City Nixes Kramer Fields Second Entrance Idea

It looks like the Harvey Redmond Bridge, and its planned replacement, will remain the only access point to the Kramer Ball Fields.

Kent City Manager Dave Ruller wrote on his blog Kent360.com recently that the city is unable to add a second entrance to the baseball fields.

Kent City Councilman John Kuhar asked city administrators in December to review the possibility of building a second entrance to the ball fields, which are cut off from Fred Fuller Park and isolated by the Cuyahoga River and the CSX Transportation railroad tracks.

The only entrance to the ball fields, the Redmond Bridge, is closed until it can be replaced in 2013. Because of the bridge closure, the fields have been rendered useless.

Kuhar suggested simply cutting across the railroad tracks with an at-grade gravel road from the former RB&W property, which the city has agreed to buy, off Mogadore Road.

Ruller wrote on his blog Wednesday that the CSX railroad policy discourages the idea of a new at-grade crossing from the former RB&W site to the ball fields.

"We were given the impression that CSX policies strongly discourage any new at-grade requests and the timeline for considering such requests is usually multi-year," Ruller said. "The feedback we got from CSX was pretty clear and I don’t believe that a new at grade crossing is going to be feasible for secondary access into Kramer fields."

Click here to read more about the railroad's requirements for adding a new at-grade crossing that would include closing three existing crossings in the city.

"It never hurts to ask, but unfortunately this time we didn’t get the answer we were hoping for," Ruller said.