By Adam Smith

The North Jefferson News



A baseball field for special needs children is a step closer to reality following Monday’s Gardendale City Council meeting.

The council voted to designate Pate Field at Luman Harris Park as the future Miracle League Field. The 120-foot field is part of the city’s softball complex.

The decision represents a turning point for organizer Jeff Dennis, who has worked with city officials, businesses and residents since 2006 to bring the field to Gardendale.

The field will give special needs children a location to play baseball without risk of serious injury. The field will feature a rubberized playing surface and flat bases, allowing children in wheelchairs to move around the base paths with the assistance of helpers or “buddies.”

The field will be the first in Jefferson County. Other fields are in use in Moody and Huntsville, Cullman and Montgomery.

Dennis said the new location of the field will give confidence to special needs players because they will be able to interact with other athletes at the park. The original intent was to build the Miracle League field at the city’s soccer complex on Fieldstown Road.

“The soccer field location would have been ideal, but the one drawback we had was that those kids would have been isolated away from any other baseball fields,” Dennis said. “Now, we have the benefit of putting it at a softball park where other kids are playing constantly. When our Miracle League kids get there to play, they’ll be waiting to play on a field that other kids are playing on. It makes them feel like part of a baseball facility.”

The other benefits of using Pate Field include lights, bleachers, handicapped- accessible restrooms and a concession stand that are already in place. Those amenities would have raised the cost of the project significantly, Dennis said.

The field will likely also be used by tee ball and rag ball teams when not in use by Miracle League teams.

About $80,000 has been raised for the field. The Gardendale Rotary Club donated more than $35,000 in proceeds to the project from its first gala event last November. The club is hosting another gala event on Nov. 4 and will again give a portion of its proceeds to the field.

Additionally, Dennis said he has applied for a $40,000 grant through the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs (ADECA). He said even with the grant, about $25,000 more would be needed to complete the field.

The bill for the project is estimated to be $145,000. The rubberized playing surface for the field costs $95,000 while additional site work at Pate Field, which includes field grading, asphalt and paving, will likely cost about $45,000.

Dennis said if all the money can be raised, work on the field could start as early as November with the field ready to play by March.

“What’s so neat about the project is it’s been a 100 percent community effort,” he said. “Every penny that’s come in has come from a broad spectrum.”

Individuals or businesses who would like to donate to the field can do so by contacting Dennis at 631-4848.

In other business, the council:

• Declared Oct. 17 as Literacy Initiative Day in honor of Gardendale resident and Ward 4 city council candidate Larry Gothard

• granted permission to Ken Friedrich to hold the 20th annual North Jefferson Charity Run on Nov. 8

• promoted employees in the administrative, police and parks and recreation departments

• declared eight police vehicles as surplus

• commended the 9-year-old Maroon All-Star team on their Dizzy Dean World Series victory