The beloved duck pond at Reid Park has been spared. Now baseball fields are on the chopping block in a new set of draft options for the park’s future.
Most of the five ball fields west of Hi Corbett Field on the park’s north side would be eliminated under a trio of proposals developed as part of City Council’s effort to create a new master plan, a document that would set priorities for public spending on the site over next few decades.
Park space now used for ball tournaments would be home to new amenities such as desert landscape gardens, bird-watching stations, new walking and biking paths and a relaxation area with hammocks in the proposals developed by recreational planning consultants.
The rest of Reid Park would also see changes. They include adding one or more splash pads, new playground facilities, new art plazas and performance spaces and “observation structures” in nature areas, depending on which features end up in the final version of the master plan.
None of the concepts is set in stone at this point, according to the city’s Reid Park Reimagined website, which details each of the three draft proposals. Public comments can be submitted online until Friday Sept. 30 at 11:59 p.m.
The three draft options are “intended to stimulate conversations and creative thinking about the park’s future” the project website says.
The concepts are based on feedback the city gathered for several months through an online survey, stakeholder interviews, outreach events and close to 90,000 emails to community members, the website says. More than 2,700 Tucsonans have responded so far to the online survey that asks how they use the park and what features they most want to see in the future.
Baseball was not identified as a high priority use, according to survey results posted on the project website. Respondents said their favorite Reid Park features include natural areas, water features, gardens, walking and biking trails, picnic areas, lawns and the park’s outdoor performance venue.
City Council member Steve Kozachik, whose Ward 6 includes the park, said he’s hearing complaints from baseball organizations that use the fields, and questions whether the city did enough to solicit their input. The ball fields are used by adult leagues, out-of-town tournaments and by Korean baseball teams during spring training, Kozachik said in an interview.
Other baseball facilities are available in the Tucson area — for example, those at Kino Sports Complex four miles away — but Kozachik said Reid Park is the most desirable site since it’s close to hotels and restaurants.
Greg Jackson, a deputy director of Tucson’s parks and recreation department, said the city invited every group that has booked the Reid Park baseball fields in the last few years to a May 3 meeting to discuss the situation — but none showed up. So the city set up another meeting a week later and sent out more invitations, this time receiving one response from a member of the baseball community, Jackson said in an interview.
The council is expected to finalize the park master plan early next year after staff create a final draft version and solicit a final round of public feedback.
The new master plan will only cover Reid Park proper, and not the adjacent Reid Park Zoo. The zoo has its own separate plan — one that no longer encroaches on the Reid Park duck pond after a public outcry in 2020 over plans to use the duck pond land for a new tiger habitat.
The Tucson City Council voted 6-1 on Tuesday to move forward with a zoo expansion to the northwest that is a hybrid plan of two concepts that had the most support among stakeholders.
City Manager Michael Ortega is recommending the Tucson City Council vote for northwest expansion of the Reid Park Zoo. The expansion would still take up park space, but would preserve Barnum Hill and the southern duck pond.
