Lengthy discussion over proposed Founders Park baseball field improvements culminated with the Islamorada Village Council voting 4-1 on a preliminary design at a Nov. 10 meeting.
A Monroe County School District-led project on Islamorada property seeks to inject more than $5 million in upgrades to the home of Coral Shores High School baseball. Preliminary plans, which were approved by the school board Oct. 7, include new dugouts and a facility behind home plate with concessions, press box and restrooms, among other improvements.
A new playing surface is also in the works for the ball players, but what type — natural grass or artificial turf — is still a subject of much discussion within the village. On the school district side, board members approved plans to proceed with artificial turf on the field. Pat Lefere, school district executive director of operations, said the vendor selection for the surface would come in early 2026.
“As the process continues, we’ll continue to involve village staff and council in those decisions,” he said.
A synthetic surface is desired by the high school baseball program for the safety of the players. Current and past coaches have said natural grass and difficulties maintaining a safe playing field have posed issues in past seasons. Some coaches have blamed the state of the playing surface for player injuries.
“My son tore his knee up on this field not once but twice,” said Doug Mientkiewicz, former Coral Shores baseball coach. “It’s unsafe the way it is now. The infield grass was replaced two years ago and it’s already covered in weeds.”
The village council’s vote supporting the preliminary design came with reassurance some members were seeking that a license agreement between the sides would be finalized in the coming week. The agreement between the school district and village spells out detailed specifics on the rights and obligations regarding construction and use of the baseball field, as well as the planned improvements.
The lone “no” vote was from councilman Steve Friedman, who said the license agreement should be finalized and approved by both the school district and village before any preliminary plan secured the go-ahead.
“I’m not prepared to move forward until we have a signed agreement,” Friedman said before his vote. “As much as I like or don’t like any of this design, I think it puts us in a weaker position.”
Mayor Sharon Mahoney said preliminary design approval is “not anything binding.” Rather, it gives village officials the ability to hash out specifics to the improvements and use of the field.
“I care about making sure we are protected as a community, the park is protected and the school gets the benefits as well,” Mahoney said.
Several members of a baseball field citizens task force also believed the village needed to finalize the license agreement before any approval of a preliminary design. Member Jamie Engel spent much time examining the previous license agreement dating back to 2001, which stated the baseball team had access to the field for practices and games Monday through Friday from 2:30 p.m. until the end of a game. Any other day and time outside that schedule warranted a request from the school district to the village.
Engel noted that not all village officials had a chance to review the license agreement. Village Attorney John Quick acknowledged that he hadn’t read the latest draft license agreement.
“To me, it’s not about turf or natural grass,” Engel said. “It’s about doing it the right way. The baseball field license agreement stipulates who pays for what, if something happens on the field, (and) how much insurance is going to be there if someone gets injured. It’s just all of the basics, it’s very specific.”
Task force members Alina Davis and Richard Black agreed with Engel that a license agreement needed to be signed off from both sides.
Pat Lefere, school district executive director of operations, said one of the bigger objections in the draft is a provision of written notice two years in advance should the school district seek to terminate the agreement for use of the Founders Park field.
“Having everything the school board has gone through in this particular project and discussions … finding somewhere else to play baseball in the vicinity of Coral Shores baseball, we think it would take significantly longer than two years to figure something out. We’d ask for something more than that,” he said.
Lefere added the proposed license agreement needs to be hashed out on other issues like maintenance costs. He said additional discussion is needed on a new provision for 30 days’ notice to use the field outside of baseball season.
If all goes as planned, Lefere said construction would begin once the 2026 high school baseball season ends, and that could be sometime between late April and mid-May.
Vice Mayor Don Horton made the motion to accept the preliminary design of the ballfield improvements. In his comments, Horton said the village will make the license agreement work for the citizens of Islamorada.
