Construction delays will keep USF baseball, softball teams on campus

[Stier]

Due to construction delays, the USF baseball and softball teams will continue to play on campus for most of the season.

USF is currently in the process of securing all the proper building permits, which is holding up the start of construction. According to school officials, the delay is not expected to impact both teams opening next season in their new stadiums.

USF’s Board of Trustees approved building new baseball and softball stadiums in early December as part of the school’s $30 million Athletic District.

Tampa-based construction firm R.R. Simmons, which built the USF athletics training center in 2005, has been contracted to build the new facilities.

Due to the delay, the softball team will play its entire 2010 schedule at the USF Softball Stadium, including three Big East series—Pittsburgh (April 21), DePaul (April 24-25) and Louisville (May 1-2) – originally scheduled to be played at the Eddie C. Moore Complex in Clearwater.

As for the baseball team, the Bulls will now play UCF (April 6), Georgetown (April 9-11), Florida (April 21), Villanova (April 23-25), Florida Gulf Coast (April 27) and Seton Hall (April 30-May 1) at Red McEwen Field instead of the University of Tampa or George Steinbrenner Field.

With the revised construction date planned for the first week of May, the USF-UConn series (May 14-16) will be played at Steinbrenner Field.

http://www.tboblogs.com/index.php/sports/comments/construction-delays-will-keep-usf-baseball-softball-teams-on-campus/

[smazza]

why are there delays?

[Apis Bull]

There are almost always delays in construction.  The permitting process is never the same twice.

[Woogie53]

USF is currently in the process of securing all the proper building permits, which is holding up the start of construction. According to school officials, the delay is not expected to impact both teams opening next season in their new stadiums.

Smazza, that's the delay.

[Cubanbull]

The way both teams are playing this year, playing away might not be a bad idea.

[CousinRicky]

The way both teams are playing this year, playing away might not be a bad idea.

You can look at another way.  Why waste money renting other fields?  Much cheaper to lose at home than to lose at George Steinbrenner Field or UT.   

[Oldsmobull]

Nowdays it is a wonder any construction project gets completed because of permitting.  The baseball park might have 30 government agencies having to ok the project--you name it they gotta sign off:  fire dept., zoning, county, SWFWMD, school impact, gopher turtles, feral cat impact, utilities, DOT, regional impact, environmental, new laws etc, etc, etc.  What is amazing is that with such a slow down in construction in general now, it takes longer than ever to get things okayed in permitting process.

[CousinRicky]

Nowdays it is a wonder any construction project gets completed because of permitting.  The baseball park might have 30 government agencies having to ok the project--you name it they gotta sign off:  fire dept., zoning, county, SWFWMD, school impact, gopher turtles, feral cat impact, utilities, DOT, regional impact, environmental, new laws etc, etc, etc.  What is amazing is that with such a slow down in construction in general now, it takes longer than ever to get things okayed in permitting process.

The answer to that is "layoffs".  No one wants to pay taxes. They say government is too big.  So with a smaller government comes longer wait times for things like this. 

[mikebeau]

Nowdays it is a wonder any construction project gets completed because of permitting.  The baseball park might have 30 government agencies having to ok the project--you name it they gotta sign off:  fire dept., zoning, county, SWFWMD, school impact, gopher turtles, feral cat impact, utilities, DOT, regional impact, environmental, new laws etc, etc, etc.  What is amazing is that with such a slow down in construction in general now, it takes longer than ever to get things okayed in permitting process.

Construction has picked up.  The problem is that the county seems to base its staffing on 2008 levels, when the economy was at its lowest. 

Also, it always seems that if something is wrong, they deny the permit then put you back at the bottom of the pile.

[Apis Bull]

Actually, the slower construction is in general, the longer it takes to get permits and inspections are tougher.  The permitting agencies and inspectors have more time on their hands, so the tend to be a little more, "thorough".