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Worried the North Boulder Little League will lose its longstanding home base, the league’s supporters are organizing to preserve Iris Fields when Boulder County sells its North Broadway Complex. North Boulder’s Jerex Jones makes contact with the ball during practice at Iris Fields in Boulder in this July 31 file photo. (Matthew Jonas/Staff Photographer) Boulder County officials last week announced its intention to sell the 17.
5-acre property at 1333 Iris Ave. Along with county administration buildings, the property includes four baseball fields. County officials have said the sale, along with relocating county offices to a newly purchased 28th Street building , is expected to take more than a year.
North Boulder Little League’s use of the fields isn’t affected for the current season, which goes until mid-August. The county plans to submit a land use change request for the property, which is zoned for public use, during the current Boulder Valley Comprehensive Plan update process, according to a news release, and community members will have opportunities to share perspectives on future use of the property this spring. Zoning changes would go through the city of Boulder.
“The North Broadway Complex’s location, transit access and existing infrastructure suggests significant opportunity for reuse,” according to the news release. “The county appreciates the property’s potential in addressing community needs and recognizes the property’s current public zoning, uses and neighborhood context.” Kirk Fronckiewicz, president of the North Boulder Little League, said the county’s decision to sell the property “caught us a little bit off guard.
” He said the organization has had an agreement for close to 70 years with Boulder County to use three of the four fields for a nominal cost. Ideally, he said, Boulder County would divide the property and keep the roughly seven acres of fields while selling the office buildings. “We don’t want to find a new home after 70 years,” he said.
Though the organization rents some fields as overflow from Boulder and the Boulder Valley School District, the Iris Fields are “the central hub of North Boulder Little League,” he said. Between its spring and summer seasons, the organization runs t-ball and baseball teams for about 500 children, who are mainly 12 and younger. “We don’t turn anybody away,” he said.
“We have scholarships for families who can’t pay tuition. We have equipment. There is never a reason that a kid can’t play.
” Along with the financial implications of potentially needing to rent more fields, he said, the league doesn’t want to see the loss of its home fields impact its success. Last year, the North Boulder under-age 12 baseball team won at the district and state levels, qualifying them to play in the mountain regional in San Bernardino, California. League teams also have won 16 state championships over the years.
Fronckiewicz said his organization meets annually with the county to renew the agreement to use the fields. The county takes care of landscaping and mowing, while North Boulder Little League pays for utilities. He added that the league would be willing to take over the expense of maintaining the fields and regularly completes improvement projects.
Last year, he said, the league spent about $20,000 to update the batter’s boxes and pitcher’s mounds, plus about $25,000 to add a second batting cage. “We invest a lot of money in the fields,” he said. Supporters have started a Change.
org petition , while the league also created a GoFundMe — though Fronckiewicz acknowledged that raising enough money to buy the entire property outright is a long shot. The property is valued at close to $24.4 million, according to the Boulder County Assessor.
Jove Oakley, who played baseball at Iris fields with his siblings and recently coached his own son through the league, said the fields are “packed” with players in the spring. “It’s sort of a right of passage,” he said. “You start out playing at smaller fields and, when you turn 10, you graduate to Iris Fields.
Boulder has worked really, really hard to keep Little League alive and healthy. It would be a real detriment for that field to go away. I hope progress doesn’t take away something that makes Boulder special.
” Doug Bogatz, a former North Boulder Little League coach who has volunteered for many years to help maintain the fields, compared the location to a Norman Rockwell painting. Neighborhood kids walk, bike and ride scooters there to play a team sport that builds lasting friendships and teaches good citizenship, he said. “It’s a very, very special place,” he said.
“We’re going to continue working to pull people together to preserve it. To lose it would be unimaginable. It would rip a lot of people’s hearts out.
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