New Dugouts in Chesterfield Worth $440,000

An apparently unique in-house cooperative effort among Chesterfield's city departments has led to the building of $440,000 worth of dugouts for baseball-softball fields in Chesterfield Valley Athletic Center, city officials said recently.

Officials said the $440,000 price tag on replacing 16 cinder block dugouts with the newest color concrete block models was cost prohibitive, until they figured out how to do it in-house primarily, and buy the materials themselves.

See before, after, and during photos accompanying this.

With $32,000 from last year's parks funds, the city bought materials for most of the dugouts, but will spread out over time the labor by city workers.

The city's project management staff from Street Maintenance and Parks & Recreation cooperated in what they called the "off-season" to do most of the work.

Masonry was outsourced.

Four dugouts, at least, of the 16 to be replaced, will be finished up for the spring season starting soon.

Officials said that without the joint venture among departments, the project would not likely have been possible.

Play ball!