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ALLIANCE DONATES EASEMENT TO UAPB BASEBALL COMPLEX

By Amy Riggin/OF THE COMMERCIAL STAFF
Saturday, March 21, 2009 11:53 PM CDT

The University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff is one step closer to its $9 million baseball complex, with the donation of a property easement that will be used to construct a bridge connecting the ball park with nearby parking.

Lou Ann Nisbett, president and chief executive officer of The Economic Development Alliance of Jefferson County, signed documents recently granting Jefferson County the easement. The strip of land roughly follows the path of Caney Bayou from the Jefferson Industrial Park eastward several miles, crossing U.S. Highway 79-B near the Golden Lions Stadium and emptying into Lake Langhofer at the north edge of Regional Park.

Bill Jones, president of Sissy’s Log Cabin and a member of the baseball complex planning committee, contacted The Alliance about the possibility of donating the easement, Nisbett said.

“Executive officers of The Alliance and the Jefferson County Industrial Foundation met soon after the initial request and approved the transfer to further demonstrate our support for the ongoing development and expansion at UAPB,” she said. “We were pleased to be able to provide this needed easement access.”

Nisbett said the property was purchased in the late 1970s by the Industrial Foundation for a prospective industry that would have needed a pipeline easement to the Arkansas River. Though the industry ultimately did not locate here, The Alliance held onto the property.

Only an easement over a specific portion of the property — a total of about 170 acres — was deeded to the county, Nisbett said. The Alliance will evaluate “a suitable use for the remainder.”

Last year Pine Bluff native and current Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim outfielder Torii Hunter donated $500,000 to UAPB toward construction of the baseball, softball and little league complex that will eventually bear his name. It will be built north of Golden Lion Stadium off U.S. 79.

Plans for the complex were announced a year ago. The target date for the first phase, which includes the playing fields, scoreboards and dugouts, is spring 2010. The second phase will include stands, restrooms and concessions and an indoor practice facility.

“We need somewhere to build our baseball program,” Skip Perkins, UAPB athletic director, said in an October interview with The Commercial. “We’ve got some really good players and if you don’t have a home stadium, how do you recruit?”

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