In building a minor-league baseball stadium, North Little Rock city officials and others envisioned a first-class ballpark with every amenity a limited budget would allow, and aimed for a certain ambiance to catch fans' eyes as they entered the stadium.
Achieving that vision meant building Dickey-Stephens Park's field, where the Class AA Arkansas Travelers play, 12 feet below street level. The layout gives game attendees a bird's-eye view of the field and a nice look at Little Rock's skyline across the nearby Arkansas River.
Hindsight is 20-20, North Little Rock Mayor Joe Smith said last week, as recent flooding on the river again produced large sinkholes in the outfield. Four sinkholes suddenly appeared during a Travelers game May 31, delaying play for 23 minutes, then again for 45 minutes before the first pitch the next day to allow time to patch the field.
The Travelers played home games May 31-June 2 and had a six-game home stand on the patched playing surface June 11-16. The team returns for home games Thursday.
The city spent about $450,000 in early 2016 to replace underground drainage pipes and repair sinkholes near the outfield walls that opened during river flooding in December 2015. Another $52,000 went to replace a water line and make additional drainage improvements. Through its independent Public Building Authority, the city owns the $40.4 million ballpark, which opened in 2007.
Sinkholes also appeared in 2008. Smaller ones were repaired during the 2015 baseball season.
"Obviously, the corrections we made three years ago when we had the floods aren't working at 100%," Smith said of the field problems. "One of the sinkholes was in the same location that it was in and has been in the past. The other was in a location that was not included in the redo, if you will, three years ago."
The ballpark's design and location so near the downtown riverfront should have been more thought out during its planning, said Smith, who was elected mayor in 2012. He was the city's governmental affairs director at the time the ballpark was being built, serving as the city liaison helping to oversee the 2006-07 construction.
"Probably somebody should have stopped us from going down that low that close to the river," Smith said. "We should have anticipated these problems. We all wanted that scene where you walk into the mezzanine, or promenade, and look down to the ball field. That was what we all wanted. It was the coolest one [design], instead of having fans walk in and having to walk up the steps.
"That was the mistake that was made, maybe to not go down so deep," he said. "We didn't, and we've got to fight the issues there and we will fight the issues."
Attempts at permanent repairs will have to wait until after baseball season.
Meanwhile, the Travelers' ground crew, led by veteran ballpark Superintendent Greg Johnston has patched the holes and kept the playing surface level and safe for players, Travelers General Manager Paul Allen said.
Johnston was park superintendent at the former Ray Winder Field in Little Rock for 30 years and has been at Dickey-Stephens Park since the Travelers moved there in 2007.
"He's done this before in 2015 and early 2016," Allen said of Johnston's experience in keeping the field repaired. "Right now it's patchwork. He's doing everything he can to make sure the field is safe and playable for the players."
Smith agreed. "Thank goodness for Greg Johnston. He's done it before, and he knows how to patch the sinkholes to get us through the season."
Smith and Allen said the continuing problem isn't a worry for the Seattle Mariners administration, which is the major-league baseball parent of the Travelers. The Travelers are under a two-year contract with the Mariners that runs through the 2020 season.
"The Mariners have 100% confidence in our grounds crew and our operation, and they know we do everything we can to make it safe for our players," Allen said. "They trust us. They're very comfortable with us."
Smith acknowledged that if the Dickey-Stephens playing surface became a real safety risk, the Mariners could choose to move its AA affiliation elsewhere.
"If it wasn't repaired, certainly," Smith said. "Their concern is the safety of the ballplayers, which is also my concern. If we weren't able to fix it where they could play ball and feel safe, yeah, there might be some concern [by the Mariners]. We're not going to let that happen.
"This is still one of the most quality AA ball fields in the country," Smith said. "We're proud of it, and we're going to keep it that way."
Smith has asked Allen and City Engineer Chris Wilbourn to reach out of state for consultant engineers and to major-league ballparks that are on riverfronts, for recommendations on solving the sinkhole problems. Wilbourn said the city has been in previous discussions with consulting engineers, but none have been hired.
"We're going to try to make it through the season and are looking at getting some assistance from a consultant," Wilbourn said.
The problem, though, is and has been flooding from the Arkansas River and the groundwater issues beneath the riverfront surface, Wilbourn said. The flooding in late May and early this month, cresting at 29.71 feet on June 5, was the highest river level recorded since 1945.
"Basically the river got up to the level of a 100-year storm," Wilbourn said. "The level got to approximately 5 feet above what it was in 2016. So we're having some of the same issues with the groundwater. And we're having to deal with some [outfield] wall stability issues. There are things I'm working on out there.
"The bottom line is we had an unprecedented flood," Wilbourn said. "It's a groundwater issue, and we are looking at remedial repairs after the end of the season."
Sunday on 06/23/2019