Next Pitch for a Pro Baseball Team is a Change-Up

The next pitch for professional baseball in San Rafael is a change-up.

Centerfield Partners LLC, the Dublin-based partnership proposing a North American League professional baseball team in San Rafael, has recently downsized its plans to avoid costly and time-consuming studies and environmental review.

It revealed substantial changes to its ambitious application to field a team at Albert Park.

The initial proposal included expanded seating, renovated bathrooms, new netting and parking arrangements to accommodate the crowds during the 45-game season that was to start in spring 2012 at the 60-year-old park.

San Rafael City Council members and opponents of the proposal balked at the plans. The Council in August said it could not approve the proposal without environmental review.

"We essentially propose to use the park 'as is', with limited seating expansion and no change to existing perimeter fence lines," Centerfield Partners' Chief Executive Officer Brian Clark said in a letter to San Rafael Community Services Director Carlene McCart.

Brian Sobel, the Petaluma consultant representing Centerfield Partners, said the revised plans will "obviate the need for an environmental review" and treat Centerfield Partners just like any other applicant that wants to use the baseball field.

The revised proposal will be aired at the Sept. 19 San Rafael City Council meeting.

Instead of seating for 1,500, the seating capacity will remain at 700 seats with perhaps 100 field level seats to accommodate standing room only crowds at championship games, Sobel said.

Centerfield Partners considered doing the initial $30,000- $40,000 study of the project's impacts but decided against it because of the significant cost and the prospect of delaying fielding a team until 2013, Sobel said.

"When you add the time and expense, it's just not palatable to put a team in San Rafael," Sobel said.

The revised proposal means Centerfield Partners "will come in under the current rules and regulations that apply to any applicant," Sobel said.

That means Centerfield Partners would have a one-year non-exclusive lease for the ballpark starting Sept. 30, 2012. A three-year lease was in the initial proposal.

In the new proposal, there will still be a 45-game season between May and September, and Centerfield Partners will still pay $80 per field hour and an additional $40 an hour when lights are used.

Centerfield Partners also proposes a new backstop net to replace chicken wire, a new field level fence in front of the dugouts for player safety and a spruced up grandstand, dugouts and locker rooms.

The perimeters of the facility will remain as is.

Opponents of the project cited noise, traffic, parking problems on nearby streets, alcohol consumption, safety and security.

Centerfield Partners now proposes free parking at the San Rafael Corporate Center. The team would not use the Community Center Parking lot.

There will be no music or on-field entertainment after 9 p.m. and Centerfield Partners will hire a local security firm for the parking lot, around the ballpark perimeter and inside the park. Tailgating will be prohibited under the revised plan.

There will be temporary concessions, including sales of beer and wine, in the existing areas within the fence line.

Alcohol consumption will be prohibited in the parking lot and around the ballpark perimeter, no one will be allowed to bring alcohol into the park and alcohol sales will stop after the seventh-inning. No on will be served more than two drinks at one time, under the new proposal.

"By bringing our application completely in line with historically permitted use...we believe it should be reasonable for the city to find our proposed use is an acceptable use of Albert Field," Clark said.

Bay City News Service