Manchester-Essex Playing Fields Committee
Meeting Minutes
12/13/06
Members Present: Tom Kehoe, Tim O’Leary, Matt Casparius, Sue Taylor, Paul Goodwin, Michael Christopher, Sandy Bodmer-Turner, Greg Blagden, Tony Giedt, Hardy Nalley, Tom Arntsen
Guests Present: Tom Foley, Acting Assistant Superintendent of Schools, Vinny Orlando, Joe Sabella, Bill Scott, Ben Rossi, Rich Murlow, Tom Pallazola, Mike Athanas
1. Review of minutes from November 15th, 2006:
Sandy Bodmer-Turner made a motion to approve the minutes as presented. 2nd by Greg Blagden. Motion carries
2. Input from Previous Fields Committee:
Joe Sabella reported that he hopes that the lights on the current Hyland Field will be relocated to Brook Street. The lights are only six years old and still under warranty. Joe also reported that the previous fields committee had explored DPW site on Pleasant St site with the idea of moving DPW to the compost site. The Pleasant Street site has room to do two fields on it. Field is within walking distance of the school, which makes it an ideal location. Reported that Bob Moroney, DPW Director not in favor of this site as a possible field location.
Question from Tony Giedt, does warranty still apply if we move them to the Brook Street Field? Bill Scott responded that he was not sure and that we would need to confirm with Musco Lighting (company that lights were purchased from). Bill Scott also mentioned that we will need to do our homework with the neighbors to make sure they would be ok with moving the lights to Brook Street. Mike Athanas, a neighbor reported that there have been improvements to lighting systems since these were install which provide for better shielding and spillage so that they don’t disturb the neighbors.
Tom Foley commented that if Brook Street isn’t lighted, then High School Sports are dead in the water. There is simply too much demand on the fields not to have them lighted. He suggested that maybe we put lights at Brook Street as test run until the school building project is done and then revisit it at that time.
Ben Rossi reported that with the earlier committee, they had looked at Winthrop Field which had a lot of issues with it including Conservation restrictions. He also said that Winthrop Field can’t have anything built on it; even backstop or road. They also looked at Sweeney Park and suggested that maybe re-look at Sweeney Park and see if we couldn’t recreate more wetlands further back to make the current soccer field bigger.
Rick Murlow from the old Essex Fields Committee said that it was important for central management of fields, so that we know who is using what. We also need to develop long term irrigation and maintenance plans for all the fields.
Joe Sabella – Manchester Athletic Association had paid $25,000 in field maintenance 8 years ago. This money came from their various program user fees. Since 1998, he reported that DPW has had a maintenance budget for all fields. He suggested that we talk to Bob Moroney about Sweeney Park to see if we can make it an “As Built” so that we can move the soccer field back. An “As Built” Plan would make the field closer to a full size soccer field, although there was concern from some members that the sides may not be wide enough. If the field were able to be made longer, it would also eliminate having to remove the baseball fence. Ben Rossi also wanted us to check to see if when the field was built, did they use all land in original plan? He was not sure that they did.
3. Public Input:
Mike Athanas –5 Arbella - Lives by Hyland Field. Can sit in backyard with lights on and not even notice them on unless look at bulb directly. Willing to help talk to neighbors around Brook Street to gain support.
Tom Pallazola suggested that maybe we look at the front of Memorial School for a Softball Field instead of tennis courts. The Committee wasn’t sure a field could fit in front of the school, plus there would also be issues of safety (balls hit in the street, or kids running in the street) as well as aesthetic issues.
Vinnie Orlando asked what would happen to all youth sports with Hyland & Brook Street Fields closing at the same time. Tom Kehoe responded that the goal of this committee was to try to come up with both short and long term plans. In the short term, trying to find alternate locations for these activities so that events are not cancelled. Paul Goodwin also reported that there was lots of room in Essex now with a full size field for baseball and skin field for Softball can help take pressure off..
4. Election of Officers:
Matt Casparius has agreed to serve as Secretary of the Playing Fields Committee. Tony Giedt and Tom Kehoe have agreed to serve as Co-Chairs of the Playing Fields Committee.
5. School Building Committee Plans - Update as of 12/12/06
Tim O’Leary reported that the school building committee will be going before the Planning Board on Monday December 18th to give an updated proposal of what they want to do.
Matt Casparius reported that he met with architects yesterday and received new timelines for when fields were closing. He also reported that the current plan doesn’t officially include lights on Brook Street.
*April 1 for Brook Street
*May 1 for Hyland Field
Sandy Bodmer-Turner suggested that we need to make sure that the School Building Committee puts the lights on Brook Street in their plans for the Planning Board, even if they don’t currently feel that they can afford them. We will need that field to be lighted in we’re going to survive the next few years during construction.
Sandy also recommended that we send 2 –3 people to attend the Planning Board Meeting to speak to issue of why lights are needed at Brook Street and answer any questions. Greg Blagden just called Sarah Creighton on the School Building Committee and she has asked that the Fields Committee make an official recommendation to the School Building Committee to have them include the lights. Tony Giedt made a motion ask the School Building Committee to include lights at Brook Street. Motion 2nd by Sandy Bodmer-Turner
Tom Arntsen posed the idea of reestablishment of a baseball field at Brook Street. His thought was that if we could move the Soccer Field to Pleasant Street, we could reestablish the baseball field at Brook Street; although it would have a short left field fence. Tim O’Leary think it’s a shame that the town has lost 2 baseball fields and will go to zero with this project.
Proposed Amendment to motion-Tom Kehoe: That regardless of sport played, recommend that the School Building Committee have their architects place lights on plans in a fashion to allow for future modification and for multiple uses.
Tony Giedt made a modified motion that recommends that the School Building Committee have their architects plan for the placement of lights at Brook Street Field, which maximizes current planned uses and allows for potential future uses. Motion 2nd by Hardy Nalley. Tom Kehoe Withdraws 1st motion. Vote unanimous. Greg Blagden will talk to Sarah Creghton regarding our recommendation.
The following committee members will attend the Planning Board Meeting on December 18th – Sandy Bodmer-Turner, Greg Blagden, and Mike Christopher. Mike Athanas also will go as citizen.
6. Sandy Bodmer-Turner on Fields Surveys:
Objective to get to a set of numbers - # of fields, field hours, etc. for all sports. Each user group interpreted her form differently, so she made some assumptions about the actual use. Now that it is all down on paper, she would like user groups to relook at the form and see if the numbers for their respective groups are accurate. Tom Arntsen suggested that in the next version we may want to break out Babe Ruth and Mariners as they need a big diamond, whereas the others use a small field. Tom Arntsen also presented a table that he setup that shows field use by day of week and lists all fields. Sandy also asked that we get a master field schedule for Essex, similar to the one that Matt submitted.
Once we get all data from the various groups, Tom Arntsen volunteered to move the data into his schedule. Hardy mentioned that currently his sports are done by Memorial Day. It is going to be a major problem if they close Hyland Field on May 1.
Some possible field suggestions included moving Lacrosse to Field of Dreams 2 in Essex. Hardy said he will go take a look at the field and see if it will work. Tom Kehoe suggested that maybe we need to setup a bus tour in future so that everyone knows what all the fields actually look like.
7. Next Meeting:
The next meeting will take place on Wednesday January 17th at 7:30 p.m. at the Essex Elementary School in the Staff room.
It was also decided to conduct a Fields Tour on Jan 5th at 8:15 am. The group will meet at Dunkin Donuts in Essex.
8. Adjourned: 9:40 pm
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