City of Alexandria
The Alexandria City Council this week unanimously approved major changes to Eugene Simpson Stadium Park in Alexandria's Del Ray neighborhood.
The changes will make the park more useful to more residents, city council members and supporters say, but some residents have concerns.
The plan calls for installing artificial turf to replace the grass on the baseball fields, something that Alexandria Little League president Sherry Reilly supports. In emails to Little League parents, Reilly noted that "Alexandria Little League, Alexandria City High School, Bishop Ireton, and local travel teams - face many field closures each spring due to rain. Often for several days. Synthetic turf on Big Simpson and improved natural turf and drainage at Little Simpson will drastically cut down on field closures at those fields," Reilly wrote.
But not everyone approves. Some residents are concerned that artificial turf retains heat in a way that natural grass does not, making the fields too hot to use on the hottest days of summer. The baseball diamonds will also get improved dugouts and bleachers.
Other controversial issues in the park: The city will be removing trees to expand the parking lot by 16 spaces and install a second parking lot entrance. Some of those trees are big and old, and some residents formed a ring around what may be the oldest tree in the park, ALXNow reported.
While the city says it will replace the trees with even more trees, it will take several years for the new trees to mature to a point where they are providing significant shade.
Construction is estimated to commence in Fall 2024 and conclude in 2025.
