Manchester Essex Playing Fields Committee
February 13, 2007
Essex Elementary School – Staff Room
7:30 p.m.
Members Present: Greg Blagden, Jim O’Neill, Tom Kehoe, Matt Casparius, Paul Goodwin, Jeff Jones, Tim O’Leary, Tom Arntsen , Sandy Bodmer-Turner, Sue Taylor
Guests Present: Tim Gates, Elizabeth Clark, Chris Nesbit, Ann Hagar
1. Review of Minutes of 1/17/07: Approved
2. Memorial Field Backstop
Matt Casparius announced that the Manchester Essex Rotary Club has told us that they are willing to donate $1000.00 to us for the purpose of installing a backstop on the Softball Diamond at Memorial Field in Essex. The Manchester-Essex Little League said that they would also be willing to donate money as well. Paul Goodwin says that he also has a little bit of money left over from his last field project that can go towards this. Consensus of committee is to build a permanent backstop, fence along back and benches. Paul Goodwin also wants to put the yellow padding on top of fence.
As a side note, the question came up about the backstop at Hyland Field and whether any part of that can be reused? We need to ask Hardy Nalley.
3. Field Use Survey: Sandy Bodmer-Turner
Looking at the Fall 2007 Field Schedule that Sandy Bodmer-Turner has compiled, with the new turf field at Brook Street will be used on weeknights from 3:00 – 8:00 p.m. (assuming there are lights at Brook Street) for Field Hockey and Football. If lights are not installed on the field then Hardy Nalley will need from 10:30 – 5:00 p.m. on Saturdays for those sports. In that event Junior Hornets will get bumped from Brook Street to Memorial Middle Field for their 5:30 – 7:30 p.m. time slot.
Junior Hornets also plays on Sundays at Hyland Field, which is not shown and will need to be put in somewhere. Maybe move Manchester Soccer Club to Memorial 1 outfield instead of Memorial Middle. Field of Dreams is currently setup for 4 fields. Essex Elementary can also be used on weekends for soccer.
At Brook Street, if we could expand the hours of light use till 9:00 p.m., it might ease up some room elsewhere. This whole schedule only really works if there are lights at Brook Street. If there are no lights, then the schedule will have to be redone.
4. Action Items;
The challenge for next meeting is to start filling in the blanks on the schedule - which grades at what time slots to ensure that the schedule truly does work (again assuming there are lights on Brook Street.
Greg Blagden will talk to Junior Hornets and Over the Hill Soccer League about Sunday Mornings and see if we can come up with a solution to this conflict.
Spring 2007 Schedule
What was emailed out to everyone should be the final schedule. Leagues should look it over one last time to make sure they have enough field time.
5. Brook Street Field Lighting
Current plan only shows 4 of the 6 lights being used. If we can convince the school committee to use all 6 lights it will illuminate the field better and create less spillage out into the neighborhood because they can be focused downward. The current light poles are 70 feet tall; however, the Brook Street field is approximately 10 feet lower than street level which means that the lights will only be 60 feet above the street.
The School Building Committee will be going before the Planning Board on March 12th to talk about the addition of lights at Brook Street. We have 4 weeks to talk to neighbors, gather information and figure out a plan of attack to ensure that this goes through. Tom Kehoe asked whether we sent letters to the abutters and/or have a meeting at someone’s house? It was decided to invite all the abutters to a meeting at the Manchester Community Center (have one on a weeknight and one on a weekend) to give the neighbors the opportunity to give their concerns to the project. It also gives us a chance to explain to the neighbors why having lights is important. Tom Arntsen suggested that we have a map available showing the location and hand out the list of frequently asked questions that we had generated. This will
hopefully alleviate their concerns and or give us time to prepare for the Planning Board Meeting on March 12th in case we can’t answer all of their concerns at the public meeting. Greg Blagden will check on possible dates with the Community Center and get back to everyone.
There was some confusion by the School Committee who didn’t think they were paying to move the lights. We need to check on this to make sure. Tom Kehoe will contact Sarah Creighton and find out.
Tom Kehoe had a list of other questions for the School Committee (not related to the lights). Particularly have they thought about parking for Football Games? What about bathrooms and bleachers for people watching the game?
The public meetings for the abutters on Brook Street will be on Wednesday Feb 28th and on Sunday March 4th. Greg Blagden will check with the Community Center and get back to us on the time slots. We will also have a committee meeting immediately following the Wednesday Night meeting to review how it went and prepare for Sunday’s meeting. Matt Casparius will get the list of abutters from the Assessors office so that we can send them a letter notifying them of the meeting.
6. Public Input- Tim Gates
Tennis Courts – Feels Committee needs to look at Tennis Court Location. Essex is actively trying to replace courts at Memorial Field. Essex is planning for a total of 3 courts with fencing and lighting. Already transporting baseball and softball and their price is cheaper than what the School Building Committee has been quoted to put courts in front of the Memorial Elementary School. Paul Goodwin reported that there are a lot of variables for 3 courts at the proposed site in Essex; there lots of marshland. Is feasible but lot of homework needs to be done first. Tim Gates said that if you have 3 in Essex and then add a third at Brook Street it should cover all without having to put courts in the bowl in front of Memorial School. Tom Kehoe responded to Tim Gates that this committee has not looked at Tennis because it’s
not an emergency. Athletic Field schedules are more critical at this time.
Ann Hagar said that she is working with Essex Youth Commission on the planning stages of building tennis courts and looking at grants from the US Tennis Association but no technical info has been created for the site as of yet.
7. Next meeting on Wednesday Feb 28th following the Public Meeting for the abutters.
Adjourned 9:50 p.m.
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