By Bonnie Culverhouse

Members of the Minden City Council gave an unofficial nod to Mayor Nick Cox and Jason Boudrie of Synergy Sports during a workshop Monday evening to move ahead with plans to expand the site concept of the city’s 23-year-old recreation complex.

“We are still at a solid phase one in the discussion,” Cox told four of five council members and several interested citizens attending the workshop. “You’ll know before we make any large obligations. We don’t know exactly the cost. This meeting is to help you understand where we are at the moment.”

Moving forward entails asking Boudrie to work with the city’s accounting department, the recreation department, council members and the mayor to structure a plan that fits the needs of the city while becoming more of a tournament/sports/tourism focused facility.

Boudrie said renovating and expanding the current recreation complex would contribute significantly to regional sports tourism as well as being a quality-of-life enhancement to the community.

In his presentation, Boudrie showed a map that encompassed Minden as the center of what he referred to as a “draw radius” of 5.5 hours of driving time for tournament families.

“It would bring in families farther away than Dallas, Little Rock, New Orleans, Jackson – just to think a diamond facility in Minden would bring in tournaments from southwest of Houston is pretty powerful,” Boudrie said. “You offer the tournaments, the fields, things to do, places to stay and eat in Minden that a tournament organizer in Houston would bring a tournament to Minden.”

The radius also showed closer areas that would bring in teams that may only stay one or two nights, but would still bring money to the area.

Boudrie’s site concept shows a 30,000 square foot indoor field house, new parking and more.

“The indoor field house would include batting cages, concessions, maybe physical therapy,” Boudrie said. “Then you’re talking about adding football, flag football, field hockey, ultimate frisbee, all the other sports you can think of that can be played year-round. It would have more shaded structures and shaded seating areas … things that are going to make mom and dad want to come out.”

District E Councilman Andy Pendergrass works closely with the Minden Recreation Department and pointed out that one of the upgrades to the current complex would be turfing the infields with a new product that is comfortable and doesn’t draw heat.

“The outfields would still be natural grass,” Pendergrass said, “so we would not have the expense of doing a whole ball field.”

Adding a playground would also include equipment that could be enjoyed by special needs kids, he added.

“We have nothing like that now,” Pendergrass said. “If that were advertised, there are people traveling with special needs children or adults who would exit the interstate just to have the opportunity to stretch their legs in something like this.”

A miracle field expounds on that idea, he said.

“That’s a field where kids with special needs would be able to play ball,” said Pendergrass. “If you haven’t seen that, it will absolutely warm your heart.”

The next phase of the upgrade is economical. The estimate to complete the project is $15 million, and Synergy Sports is recommending a Public Private Partnership/Municipal Lease, as opposed to issuing bonds. See Tuesday’s Webster Parish Journal for a story concerning financial impact and financing questions concerning the upgrade.