By DONALD WITTKOWSKI
The Richard S. Grimes Athletic Fields complex is one of the main hubs for Ocean City’s sports community.
It serves as the home field for the Ocean City High School baseball team, which capped an incredible run in 2021 by capturing the Group III state championship.
Among other things, the Grimes complex also serves as the playing field or practice site for high school softball, Babe Ruth Baseball, a men’s baseball league, the Ocean City Nor’easters soccer team and the Jr. Raiders football program.
But the complex’s location in a low-lying area off Bay and Haven avenues between Fifth and Sixth streets often results in the grassy fields getting soggy or muddy.
Now, city officials are discussing plans to give the site a more than $4 million overhaul that would include regrading and raising the field to make it less susceptible to rain or flooding. New amenities are also under consideration, including better bleachers and bathrooms.
“We want to improve it. We’re going to look at the lighting, the bleachers and the restrooms. We also want to look at other options and amenities, including the layout and configuration of the field,” City Business Administrator George Savastano said in an interview Thursday.
During a City Council meeting Thursday night, one of the supporters of the Jr. Raiders youth football program urged city officials to improve the drainage system at the Grimes complex to get rid of the water that is making the fields so soggy.
“Right now, the conditions are very poor, at the least,” said Laura Wheeler, whose husband is a volunteer coach for the Jr. Raiders, a feeder program for the high school football team.
Wheeler told the Council members that the fields are so soggy that the Jr. Raiders have been unable to practice at the Grimes complex for days. Instead, they have been practicing on the beach, she said.
In response to Wheeler’s comments, Savastano explained that Mayor Jay Gillian’s administration wants to develop some concepts for the complex’s facelift. Then it will present those concepts to City Council and the public to gather feedback.
“What we want to do is to flesh out those concepts,” Savastano said in an interview after the Council meeting.
The athletic complex was named in honor of the late community leader, recreation advocate and mentor Richard S. “Dick” Grimes in 2008. Grimes was 96 when he died in 2014. His local achievements included helping to organize the Ocean City Youth Athletic Association in 1956 for baseball. He was also active in creating youth basketball and football programs.
Looking ahead, Savastano said it is possible that the Grimes complex may be redone in 2023. The city has estimated in its capital plan that the project would cost around $4.2 million.
City Council would have to formally approve a funding ordinance to pay for the project, something that is expected to happen in early 2023, Savastano said.
