Pueblo County officially ends Minor League stadium project
Last Monday, Pueblo County commissioner announced the minor league baseball stadium wasn’t going to happen as planned; this week, they put the final nail in the coffin.
The county voted 3-0 to end the deal with the Pueblo Urban Renewal Authority and a contract with a planning and legal services firm to continue work on the YES Project. The project was meant to bring the Orem Owlz to Pueblo, and a new stadium would be built near Lake Elizabeth.
People in Pueblo have known that the Owlz would no longer be making the steel city their home for a week, but the wound is still fresh.
“It would’ve helped people out here a lot, having a lot more people come out here having a lot more jobs out here,” says Pueblo resident Codi Fierro.
“It would’ve been a great deal down here,” says Pueblo resident and avid baseball fan Jim Morgan. “I thought they kind of had it figured out with the taxes, but evidently not.”
The disappointment stems from a press conference a little over a month ago where county commissioners and the Owlz Owner Jeff Katofsky promised they were bringing the team to Pueblo. After that, many in the area believed the move was a done deal.
“Sometimes enthusiasm gets in the way of real thought,” said Pueblo council member Bob Schilling, who says disagreements over how the stadium was meant to be paid for was the major downfall of the project.
“We got people saying there is enough tax revenue, and others saying no there isn’t enough tax revenue. But there weren’t enough answers compiled to make everyone feel comfortable.”
Schilling says the city’s goals haven’t changed despite the recent stadium woes.
“We need more sales tax revenue,” says Schilling. “We live off sales and we need to get more people to come off Interstate 25.”
Schilling says the city has made many steps to doing just that, especially with the recent construction and future improvements to the Riverwalk.
However, for some the recent stadium is just another major blow for Pueblo.
“I don’t know it seems like every time something kind of good is going to happen around here it goes away,” said Pueblo resident Jim Morgan.
