2011 Capital Budget for the realignment of diamonds at Sherwood Heights.

• November 22nd, 2011 - Alberta Government approves and funds SPMBA's CFEP grant for $125,000 for Sherwood Heights Realignment project bringing the total funds allocated to $375,000.

• March 6th, 2012 - County Council approves Ball Diamond Allocation Report and provides additional $675,000 for upgrade of three existing diamonds and construction of two new diamonds. This brings to $1,050,000 the amount approved to be invested in ball fields in Strathcona County. This represents the largest investment in ball facilities in Strathcona County in over 30 years. 

SPMBA and it's members would like to thank Strathcona County Council and administration in seeing the need and approving the funds necessary to bring our facilities to current standards as well as providing new facilities that our kids can grow and learn the great game of baseball on!

Upgrades/New Facility by Location:

• Sherwood Heights Redevelopment - Start in 2011, Completion in 2012, ready for play in 2013, Concession Building (pending funding) and Irrigation in 2013 (Published March 13, 2012)
   
• Centennial Park Changes - 2012 changes and play in 2012  (Published March 13, 2012) 
   
• Emerald Hills Park - Construction in 2012, ready for play in 2013  (Published March 13, 2012) 
   
• Davidson Creek Updates - Construction in 2012, ready for play in 2013  (Published March 13, 2012)

• Heritage Hills Updates -  Construction in 2012, ready for play in 2012  (Published March 27, 2012)

Stay tuned for more great news on Baseball Facilities over the coming month.

Questions regarding this exciting project can be forwarded to: To Email Click Here