Currently Hotchkiss Home Plate has access to only 5 fields for practice and games. Two fields are located at the Delta County Fairgrounds and are appropriate for ages 9-12. Three fields are located at the Hotchkiss Elementary School. Of the three fields at the elementary school, two are located in the playground area and are appropriate for ages 5-8. The third field is located below the gymnasium and is appropriate for boys ages 13 and up.

Hotchkiss Home Plate typically has 14-15 teams consisting of approximately 170 boys and girls. Many of our volunteer coaches have jobs which limit practice time from 3:00 p.m. to dusk. Due to the limited field availability, it has not been uncommon to have one team on each field at the fairgrounds and two teams trying to fit a few extra minutes of practice into the parking lot or outfields. Additionally, practice length is most often limited to one hour in order to accommodate all teams.

In order to improve field availability, Hotchkiss Home Plate has been working with the North Fork Pool Park and Recreation District (NFPPRD) to investigate the possibility of adding two fields to the Crossroads complex located adjacent to the Hotchkiss High School. A total of 7 fields would provide sufficient capacity for both games and practices. NFPPRD can provide the land, but does not have the funding to build or maintain the fields. Funding will need to come from private contributions and grants. The primary grant source has been Great Outdoors Colorado (GOCO) which receives funding through the state lottery. GOCO will not consider grants from the NFPPRD without a Master Plan. The NFPPRD is currently working on a Master Plan and expects that it will be complete in the near future. If youth sports are not indicated as a priority on the Master Plan, receiving GOCO funding will be less likely. Even if GOCO funding is available, GOCO does not pay for the project entirely; generally 30-50% of the project must be paid for by public entities, private donation or in-kind work. In-kind work must be provided under the umbrella of a licensed and insured contractor.

Delta County, as owner of the County Fairgrounds in Hotchkiss, is currently in the process of updating the Fairgrounds Master Plan to incorporate the recently acquired 19 acres between the east boundary of the fairgrounds and Highway 192. The review of the Fairgrounds Master Plan will examine a variety of options to expand existing uses and incorporate new uses and features to the fairgrounds. This review will consider the future use of the ball fields including, but not limited to, maintaining current status of the ball fields, updating, or relocating the ball field on the fairgrounds property, or removing the ball fields with the hopeful relocation at other offsite locations. The timeline for implementing any improvements or changes yet to be identified in the updated Fairgrounds Master Plans has not yet been determined. As of March, 2010, it is likely that any significant changes are much more than a year of two away. If the baseball fields at the Delta County Fairgrounds are eliminated, Hotchkiss Home Plate will be unable to provide baseball and softball for children in the 9-12 age groups

Ideally, if the two fields at the fairgrounds are eliminated, Delta County would provide in-kind services and/or monetary assistance in a quantity sufficient enough to obtain GOCO grant funding for two fields at the Crossroads facility.

Please keep in mind that Hotchkiss Home Plate feels that a total of 7 fields are required to adequately support our programs. This means that if the two fields at the fairgrounds are eliminated that a total of four new fields must be constructed.