On a weekday afternoon, people went on runs around Memorial Field, little league baseball players filtered in and the park teemed with life. But its future remained in limbo.
This week, the Concord Board of Education Committee discussed one of the most pressing issues affecting students: the conditions at Memorial Field. The track has been deemed unfit for competition, and the bleachers are due to be removed for safety reasons. At the same time, construction of a new middle school will take the fields at Rundlett out of play for the foreseeable future.
With budgets already tight across the board and athletic space running low between Memorial and Rundlett, they discussed hitting the brakes on a full overhaul of Concord’s athletic facility in favor of addressing only pressing needs at a much lower cost.
School Board member Barb Higgins said she spoke with Mayor Byron Champlin, City Manager Thomas Aspell, the school district Athletic Director Steve Largy and Parks and Recreation Director David Gill about options for the park.
She said they all thought it would be best to prioritize the most pressing needs affecting the park currently, rather than locking in what had originally envisioned as a complete overhaul costing as much as $31 million.
“We would recommend that the project go back to the city, David Gill, and the athletic department, Stephen Largy, and that the two of them, with whatever input they need, come up with a plan by June 30th that addresses and prioritizes the urgent needs,” Higgins said. “Which includes the track facility, the infield, the lighting, the bleachers, and drainage. Just those things.”
The school district and the city are already pursuing costly construction projects, including a new golf course clubhouse at Beaver Meadow, a new police station downtown, and a new middle school.
All of those projects have already been approved and are in the works. Combined, they will cost about $200 million.
Higgins said focusing on the problem areas at Memorial Field would allow students to get back on the field as fast as possible while being mindful of mounting costs on taxpayers.
One idea would be to make one multi-purpose field large enough for soccer, lacrosse, field hockey, football and a wider track. This would be similar to the first phase of the complete park project, called Option A, without many of the other components addressed immediately.
Another important change school board members discussed was regarding transportation. Because many of the areas at Memorial Field are unusable for competition and for some types of practice (no spikes on the track, for example), getting students to their practice fields has presented challenges.
Largy explained that high school track and field students were training up at Merrimack Valley with other athletes using the National Guard Field in Pembroke.
He asked the district to provide greater flexibility in transportation outside of just buses, allowing for parents, students and others to transport themselves for certain athletics events. This was already happening for members of the field hockey team, who were using Rollins Park, according to Largy.
“We anticipate with the [Middle School] situation and the building that’s going to be taking place by the end of the month, and being displaced off those fields, there is going to be a greater need for transportation,” Largy said. “And then couple that with the unexpected removal of the bleachers, which is going to impact us in the spring and no doubt going to impact us in the fall as well.”
The City Council will hold a public hearing during its regular monthly meeting on Monday at City Hall to appropriate $385,000 for the removal of the football field bleachers and the middle infield bleachers at the baseball field.
