West Michigan Sports Commission hopes proposed amateur baseball/softball complex is a Grand Slam

An effort to increase traffic for the Kent County hospitality industry may result in a 12-diamond youth and amateur baseball and softball complex in Rockford. The West Michigan Sports Commission says the complex would draw families and teams to the region, bringing with them tourist dollars.
 

According to excerpts from the story:

Kent County Commissioner Dean Agee, who also chairs the Finance Committee, named the members of a new subcommittee last week that will look into leasing 90 acres the county owns to the West Michigan Sports Commission for a new baseball and softball complex. Agee said Commissioners Jim Talen, Richard Vander Molen, Art Tanis, Carol Hennessy and Gary Rolls will make up the subcommittee. Tanis will chair the group. 

The acreage is on Ten Mile Road in Rockford near the county’s North Kent Transfer Station — a landfill that is owned by the county’s Department of Public Works.  Tanis told the Business Journal the subcommittee will have to work out the legal details involved with offering a long-term lease — likely for 25 years — to the sports commission. One hurdle the subcommittee will have to clear is making sure a lease appropriately compensates DPW, which bought the property.  DPW is an enterprise department, which means it doesn’t get taxpayer dollars and has to raise its own revenue from the services it provides.

Read the complete story here.