North Castle to Move Ahead With Artificial Turf at Two Town Fields
The North Castle Town Board unanimously agreed last week to contract with the engineering firm Kellard Sessions to prepare construction and bid documents to convert two fields at IBM Community Park from grass to artificial turf.
Last Wednesday’s action came about a month after the board signaled it would likely go ahead with the project for fields 1 and 2 at the facility on Business Park Drive. Using artificial turf is expected to provide increased playing time and reliability for the town’s vast array of youth sports programs.
Grass fields need more time to rest and must be allowed to dry out after rain, cutting down on their availability.
Other work connected to the project would include improvements for stormwater management systems and upgrades to the protective netting and backstops, dugouts and benches in addition to laying down the surface, according to the Kellard Sessions proposal.
Councilman Matt Milim, who helped spearhead the effort, said artificial turf would better allow the town to maintain fields given the demand from the public. The move to likely change the two fields’ playing surfaces came after it was ranked as a top priority in a parks and recreation survey to residents that attracted more than 600 responses earlier this year.
“The reason the turf makes so much sense here is because you can get seven times the amount of playability on it, which would enable us to rest the other grass fields,” Milim said. “Right now, we don’t have the capacity for the demand, and so what we wind up doing is overusing them and they don’t ever get a chance to rest.”
The estimated cost for the project is $2.7 million, including the $266,000 to Kellard Sessions for their professional services. That includes $125,000 for the bidding phase, $25,000 for the Stormwater Pollution Prevention Plan, $30,000 for the permitting phase and $86,000 for the firm’s work related to construction. Fields 3 and 4 will remain grass.
Town officials also explored upgrading the grass field at Lombardi Park on Cox Avenue, but estimates to complete that project were $3.7 million, which would have included extensive drainage upgrades and the need to build more parking, Milim said. As a result, turf at two of the fields at IMB Community Park was the preferred option, he said.
The decision to retain Kellard Sessions and pursue the project was supported by Councilman Jose Berra because of the reduction in maintenance costs. Matt Trainor, the town’s parks and recreation superintendent, estimated that the town would save about $60,000 a year in maintenance costs by switching to an artificial surface. Over the projected 20-year lifespan of the turf, that would equate to about a $1.2 million savings, Berra said.
Additionally, the town could use about $250,000 in recreation payments from the developer of Eagle Ridge, a proposed age-restricted townhouse community that is under review by the Planning Board, to further offset the cost, he said.
Having enough top-notch playing surfaces that can be used without the long interruptions caused by weather has been seen as a necessity for the town. Councilwoman Barbara DiGiacinto said as a retired high school teacher she recalled how critical sports programming was for some of her students and believes the children in town should have as many recreational opportunities as possible.
“I saw the athletic program at Westlake High School save so many children,” she said. “As I mentioned before, the coaches become the surrogate parents, the teammates became the surrogate brothers and sisters and they saved some students that I really thought we were going to lose.”
Martin has more than 30 years experience covering local news in Westchester and Putnam counties, including a frequent focus on zoning and planning issues. He has been editor-in-chief of The Examiner since its inception in 2007. Read more from Martin’s editor-author bio here. Read Martin’s archived work here: https://www.theexaminernews.com/author/martin-wilbur2007/