Kilgore approves funding request for delayed sports complex plans

Kilgore News Herald
By Lucas Strough lstrough@kilgorenewsherald.com
Oct 9, 2022

The Kilgore City Council approved a motion at a recent meeting to authorize the city manager to request a grant in the amount of $500,000 from Kilgore Economic Development Corporation. The funds are slated for improvements and repairs at the Texas 135 Youth Soccer and Softball Complex.

In 2018 the City Council hired MHS Planning to develop a master conceptual plan for the complex. The plan was completed, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, funding has not been secured to move the project forward.

The motion approved by council authorizes the City Manager to request a total of $500,000 in 4A(s) Quality of Life Grant funding from the Kilgore Economic Development Corporation. The request would include $250,000 from FY 2022 and $250,000 from FY 2023.

This funding allocation would be used for the first phase of the project, which will develop the core infrastructures that will serve as the basis for all future phases of the project. Specifically, the project will focus on shifting Softball field #1 toward the East, completing adjacent grading, drainage, fencing, electrical, lighting and utilities that will provide capacity for all future phases of the project.

In May of last year, the city entered a partnership with Kilgore Youth Softball Association for the city to accept ownership of the complex. The city will take on utilities costs for the entire complex and will assist with some major capital maintenance items. All operations of the facility will remain with Kilgore Youth Softball Association and Kilgore Soccer Association.

Plans for the revitalization were discussed back in 2019, and the project is finally moving forward after long delays caused by the pandemic.

Three big-ticket items in the project are new lighting systems, paved parking lots and improving the soil quality in order to hold turf better, to be more water-sensitive and more drought-tolerant.