NATCHEZ — School and recreation leaders discussed potentially working together on the bean field property Friday, but several community leaders argued Natchez might not need new baseball and softball fields.

The Natchez-Adams School Board hosted a joint meeting with the Natchez Board of Aldermen, Natchez-Adams Recreation Commission and the Adams County Board of Supervisors at the Natchez Convention Center Friday to discuss the bean field property.

The state donated the 37-acre bean field location to the City of Natchez, with the stipulation the property only be used for recreational or educational purposes.

However, an interlocal agreement exists between the school, city and county boards that the bean field would be used for recreation. The recreation commission plans to use the bean field site for a baseball/softball complex capable of hosting out-of-town tournaments.

In 2016, the school board announced intentions to potentially use the bean field site to construct a new high school.

The school administration now has an approximately $45 million plan they are calling a “wish list” that includes constructing a new high school and renovating the old high school, West Elementary, McLaurin Elementary and Morgantown Middle School.

The boards discussed potentially attempting to obtain more of the land near the Natchez Trace to accommodate both, as outside of the bean field, 21.4 acres could potentially be utilized but is currently legislatively off limits because the site was a former early French settlement.

The settlement only takes up a small portion of the acreage and some leaders thought the city could potentially obtain the rest of the land for development purposes on the other side of St. Catherine Creek. However, Recreation Commission Chair Tate Hobdy said at this time it would be better to focus on the 37 acres currently available.

“In order to get that land to the east, you’d have to draft a bill that would go through federal congress and come back to the state for a vote,” Hobdy said. “I don’t know if we have the time frame for that.”

Hobdy said he was willing to work with the school board to share the land, but with the school board asking for up to 20 acres, he was not confident both would fit. The master plan for the recreational complex uses all 37 acres due to the unusual shape of the property, Hobdy said.

“Is there a way to do it?” Hobdy said. “I’m not an architect so I can’t answer with any type of authority.”

School board member Phillip West suggested both groups have their architectural consultants get together to see if a plan could be worked out, and Hobdy said the two boards could make that work.

However, some leaders, including School Board member Cynthia Smith, Alderman Dan Dillard and Supervisors Mike Lazarus and David Carter, suggested improving the baseball and softball fields the city has instead of building a new complex.

“When this began, I wanted to get fields for tournaments. But there are too many places hosting tournaments around here like Baton Rouge,” Lazarus said. “What we are proposing building would be just like everyone else has.”

Lazarus said the community would be better off spending money revamping the fields at Duncan Park, as those would be different compared to other complexes in the region and the atmosphere might help draw tournaments.

“Instead of fighting over a piece of property, let’s get the pool, the soccer fields and let’s fix the fields we’ve got,” he said. “Duncan Park is a treasure.”

Dillard argued spending $5.4 million on a baseball/softball complex might not be in the best interest of the community when a more practical solution exists at Duncan Park.

“What we have now is not tournament grade, but it could be made tournament grade,” Dillard said. “Then we can look at building a softball complex.”