Boone County is purchasing Rivershore Sports Park as a means of expanding its parks footprint.
Located at 7842 River Road in Hebron, the 38-acre Rivershore Sports Park features six youth baseball fields—four of which have LED stadium lighting to host nighttime games—a paved parking lot, pavilion building, concession stand, storage shed and newly built restrooms.
According to Parks Director David Whitehouse, participation in Boone County’s youth sports programs is on the rise. This rise of involvement coincides with the growth of Hebron as a community. As such, Boone County Parks was in search of another facility for youth sports programs in Hebron to use on a regular basis.
“If you go to Central Park (in Union) right now, there is somebody on every field and we’re playing multiple games there every night,” Whitehouse said.
On Tuesday, the Boone County Fiscal Court passed a resolution approving the purchase of Rivershore Sports Park for $750,000 from the Boone County Knothole Association, a nonprofit youth baseball entity.
“The complex with its associated assets have been extremely valued to our program and has the potential to bring even more programming, passive recreation, and connection to the river to the people of Boone County in addition to the already valuable sports fields and facilities,” Boone County Administrator Matthew Webster said.
Webster said Boone County Knothole approached the county staff two years ago to advise them that the association could no longer manage or contract out the facility. The Boone County Parks Department had been leasing the complex from Boone County Knothole for the past few years.
This past summer, Boone County Knothole notified county staff of their intention to sell the property. Their preference was to offer it to the county first before placing it on the open market in 2025, Webster said.
Upon learning this, Boone County hired a state-qualified property appraiser to assess the value of the land. The appraiser estimated the property’s value at $880,600. If the land sits vacant, its appraised value is $565,000.
In comparison, the appraised value of the land and assets if the county were to acquire the property and build new facilities would be $2.35 million.
Webster noted that Boone County’s 2024-2025 budget includes a line item that would finance the acquisition.
“There is no negative impact to the approved budget,” Webster said.
Through the existing leasing agreement, Boone County allows youth baseball and football programs to use Rivershore’s facilities. Whitehouse said Rivershore has already hosted 64 youth football practices throughout October.
“The asset — having four lighted baseball fields is such a great addition to our county,” Whitehouse said.
Boone County Judge/Executive Gary Moore called the acquisition a “no-brainer.”
“We have more children and need for youth programs than we have fields now,” Moore said. “To be able to ensure that these fields stay in service and that we control the scheduling of them, six fields; we know we couldn’t build them for these costs.”
