Outdoor Recreation

Outdoor Improvements

Improvements at CiCo Park will include:

Renovate existing ballfields to include synthetic turf infields and CiCo Blue (northeast field) to be 100% synthetic turf, which will allow for multi-purpose use including soccer, flag football, lacrosse, baseball, softball, etc.
Remove and replace restrooms, concessions, seating, dugouts, infields, and outfields
Remove existing tennis courts and replace with the 12-court layout
Additional paved parking for ballfields and tennis courts
Loop trail system around the park and improve pedestrian-bicycle connections to existing facilities

Why Outdoor Recreation?

The Strategic Facility Improvement Plan community survey showed the following priorities:

62% of survey respondents indicated large community parks are the most important type of facility for the City of Manhattan to provide
Among baseball/softball households, 40% indicated playability of field playing surface was the top service improvement that could be made
Among soccer/football households, 25% indicated the number of practice fields was the top service improvement that could be made

Safety and playability of playing surfaces was the No. 2 priority identified in the Facility Feasibility Study for the "improvements to the safety and playability of existing fields and playing surfaces." Park and trail improvements ranked as the No. 3 priority to "improve availability and condition of community parks, trails, and neighborhood parks."

Current Outdoor Recreation Conditions

CiCo Park is the home each summer to hundreds of youth baseball and softball games at its five fields in the northeast corner of the park. City League baseball and softball games were rescheduled due to weather:

23% of the time in 2014. Of those, 80% were rescheduled again due to weather.
18% of the time in 2015 and 2016.

Meanwhile, at Twin Oaks Sports Complex where synthetic turf was added in 2016, 210 more teams played at the complex in the year following turf installation than the previous year.