This letter was received for publication:

 

We, the Board of Directors of Newtown Babe Ruth League, Inc, are writing to express our concern for the future development of Fairfield Hills.

We believe there is one critical issue requiring primary consideration in the decision-making process: the present and future need for athletic playing fields to provide for the recreational activities of the children and adults of Newtown. While we can only speak in detail about the problems of Newtown Babe Ruth, we can assure you that our plight is shared by other athletic organizations in Newtown, including soccer, softball, and lacrosse.

Newtown has a shortage of athletic fields. Many fields now in use are either multiple use or restricted access fields. In multiple use situations, field configurations result in conflicts between sports. For example, Walnut Tree Field is used for both soccer and baseball. The field cannot accommodate both sports at the same time, so field use for each sport is reduced to part time. Restricted soccer fields result in even more conflicts. Any field on school grounds is a restricted access field. School teams and evening activities take precedence over recreational leagues, resulting in the cancellation or postponement of games and practices.

For example, at Hawley and Sandy Hook schools, fields are off limits whenever evening events are held. Our continuous use of these fields causes problems for the schools, the leagues, and even the field maintenance crews. Yet we continue to use them because the alternative (not playing) is unacceptable.

The problem is getting worse. Recently, many so-called “recreational” fields have become practice fields for various high school programs because of their own field shortages. Over the past several years, high school soccer, field hockey, and lacrosse have each used recreational fields such as Walnut Tree, the Middle School, Oakview Road, and Fairfield Hills for practices. This trend brings only more stress to the fields and more conflict to those organizations vying for the right to use them.

Because of these ongoing conflicts, the Parks and Recreation Department has suggested that the only solution to the problem would be enrollment restrictions for the various recreational groups. Since 1998, Parks and Recreation has asked Newtown Babe Ruth to restrict enrollment in our program. While we’ve resisted this, scheduled training during the season is now the exception, rather than the rule. The fields are now used almost exclusively for games – six, sometimes seven days a week.

In 1999, Newtown Babe Ruth offered kids from ages six to 18 the opportunity to play baseball. Our registrations numbered 872 – an increase of over 100% from only five years ago. There were 74 teams using 11 fields – often, sharing the fields with schools and other recreational programs.

The Connecticut State Department of Education has published enrollment projections for Newtown to the year 2010. In 1998 the enrollment was 4,513. The projected enrollment for 2010 is 6,348. This means that over the next 12 years, enrollment is expected to increase nearly 41 percent. On an annual basis, this means enrollment is expected to increase by nearly 153 students per year. If one were to carry this out to 20 years (153 students annually), enrollment in 2019 would be 7,573.

Over the last five years Newtown Babe Ruth has grown by 20 percent, per year, compared with actual school enrollment growth of four percent per year. While it is not realistic to assume a 20 percent growth rate over the next 20 years, it would be perfectly reasonable to expect that over the long term, Babe Ruth would grow at proportionately the same rate as school enrollment (approximately 41 percent over 12 years, 3.42 percent annually).

Based on our 1999 registration total of 372 kids, Babe Ruth registrations would grow by nearly 30 players each year, resulting in projected registrations of 1,472 in the year 2019. Remember, this is based on the much lower school enrollment growth rate projection of 3.42 percent, not the historical league growth rate of 20 percent per year. We would have over 125 teams, compared to 74 in 1990. If we did nothing to alleviate the current field shortage problem and maintained the team/field ratio as it was in 1999, (namely 11.75 players per team, and 6.7 teams per field), the league would look like this:

 

Total Number of Players – 1,472

Number of Teams – 125 or 126

Average Team Size – 11 or 12 players

Number of Fields Required – 19 (including 4 professional-size fields)

 

Of course, simple mathematics tells us that we would need at least seven additional fields to support this type of growth.

In short, here’s what we see now, and what we see for the future:

Newtown Babe Ruth requires the use of two additional fields next year.

Newtown Babe Ruth has been asked by Parks and Recreation to restrict current enrollment due to a lack of fields.

Newtown School enrollment is projected to grow nearly 41 percent over the next 12 years, projecting to nearly 58 percent over the next 20 years.

Even with conservative growth rates proportionate will school growth rates, Newtown Babe Ruth will grow to 1,472 players and 125 teams by the year 2019.

Regardless of ongoing field shortage problems, Newtown Babe Ruth will require at least 19 fields by the year 2019.

Seven additional fields, just for baseball!

The facts are clear – we’re facing a shortage of fields now. We’re going to experience tremendous growth over the next 20 years, requiring a significant investment in the creation of additional athletic facilities just to accommodate this growth. The Amaral property is expected to provide at best two or three playing fields of some sort. The most generous Fairfield Hills proposal provides only for the possibility of two new restricted access fields on the site of the proposed 5-6 grade school.

While our needs are extensive, there is a window of opportunity. Fairfield Hills offers us a unique, now or never opportunity to create a complex of multi-use fields, managed by the Parks and Recreation Department, capable of providing for the needs of our children and adults in the year 2020 and beyond.

A field complex is attractive for a number of reasons. It is the most efficient way to build additional playing fields, as it is significantly cheaper than building fields at multiple locations. A complex also provides for the most effective utilization of available space – multiple fields sharing one parking lot is certainly a more effective land use than say, ten fields with ten parking lots on ten separate tracts of land.

Similarly, a complex promotes a unified, planned solution, rather than a disjointed, fragmented, approach. In addition, a field complex is politically less cumbersome than a field-by-field approach, as zoning approvals, allocation of funds, neighborhood and security considerations, etc., would be dealt with only once rather than every time a new field was undertaken. From a maintenance standpoint, a field complex is likely to result in better field quality over single field construction, as mowing, irrigation, and other grooming issues would be more easily accomplished with centralization of fields.

Finally, a complex is more conducive to effective management as the Parks and Recreation Department can more readily monitor field usage and scheduling issues.

While a field complex makes sense for all of these reasons, the potential availability of Fairfield Hills makes an even more compelling case. Fairfield Hills is centrally located and easily accessible. Because its future is still in the development stage, Fairfield Hills offers us a clean slate, free from such considerations such as neighborhood constraints, parking configurations, lighting restrictions, and other issues hampering field development in established areas. There is simple water available for drinking and field irrigation. Much of the property is flat, free of overgrowth, and only in need of grading. And in a town currently ranked 29th out of 34 Connecticut towns in terms of leisure and culture (source, Connecticut Magazine, November 1998), Fairfield Hills can become a focal point, or crown jewel, in Newtown’s effort to market itself as a town attentive to recreational and leisure needs.

For all of these reasons, a field complex at Fairfield Hills makes perfect sense. Accordingly, we urge you to bear in mind our critical need for a complex of athletic fields when considering the fate of Fairfield Hills.

It’s still possible that one of the developers before you now will make an accommodation for several additional fields in their proposal. Several fields will not suffice. We believe that a centralized field complex, managed by or in conjunction with the Newtown Parks and Recreation Department, represents the ideal approach to satisfying the town’s present and future needs for additional athletic fields well into the 21st Century.

Thank you for your consideration.

 

Sincerely,

Newtown Babe Ruth League, Inc

Dennis LaPak, President

Robert Elias, Vice President

Jack Vichiola, Secretary

Jeff Leja, Treasurer