RANCHO CORDOVA, CA (MPG) - The quest for the perfect Little League baseball facility will go into extra innings following a special meeting and budget workshop in Rancho Cordova.

This comes after some members of the Rancho Cordova City Council threw a Phil Niekro style knuckleball into the laps of city staff and City Manager Cyrus Abhar.

The City Council directed staff to not move forward with a long-planned legacy project at Ahlstrom Park following concerns voiced by some council members, as well as representatives from the Rancho Cordova Little League organization. City Councilmembers instead voiced support for getting more input from the community before taking further action.

The proposed $12 million legacy renovation project would lead to what Rancho Cordova city staff bills as a “state of the art” Little League facility. This includes the renovation of all four existing baseball fields at Ahlstrom Park, new batting cages, new concession and storage buildings and a new restroom.

Ahlstrom Park is a seven-acre facility located on Zinfandel Drive in Rancho Cordova. The Little League facility currently in use at the park shares space with a playground area and picnic tables.

The biggest objection to the proposed project came from the Rancho Cordova Little League (RCLL) organization. Vice President Michele Elkins-Buettner believes Ahlstrom Park can no longer serve the needs of every child in RCLL. Older players in the 13-14 age range would still be forced to play games at nearby Mitchell Park.

“Our goal is a new location where all the kids can be together,” Elkins-Buettner told council members and city staff during the hearing. “Our board does not feel that the investment into the Ahlstrom Park proposal would result in what we want.”

The concerns voiced by parents who volunteer with RCLL found support from Rancho Cordova Vice Mayor Linda Budge. She pointed out that the legacy project funding for Ahlstrom Park improvements would not result in any improvements at Mitchell Park.

“You can’t leave out the older generation,” Budge warned. “This is legacy funding, and we have a responsibility to provide a legacy facility. We don’t want to build something that’s not adequate.”

Rancho Cordova Mayor Donald Terry, however, is a proponent of the Ahlstrom Park project. He pointed out that the City Council approved of the renovation as a Community Enhancement Fund Legacy Project in 2018, and it’s time to move forward.

“We also, at some point, want to build something,” he quipped in response to Budge. “Let’s not let perfection be the enemy of the good.”

Terry found support from councilmember David M. Sander, who noted that planning for little league improvements has taken “far too many years already.”

Both the RCLL and Budge expressed interest in looking at new locations other than Ahlstrom Park. The suggestions included the proposed Rio Del Oro Park. This park would sit on 130 acres in the new Rio Del Oro housing development on land that had previously been owned by Aerojet.

“The challenges of going to a new location would be numerous,” Abhar warned the City Council. “It’s not ready yet. You would need 10-15 acres for a facility like this. It would be double or even triple the cost of what has been proposed for the Ahlstrom project.”

The debate over the proposed Ahlstrom Park legacy project will resume during meetings in late September or mid-October.