Navy to Norfolk Little Leaguers: Find a new home

NORFOLK

For decades, Fleet Park Little Leaguers have shagged pop flies and swung for the fences on diamonds at Norfolk Naval Station.

Now, the Navy says the league's 2011 season at Fleet Park will be the last, because its six ballfields are in the flight path to Chambers Field, putting players at risk.

A recent study concluded the fields, not far off Hampton Boulevard, are in a designated "clear zone," or most likely crash site of the runway. A study in 1999 indicated the same results, but the league, with more than 550 players, was allowed to continue playing.

It's the second league to be evicted in two years. Ocean View Little League played its final game on different fields on the Navy property last year and uses temporary digs while it looks for a permanent new home.

City officials say they might be hard-pressed to find new sites for the leagues.

The city spent $450,000 to help refurbish Fleet Park in 1994 and was surprised to learn that the Navy now considers the ballfields incompatible with that property.

Councilman W. Randy Wright said hundreds of thousands of dollars also were donated for the renovation.

"There were some assurances made" that Fleet Park could continue to serve as a recreation facility, he said.

Terri Davis, public affairs officer at the naval station, said the Navy entered into a 10-year agreement with the city and the Fleet Park Little League in 1993.

"The memorandum states that it expires in 2003 and that at that time, all improvements on the field would revert to Navy possession," Davis said.

The Navy warned in 2001 that teams would not play there after 2003, because of the clear zone issue. Since 2003, Fleet Park Little League has used the field on a year-to-year basis, Davis said. Charlie Triplett, president of the league, said it spent $38,000 last year on improvements. The league never would have invested that money if it had known eviction was a possibility, he said.

During a presentation to the City Council on Tuesday, Capt. K.M. Johnson, commanding officer of Norfolk Naval Station, defended the Navy's decision, saying the potential for a crash in Fleet Park, located a half mile from the airstrip, is just too high to allow hundreds of children to play baseball and softball there.

Mayor Paul Fraim, whose children once played at the field, asked Johnson whether the definitions of crash zones had changed since 1994, and Johnson acknowledged they had not.

"I cannot speak for previous management," Johnson said. "I don't know why they allowed entities like this to operate. They should not be allowed to operate in this area. We realize it's not popular.

"But on the other hand, it would not be popular to allow this to occur if something were to happen."

At least one high school, Norfolk Collegiate, also uses the park.

Last year, Ocean View Little League, formerly Naval Air Station Little League, was evicted from a 2.8-acre site on Navy property because of a pending construction project. It had played on the Navy's property for 52 years.

This season, the league, which has 28 teams and about 350 players, shares the fields occupied by Azalea Little League at the Norfolk Industrial Park on Pineridge Road.

Ocean View Little League president Tony Snyder said he knew about eight years ago that his league's days on federal property were numbered.

The league has identified a potential site behind Ocean View Elementary School and is in talks with the city, Snyder said. Fraim said finding places for the two leagues to play now is clearly in the city's lap.

The city responded to similar pleas in the 1980s by helping relocate the Little Creek National Pony League from Virginia Beach to Tarrallton Park and the Azalea Little League to its current site.

"We're going to hear from hundreds and hundreds of parents asking, 'Where are our kids going to play?' " Fraim said. "These leagues have been entrenched in this community for years. We have to do what we can to help."

City Manager Regina V.K. Williams circulated a memo to council members Tuesday suggesting a short-term solution could be spreading the two leagues to various city fields all over the city.

Fraim said that can't be a long-term solution, as it is impractical for families with children playing in different age groups to drive to several locations. Fraim asked Williams "to put together a group to try and work with the leagues to come up with a solution."

Fraim said the city will appeal the decision to the Navy, as well as the city's congressional delegation. At worst, he said, he hopes to get an extension. The Navy's stand, however, seems firm. The Navy has explored the possibility of alternative sites for the leagues on the naval station, but has no acceptable locations, Navy spokespeson Davis said.

"We're been very, very fortunate in the past that nothing has happened."

 Lia Russell, (757) 222-5829, lia.russell@pilotonline.com

Harry Minium, (757) 446-2371, harry.minium@pilotonline.com