- December 13, 2025
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While Manatee County hosted a workshop Aug. 18 at the Lakewood Ranch Library in east Manatee County to discuss three upcoming projects — baseball fields at Country Club East Park, soccer fields at Premier Park and the Cortez Marina Boat Ramp — the baseball fields were the most hotly debated project by far.
The county plans to convert the current multi-use field at Country Club East Park into three youth baseball fields. The fields will include bleachers, dugouts, backstops, perimeter fencing and expanded parking.
The estimated cost: $6.4 million.
But before any dirt is moved, two distinct sides are geared up for a growth battle — even over something as American, and as core basic work for municipalities, as youth baseball fields. Fights over projects in any part of the region, from Tampa to Naples, are relatively common; not far from the potential baseball fields, Manatee County is currently engaged in another dispute, this one over a roundabout. Taken in total, these disputes are a big reason why the phrase Not In My Backyard (NIMBY) has soared in popularity.
In the baseball fields debate, two factions of residents have emerged.
On one side, there are residents of Country Club East who want to preserve their tranquil, passive park. On the other side are parents desperate for more youth baseball fields to accommodate their children closer to home.
Lindsay Champion’s 6-year-old son Luke and 10-year-old son Jack play baseball with Lakewood Ranch Little League. She has to drive from The Isles at Lakewood Ranch to Buffalo Creek Park in Palmetto, north Manatee County, for practices twice a week. It's a 21-mile drive, often cluttered with traffic.
Despite the drive, she said her boys are lucky to have spots in the league. Parents “in the know” stay up until midnight the day registration opens for a new season, she says, so their kids don’t end up on the waitlist.
The county doesn’t have enough fields to accommodate all the children who want to play youth baseball in East County. Manatee County Deputy Director Bryan Parnell says about 200 kids landed on the waitlist last spring and fall.
Country Club East resident Darrel Drury used to play youth baseball. He loves the game and is not against more fields in Lakewood Ranch — just not at Country Club East Park. He says youth baseball fields are not an amenity that will serve his neighborhood well.
Some Country Club East residents say they enjoy the passive nature of the 15-acre park. They would prefer it not be further developed. But if changes have to be made, they’d like upgrades such as a bocce ball court or a walking trail with exercise stations.
Drury says even a multi-generational park with a tee ball area would work, but not three fields he says will flood the neighborhood with lights, noise and traffic.
What especially bothers Drury about the project is that he and his neighbors weren’t asked for their input on plans for the park.
“We had no idea this was going to happen,” he says. “One gets tired of having government agencies constantly coming at you with their plans for how you’re going to live your life.”
Residents argue that the plan goes against the county’s master plan, as well.
The 2021 Manatee County Parks, Recreation and Open Space Master Plan identified Country Club East Park as a “local park,” defined as a park “people can walk or bicycle to without encountering heavy traffic. It serves the population of a neighborhood or community in the radius of up to one and one-half miles.”
Parnell says the park is not exclusive to that radius. He used the example of the Cortez Marina Boat Ramp.
“We want input from everybody in the county because it’s a county amenity,” he said. “It’s serving people with boats that are out east, as well, and they’re taxpayers of Manatee County.”
County Administrator Charlie Bishop notes that the park was initially purchased in 2016 with the intent to eventually build it out with either soccer or baseball fields.
The Aug. 18 meeting’s intent, officials say, was to clear up any misinformation about the project, not to change course.
Residents were under the impression, for example, that the lights will stay on until 11 p.m. Molly White, Director of Sports and Leisure, says the county’s lighting is scheduled to operate until 11 p.m. across the board, however, the county does not schedule youth baseball past 9 p.m.
Alan Dolhi, president of Lakewood Ranch Little League, and Nate Carr, vice president, also attended the meeting.
Carr says the league pays for the lights, so they’re turned off when they walk off the field, which he says has been by 9 p.m.
White also notes the county is using top-of-the-line LED lighting that shines down exclusively on the field. The lights won’t project beyond 15 to 20 feet of the field’s perimeter.
As far as potential noise, Carr says the league doesn't use a PA system.
Some Country Club East residents remain unconvinced that the fields won't be a disturbance. They also find the $6 million-plus price tag exorbitant.
Drury says since Manatee County is currently undergoing a financial audit, they’ll be presenting their concerns to Florida CFO Blaise Ingoglia and the DOGE Task Force, as well. (Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed an executive order in February that stated, in part, that the “EO DOGE Team shall report any legislative recommendations to the Governor, the Chief Financial Officer, the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives” by Sept. 30."
Manatee county commissioners, meanwhile, still have to approve the final construction contract, which will likely happen by the end of this year or in early 2026. If approved, construction will start in early 2026 and take about a year to complete.
This article originally appeared on sister site YourObserver.com.
