 Fairboard chairman Fred Perry speaks to the media at Drillers Stadium on Friday. Tulsa County has put a survey on its Web site to get input from citizens on how the site should be used once the Drillers move downtown next year. TOM GILBERT/Tulsa World. | The corner of 15th Street and Yale Avenue has been home to a baseball park for 29 years.
The Tulsa Drillers moved into a brand-new Sutton Stadium in 1981. In 1983, the facility was renamed Tulsa County Stadium. And for the last 20 years, the structure has been known as Drillers Stadium, home of the Double-A Tulsa Drillers.
But come April, the Drillers are headed downtown to ONEOK Field, leaving Drillers Stadium empty and the property without a purpose.
On Friday, County Commissioner and fair board Chairman Fred Perry announced the creation of an online survey to get public input on how the 5.5-acre site should be used in the future.
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"We want the people to tell us how they think it should be used," Perry said at a press conference at Drillers Stadium.
Perry said survey respondents will not be asked specifically about the future of the Expo Square Health Center, which sits directly west of Drillers Stadium.
An official from the Tulsa City-County Health Department said earlier this month that the department could be moving out of its Expo Square facility as early as 2011.
Perry acknowledged that possibility Friday.
"At some point in the future it will be available," Perry said.
The fair board earlier this year created the Drillers Stadium Property Committee, a 20-member advisory body charged with coming up with ideas on how the site should be used. Perry said all options are being considered, but insisted whatever is constructed at the new site will not be paid for with tax increases.
Perry said the committee is expected to present its recommendations by the end of the year.
The Tulsa County Public Facilities Authority, also known as the fair board, will have the final say on how the site is to be used.
To complete the survey, go to www.tulsaworld.com/tulsacounty or call 744-1113, ext. 0. |