The Crystal City Council has approved a rezoning request for a piece of property neighboring the St. Pius X High School campus, where a ballfield is planned.
Council members voted 6-0 Jan. 23 to rezone the 3.63-acre plot from C-2 commercial to M-1 light industrial.
St. Pius officials requested the rezoning on behalf of the Amed family, current owners of the property near the intersection of Hwy. 61-67 and St. Pius Drive in Crystal City.
Jim Lehn, St. Pius president, said school officials hope to buy the land and build a new ballfield there for the Lancer baseball team to use.
“We are still actively pursuing the purchase of the property and hope the rezoning will help in the process,” Lehn said.
He said St. Pius already has a baseball field on campus, but its location is not ideal. The field is not far from the school’s soccer field, and balls hit into the baseball outfield can reach the soccer field, which causes a problem if both teams are practicing or playing at the same time.
Lehn said purchasing the Amed property would solve that problem and offer other perks.
“(Building at the new location) will allow us to convert the current baseball field into a football field with a track around it,” he said. “The new property will only house a baseball field. Soccer would then be played at what is now the football field.”
The school’s softball team has its own field on the opposite side of the high school from the existing football, baseball and soccer fields, Lehn said.
Council members Jack Ginnever and Mary Schaumburg, both of Ward 1, did not attend the meeting.