The Cross Bayou Athletic Association Complex near Lake Seminole could get a $10.3 million overhaul that would replace six aging ballfields with seven new fields for youth baseball and softball, along with new dugouts, covered bleachers, batting cages and lighting. The plan also includes new concession stands, restrooms, a building for meetings and equipment storage, plus parking and drainage improvements.
The plans show four Little League diamonds arranged in a cloverleaf pattern, two softball fields and a dedicated tee-ball field, with four batting cages and covered spectator seating. Cross Bayou serves youth baseball and softball players across several age divisions, from children learning to hit a baseball to older players competing on larger fields. A two-story building currently houses offices, concessions and restrooms.
In 2017, Pinellas County commissioned an assessment of Cross Bayou and two other youth sports complexes in unincorporated Seminole, finding that all three needed major repairs and more playing space to meet local demand. By 2022, the county was describing deteriorating concession buildings, aging light fixtures and equipment that had reached the end of its useful life, with years of deferred maintenance creating potential safety hazards.
All three complexes were built before modern stormwater requirements took effect, and bringing them into compliance would require drainage systems that could take land away from the playing fields. To preserve as much space as possible, planners developed a coordinated approach that would concentrate baseball and softball at Cross Bayou, accommodate soccer and multipurpose sports at the Seminole Junior Warhawks complex and provide additional baseball, softball and football facilities at the Seminole Youth Athletic Association property.
The nonprofit athletic associations struggled to cover maintenance and repairs at the three complexes, and Pinellas County helped pay the bills. Commissioners established a special recreation taxing district in December 2023 to give the facilities a steady source of funding.
The county has set aside $10.287 million for Cross Bayou through its Penny for Pinellas infrastructure sales tax, representing more than half of an $18.287 million capital program for recreational improvements in the Seminole area. In 2022, the county projected that construction at Cross Bayou would begin in 2023 and finish by August 2026, but that deadline passed before construction had even begun.
Wharton-Smith finished first among six firms competing for the project, with county commissioners scheduled to consider an agreement with the company Nov. 17. The final construction price and start date have not been established.