Kingston City Council voted 10-3 in favour of keeping the temporary fence around Kingston’s historic Cricket Field at Tuesday night’s meeting, with staff directed to report back with options in early 2025.
The fence was originally erected to make the field suitable for the Kingston Baseball Association to play host of Little League Canada’s national championships in summer of 2024, with the fencing -promised as temporary- being a part of the $900,000 spent on diamond renovations.
A motion presented by Councillor Don Amos called for consultation with the Sydenham District Association and the Kingston Heritage Properties Committee to consider keeping the outfield fence permanently or on a special events basis, and for council to explore those options or potential relocation of the fence and report to council in 2025.
Emma Lambert, Manager of Sports Partnerships with Tourism Kingston, said having already spent the money to renovate this field, the city should prioritize making the most of that investment.
“Removing the outfield fence would significantly decrease both the value and utility of this revitalized field,” Lambert said.
“It’s important we evaluate the opportunity this significant sport investment presents our community moving forward.”
In a presentation to council, Lambert said the tournament resulted in $1.25 million in direct spending and $2.3 million in overall economic impact, and said because of the success of this summer’s event Kingston has been shortlisted to host the U13 championship next summer, with Cricket Field’s usability being an integral factor in that.
While Tourism Kingston and Kingston’s baseball community advocated for the fence to stay in place and fro Cricket Field to be upkept as a premier baseball field, some residents of the neighbourhood spoke against the proposed motion, saying that Kingston City Council should follow through with its earlier promise to remove the fencing after the tournament.
David Gordon, a resident who said he lives blocks away from Cricket Field, said there has already been enough public consultation, and residents want the field gone as promised.
Gordon said the field is meant to be multipurpose, and the fence gets in the way of that and actively stops adjacent schools from using the space as they used to.
“A large part of this playfield at Barrie and Court Street that was formerly used by the schools is now fenced, locked, and gated, and inaccessible to the children of the community,” Gordon said.
“Because the outfield fence, which was agreed to be removed, is not.”
City staff suggested that the field could be unlocked when not in use so the public could utilize it.
Martha Vosper, former chair of the Sydenham District Association, added that the field is a part of the district’s heritage and said council needs to follow through with the agreement made in 2022 meetings.
“This park is a huge piece of our heritage, it is a huge piece of what we are in Sydenham District,” Vosper said.
“If it’s only $10,000 to build a temporary one, then I am sure that we can make that happen.”
Although some councillors felt the city should stick to its original promise of removing the fence, the majority agreed with the potential to host more tournaments in 2025, the work involved wouldn’t be worth it.
