Construction Firm Set To Begin

Final Work On Elm Drive Ball Fields

By Steve Bigham

The town-owned Amaral Property next week will officially be turned over to the Deering Construction Company to begin the construction of two baseball fields there. Town officials are hopeful that the fields, located along Elm Drive, will be open in time for games next spring, helping to ease the town’s ball field crunch.

Deering Construction of Norwalk is being paid $426,300 to develop the fields.

For the past several months, the town’s highway department has moved or hauled nearly 30,000 cubic yards of material.

“It was raw land and we were able to convert the land into a raised, dry, flat plateau to construct ball fields on,” explained Public Works Director Fred Hurley, who joined Assistant Town Engineer David Bratz in walking the site with Deering officials Monday morning. Also on hand for the site visit was Vinnie D’Angelis from the architectural firm of Millone and Macbroom of Cheshire, Parks & Recreation Director Barbara Kasbarian, Park Superintendent Ron Moffat, and Joe Tani, director of highways.

Using laser equipment, officials from Deering Construction measured the grading of the property and requested that town crews do “touch up” work in a few areas before Deering takes over.

“They were checking to make sure everything was okay. There were a couple of spots that we need to do some work on. We plan to do final grade next week, weather permitting,” Mr Hurley said.

Deering officials commended the efforts of the town crews, saying they did not know how the town got the grading job as close as it did with its lack of equipment.

“Most highway departments don’t get involved in a grading project like that. Those were completely open fields. We had to start from scratch. It was not an easy job in terms of site work. We don’t do it every day,” Mr Hurley said, commending the work of people like Mr Bratz, who also serves as deputy public works director, and Joe Pratt, the primary equipment operator on the site, who worked off consultants’ design plans.

In all, the Public Works Department did what amounted to nearly $250,000 worth of work that it did not anticipate doing. After the 2000-2001 budget was defeated the first time around last year, First Selectman Herb Rosenthal offered up the services of Mr Hurley and his staff as a cost-saving/budget-reducing measure.

In recent months, some residents and town officials have complained about what they consider to be an excessive cost to build the fields at that location, and some question whether the Elm Drive location is suitable for athletic fields. They point out that the cost to purchase the property ($400,000), Deering’s fee ($426,300), and the highway department manpower (approximately $250,000) puts the cost of the two fields at more than $500,000 apiece.

Still others argue that the construction of the two fields is absolutely essential as the town tries to overcome its shortage of fields.