A petition circulating among Enderby residents calls for an additional baseball diamond to be added in the community.
The online change.org petition, started by Graeme Duncan on Feb. 12, says Enderby has reached a “critical time” because there is not enough space on the community’s existing diamonds.
“Our local user groups, minor baseball, minor fastball and adult slo-pitch are being asked to find fields to play on in other communities. Our youth are not being allowed to practice on the Enderby Riverside Park diamonds after 5:30 p.m. within the community they live in as these times have been designated as competition (games) only,” the petition states.
“It’s absolutely critical our youth have the ability to practice to ensure proper athletic development in their sport.”
The petition suggests that if the status quo continues, Enderby will see a decline in minor league registrations and volunteers will step away from the sport.
The petition points to the province’s $1 billion Growing Communities Fund, announced Feb. 10, as a possible source of funding for a new baseball diamond at Riverside Park. Or, Enderby’s allotment of the funding could be used to provide lighting for the existing diamonds, the petition suggests.
“This would solve all the problems we are facing due to the lack of ball diamonds in our community for generations to come,” the petition states, adding the petition will be presented to mayor and council.
Mayor Huck Galbriath told The Morning Star he hasn’t seen the petition yet, but said he and council are aware that there is currently not enough diamond space to support the various baseball, softball and slo-pitch leagues in the community.
“I’ve heard mention of this,” Galbraith said, explaining he recently talked with a person involved in local minor baseball who told him there’s not enough space to go around on the current diamonds.
“We need to tackle that as a community,” Galbraith said. “Council is aware of it and it’s not just put on the back burner and forgotten about. It’s one of many things that we’re always constantly working on.”
Galbraith said community cervices coordinator Sheryl Hay is on a committee that has an upcoming meeting that could be a platform for discussing the issue.
“At that point I think there will be a better understanding on all parties about where we’re going and how we’re going to go about doing it as a community,” he said.
As for the funding, Galbraith said he hasn’t seen the particulars of the Growing Communities Fund yet, but didn’t rule it out as a possibility.
In 2020, Enderby announced what it planned to do with the $150,000 it received from winning the ParticipACTION Community Better Challenge in June 2019 - $50,000 of that prize money was earmarked for upgrading the city’s baseball diamonds.
So far, the petition has garnered nearly 500 signatures.
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