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Township to re-sod Memorial Field
(by Megan Burrow - March 19, 2008)
For the past several weeks, the council and a committee of concerned coaches and recreation officials have debated what to do about the poor condition of the town’s playing fields.
In the spirit of moving forward to resolve the issue, the council took a straw poll Monday and decided to go out to bid to re-sod Memorial Field.
The vote came after a setback last week – a grant writer the council had recently hired to obtain money for upgrades to the fields quit because of concerns over the contentious nature of the issue.
The council is now looking for a new grant writer, but in the meantime with baseball and softball season set to begin, it must decide quickly how best to get the fields into playing condition.
“We’re back to ground zero,” Council President Joseph Giardina stated. He reported that the grant writer had given the council an estimate on roughly what money is available from the county. “It’s a pretty small number compared to what we’re looking to do,” Giardina said. “The council has to bite the bullet and decide [how to proceed].”
The field committee has expressed the desire to lay artificial turf on Memorial, a move they say will enable the field to withstand the wear and tear of the many teams that use it each year. However, with a cost of over a million dollars and no grant writer to secure the funds to help pay for it, new artificial turf would be at least several years away.
Paul T. Imbarrato, a resident and expert on field maintenance, offered his professional advice to the council. He stated that if the field was properly maintained, new sod could last several years. “It will be money well spent while you figure out where the synthetic turf is gonna go,” he told the council. He contended re-sodding Memorial Field would be the most expedient and cost effective way to upgrade the field in time for spring.
The council will review the bids in the beginning of April and if it decides to approve the new sod, it could be installed as early as the middle of May.
For more on this story read the March 26 issue of Community Life.
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