The Bald Eagle Baseball Association voted last night to sell its existing ball fields to the state Department of Transportation.
The move became necessary after BEBA received an order from the Army Corps of Engineers to sell the land or turn it back into a wet lands by May 1, 2003.
The organization received a cease and desist letter on October 27, 1998 because the land the ball fields were built on are jurisdictional wetlands adjacent to a tributary to Bale Eagle Creek in Snyder Township.
While continuing to play at its current fields, the Bald Eagle Baseball Association has been searching for a place to play.
Last summer, the organization approached Tyrone Borough Council about purchasing land near the Tyrone Watershed, but that was turned down by the council.
There have been discussions between Bald Eagle Baseball and the Penns Woods Council of the Boy Scouts of America about building a baseball field on the Camp Anderson property. So far, those talks have not produced a solution.
Snyder Township resident Ron Boyles told the association that he would donate eight acres of land for new baseball fields.
Boyles would lease the fields for 20 years at the cost of one dollar.
With the fields being sold to PENNDOT, the Bald Eagle Baseball Association will be able to play on its current fields this season, while constructing a new field.
The association will continue to pursue all options for a new field for the 2004 season, including the option of the Boyles land.
If the association did not decide to accept a deal with PENNDOT, it would have had to restore the fields to wetland status and vacate by May 1, 2003.
“We discovered that they were under citation from the Corps of Engineers,” said PENNDOT Engineer Mike Knatt. “We were looking for wetland sites to acquire and by getting that property, we get credit for creating wetlands for the I-99 project. We will recreate the wetlands that were there.”
Knatt said the price of the sale will be determined by the Bald Eagle Baseball Association and PENNDOT.
“This is a situation where everybody wins,” said Knatt. “The kids will have a place to play this year. This gets Bald Eagle Baseball out of difficulty with the Corps of Engineers. We think we can work something out to allow them to play at the fields this year. Their schedule only runs until June. We will do our best to accomidate that schedule. We have a contractor working on other wetlands and shouldn’t get started on that property until July.”
To get the fields back to wetland status, it would have had to remove all fill materials in their entirety down to the native hydric soils; remove the fencing, wooden structures such as dugouts, storage buildings etc; and open two drainage ditches that currently exist and immediately seed with annual ryegrass and mulch to preclude erosion and sedimentation all disturbed areas.
The cost to the league would have been a large sum without the PENNDOT agreement.
“We need to move on,” said Rose Black, president of the BEBA. “We have tried for years to straighten this out, but this is about the only option we have left.”
The 30 people in attendance voted unanimously to accept the agreement with PENNDOT.
