Pacers baseball park finally moving to new site for bypass

REGINA – After more than a year of trying to find a new site for the Pacers Baseball Park, the city and the organization have come to an agreement,

The City of Regina is purchasing land about 1.5 kilometres northeast of the existing 14 fields off of Tower Road.

“Finding a new home for Pacer Park has been a priority for us,” said Mayor Michael Fougere. “This positive news now allows our young ball players to concentrate on the game they love at a location not far from where they used to play.”

The club has been at its current location on Tower Road and Arcola Avenue for the past 15 years, but the Regina bypass is slated to pass right through the ballpark on city owned land.

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Friday’s announcement follow public frustration from both the club and the city over the lengthy process.

“The province perhaps didn’t move as quickly as we would have liked to both for Pacers and for us to find a location,” said Mayor Michael Fougere at the announcement. Fougere said the city is still waiting for the province to provide compensation.

READ MORE: Pacers baseball club frustrated with park’s closure for bypass

The new facility won’t be ready until 2017, so the club has concerns over what the plan is for the next summer.

“They’ve (the city) identified some of the locations that we could be using. They are not the same level as the diamonds that the players are playing on,” said Jim Fink, one of the club’s directors.

“There could be reduction in the number of registrations because of the lesser quality facilities.”

The land for the new park has been purchased from Long Lake Investment Corporation for an undisclosed amount of money.