Gainesville — In debating the fate of Gainesville’s historic Locke Field, Gainesville residents and officials have shared common ground on one point: the field is beloved.

Opinions differ when residents discuss the place it has in the city’s future.

Locke Field, which spans more than nine acres and opened as an athletic facility in 1946, is also a plot of land that members of Gainesville’s city council and economic development corporation feel would best serve the area as a site for new apartments.

“This project, if done, is going to generate about a quarter of a million dollars of tax revenue,” Mayor Jim Goldsworthy said during Tuesday’s special public hearing on the matter.

Representatives of Richard Brown Property currently have the city-owned property slotted as the new abode for a 144-family complex. The apartments are merely proposed; no decision has been made, and Gainesville City Secretary Kay Lunnon confirmed Friday that officials have still reached no firm timeline of action or schedule of development.

And as a proposal, the development suggests ample city revenue to officials while some residents feel it will dismantle a legacy.

“If this is a historical site, then once you take it down, you’ll never get it back,” Jeff Koval said Tuesday. “You’re losing history.”

But nobody vocal on the subject has rejected the notion of bringing new apartments into Gainesville city limits, and nobody has denied Locke Field’s legacy status.

“It’s a cool stadium and it looks neat,” Goldsworthy admitted Monday, also explaining that officially, it generates only dollar per year in revenue.

He added that Locke Field property could bring in much more money as housing for locally employed people who have ample incomes and the yen to spend, yet commute to work because they have no local residence.

The mayor enlisted research from Gainesville Economic Development Corporation Executive Director Kent Sharp, who cited an average weekly income of $850 among Cooke County residents and a 78 percent increase in city sales tax revenue since September 2011.

“Change is difficult,” Goldsworthy said. “But we’re trying to capture some folks who are trying to take advantage of our 4 percent unemployment rate.”

During the Tuesday meeting, visitor Robin Rose suggested that instead of demolishing Locke Field to install new apartments and lure commuters, city officials should encourage local realtors and landlords to improve some of the houses and apartments that already exist in town.

“Why that area when there are so many other areas available?” Rose said.

Goldsworthy credited her idea, but said the key advantage to immediately developing Locke Field into something else is that the city already owns the land. City Manager Barry Sullivan later explained that if the new housing complex is built, Gainesville Independent School District would benefit favorably by gaining an extra $130,000 per year in property tax revenue.

Gordon Smith, formerly a Gainesville High School teacher and Gainesville City Council member, also spoke Tuesday. He admitted some facilities such as parks and baseball fields may exist in a city without bringing it revenue, but they carry their own value as recreational land and deserve to remain upheld. He said a former English student once wrote of Locke Field in an essay as a favorite place, and that he has heard many enthusiastic comments about the field from local and distant lovers of baseball.

“It’s a focal point of nostalgia, focal point of history, a focal point of memory to many generations who grew up in this town,” Smith said.