Before the ceremonial shovels can dig into the ceremonial dirt Wednesday at the site of Wichita’s next baseball stadium, the City Council has to approve some — but not all — of the ballpark’s design.
The Council on Tuesday is expected to approve $7.6 million to get the project going. In essence, the Council will be approving the location of home plate and giving the go-ahead for construction of stadium bones — site grading, utilities, infield walls, dugouts and dugout tunnels.
A groundbreaking ceremony is scheduled for Wednesday.
There’s little time to waste, as Wichita’s unnamed Triple-A baseball team is expected to play its first Pacific Coast League games in April 2020. The team will play its final season as the New Orleans Baby Cakes in 2019.
Location of home plate is designed to be south and west of the old Lawrence-Dumont Stadium site.
(Read more: Wichita Business Journal)