Young athletes in Coral Springs will have some sparkling new baseball fields for their games starting early next year.
The Coral Springs City Commission on Oct. 15 approved a $1.4 million contract award to remake North Community Park’s four baseball fields with kid-safe artificial turf, officials said. The commission unanimously approved the contract for AstroTurf Corporation of Dalton, Ga., which is slated to complete the work in early 2026, in time for spring baseball leagues.
The park’s current baseball fields are used seven days a week, year-round, and host multiple sports tournaments, recreational leagues, and resident play, officials said. That intensive usage has led to parts of the fields wearing out, along with drainage issues and uneven surfaces, with little or no downtime available for maintenance and repairs.
“We paid a little extra to get the better turf out there for better drainage,” said Coral Springs Parks and Recreation Director Rob Hunter, adding that some of the construction material helps absorb the Florida heat and makes the turf 10 percent cooler.
“It will be the same speed, but you won’t have all the bad hops,” Hunter said. “We spent years on this to make sure we got the right stuff for these parks.”
With turf, the fields will not require grass-watering, mowing, and other time-consuming work. That will free up city parks staffers for other duties, since dealing with the ball fields currently takes up around 40 percent of their time, Hunter said.
Part of the problem: Baseball fields at the park were installed atop coral rock, which ultimately created a host of problems, officials said.
“This solves that,” added Hunter.
He also addressed concerns about playability and safety on turf, telling commissioners the turf vendor performs routine field checks and uses on-site measurements of ball speed from home plate to infield positions, ensuring the turf plays at the same speed as dirt fields.
Local youth sports organizers urged commissioners to approve the project, saying their leagues lost a large share of field time this season because of wet fields.
Bruno Guzman, a 10-year-old baseball player who uses the fields, said “a lot of games and practices have been canceled or postponed because of the crazy Florida weather.”
“If having turf fields means playing more baseball with my friends, I will be a happy kid,” said Guzman, a fifth-grader at Eagle Ridge Elementary School.
Send Your News to Coral Springs’s #1 Award-Winning News Site Here. Don’t Miss Parkland Talk, Tamarac Talk, Coconut Creek Talk, Margate Talk, and Sunrise FL Talk.
Author Profile
Related
NewsOctober 28, 2025New Artificial Turf Ball Fields Coming to North Community Park Early Next Year
EventsOctober 24, 2025Chabad of Coral Springs Launches New “Kabbalah of Meaning” Course with Free First Class and Dinner
Crime & SafetyOctober 24, 2025Former PTO Treasurer at Imagine Charter School Stole $44,000 From Organization, Police Say
Crime & SafetyOctober 23, 2025Judge Keeps GPS Monitor on Coral Springs Man After Wife’s Mysterious Death
