nmayberg@breezenewspapers.com

An engineering and structural review study being conducted by Lee County has found a need to close the boardwalk at Hammond Stadium, where the Minnesota Twins hold spring training in Fort Myers.

The closure has led to the halting of spring training ticket sales for 1,700 seats in the Boardwalk section. The closure will not currently affect the remaining seats in the 8,730-seat capacity ballpark.

An engineering report hasn’t yet been completed and is still ongoing, Lee County Manager Roger Desjarlais told Lee County commissioners at a board meeting Tuesday. “We were hoping to have an engineering report ready for discussion today but it is not quite finished,” Desjarlais said.

“The public’s safety is our top priority. Lee County is committed to complete transparency as we investigate the issue,” Desjarlais said.

The closure of the Boardwalk does not impact current activities at the stadium, according to the county.

The county will post information and updates about the review at www.leegov.com/HammondStadium.

The stadium, which opened in south Fort Myers in 1991, underwent a renovation that added the Boardwalk in 2014-15.

“This is our primary concern,” Desjalais said.

“We are putting up a webpage dedicated to this topic,” he said.

Desjarlais said he has been involved in discussions with Minnesota Twins on the issue.

Deputy County Manager David Harner said the county entered into an agreement with Manhattan Constriction in September to conduct a structural engineering study at CenturyLink Sports Complex, which houses Hammond Stadium. The agreement followed work the county and Manhattan Construction conducted on the skywalk at JetBlue Park at Fenway South earlier this year.

The county’s agreement calls for Manhattan Construction to fix any construction-related issues at both facilities and for the construction company to hire a structural engineer and for Lee County to hire their own structural engineer to conduct a peer review of that study.

Manhattan Construction is also finishing up some renovations at the Red Sox stadium expected to be completed in January.

“Out of an abundance of caution, and after talking and conferring with our engineers — that is ours and Manhattan’s and including Manhattan in the conversations and the Twins as well, we have closed the boardwalk,” Harner said. “This is out of an abundance of caution. We don’t know what the ultimate outcome will be.”

“We did not want to rush the engineers,” Harner said.

Harner said the structural engineering review is continuing as well as a peer review conducted by an engineer hired by Lee County to review the work done by Manhattan Construction and their engineer.

Harner said the county is still in a structural review and peer review of CenturyLink Sports Complex.

Desjarlais said there are no indications currently spring training will be adversely affected by the work, just the number of tickets the Twins might be able to sell.

“Under no circumstance that we can identify now will this adversely affect spring training,” Desjarlais said. “People should come like they do every year and enjoy baseball.”