JACKSON, Wyo. — Parks and Recreation Director Steve Ashworth is looking for a location for new softball fields before the current ones become a bus depot.
Currently, there are two softball fields located on state land near the Jackson Hole Skatepark referred to as Cow Pasture 1 and Cow Pasture 2. Among other developments, Teton County School District #1 is planning to build a new bus facility on Cow Pasture 1, leaving only one field by the summer of 2025.
“Cow Pasture 2 is currently not slated for redevelopment, however, there are always conversations about the future of that,” Ashworth said.
During the Joint Information Meeting (JIM) between the Town Council and the Board of County Commissioners on Oct. 2, Ashworth presented two options for new locations for softball fields: Stilson or at Bureau of Land Management (BLM) 26 parcel, also known as South Park Landing west.
Preliminary plans for Stilson include three fields. Although only one field is being removed at the current site, Ashworth says the third field would be needed to meet capacity due to restrictions on lighting at Stilson.
The BLM 26 parcel, located across from South Park Landing would include two lighted fields with synthetic surfaces along with parking infrastructure. According to the staff report from the Parks and Rec Department, “The site is also large enough to provide river access facilities, a passive river interface park and recreational and commercial boating infrastructure to support the current South Park Landing Facility on the eastern side of the highway.”
The BLM site is currently under a temporary lease between WYDOT and the BLM for three years to provide temporary housing for workers replacing the Wilson bridge. The Board of County Commissioners weighed in on the temporary use of the property, sending a number of conditions to the BLM during the public comment period. Following the temporary lease, the BLM parcel could be transferred to Teton County management.
The Council and Board decided to continue the item to the next JIM meeting due to audio issues, so the elected officials did not ask Ashworth questions or hold a discussion, but they did accept public comment from folks who attended the meeting.
Four individuals spoke on behalf of organizations and each said they were against building ballfields at at least one of the locations if not both.
“The fields as proposed relegate the vast majority of available land on Parcel 26 to a one-dimensional use,” Orion Hatch executive director of the Snake River Fund said. “Replacing perfectly good fields at the cow pastures with a bus facility should not come at the cost of covering more than 80% of riverside public lands with synthetic turf.”
The Snake River Fund has been working for years to create a riverfront park on the property integrated with the South Park Landing boat ramp on the east side of the highway.
Jackson Hole Wildlife Foundation Executive Director Renee Seidler spoke out against the ballfields at Stilson, pointing out the multi-million dollar investments in four wildlife crossings currently being built at the intersection of WY390 and WY22.
“If development is occurring at Stilson, I beg you that we do it with those crossing structures in mind,” Seidler said. “I definitely feel that putting in softball fields with fences, cars coming in, people, crowds shouting, games being played, I don’t believe that that’s the correct placement for these things out at Stilson.”
Seidler said Parcel 26 could “potentially” be the right spot and also questioned why the ballfields were removed from the base of Snow King.
Kevin Krasnow, conservation director at Jackson Hole Conservation Alliance called in to comment against the fields being moved to Stilson.
“Wouldn’t it be a shame if we spent millions of dollars putting two underpasses and impenetrable fencing at the intersection of [WY] 390 and [WY] 22 and then we crammed so much development and human activity at Stilson, that the animals don’t use them,” Kasnow said.
The President of the River Hollow Subdivision Home Owners Association also spoke out against building ballfields at Stilson. hHe added that he was speaking on behalf of the Stilson Ranch subdivision.
According to the staff report from the Parks and Rec Department, the softball program had over 500 individual participants this year. The department along with community volunteers has also developed a youth girls softball program, which “has grown from 10 girls to over 50 and has initiated a conversation with Teton County School District regarding the addition of women’s softball as a sanctioned high school sport.”
The Town Council and Board of County Commissioners will meet for their next JIM on Monday, Nov. 6. An agenda has yet to be released for the meeting so it is unclear if the item will appear on that agenda, or on the Dec. 4 JIM agenda.
Editor’s note: On Wednesday, Oct. 11 the Teton County School District #1 Board of Trustees approved moving forward with a varsity softball team with their season starting in the spring of 2025.
