Push is on in Westford for new fields
14th July 2008
Nobody has to worry about that tired line from Field of Dreams, "If you build it, they will come."
They're already there, and they're waiting for new fields.
But all the soccer, lacrosse and football players must continue waiting while fundraising gets started to build two new synthetic turf fields off Nutting Road and to resurface the football field at Westford Academy.
Supporters still need to raise about $1.3 million of the estimated $2.6 million cost.
The first phase for two fields at Nutting Road is expected to cost between $1.5 million and $1.7 million.
Town Meeting in May 2007 approved spending $960,000 from the Community Preservation Fund for the Nutting Road fields. Westford Youth Lacrosse and Westford Youth Soccer have pledged a combined $300,000.
That leaves supporters with about $400,000 to raise from private donors for phase 1, which they hope to start next spring with a three-month construction timetable.
Phase 2 is replacing the high-school field with synthetic turf, a project that will take four to six weeks and needs to be done over the summer.
The Westford Fields Initiative Committee is developing its marketing plan so it can start fundraising by early September.
"We will not be asking taxpayers for money," said committee member Jim Geraghty, who is also a member of Westford Friends of Lacrosse.
Geraghty, Ken Hanly, the treasurer for Westford Youth Soccer Association and a member of the Community Advertisement Preservation Committee, Westford Academy Principal Jim Antonelli, and Westford Academy girls lacrosse coach Shaun Hart met this week with The Sun's editorial board to discuss the fundraising effort.
The committee's initial target is corporate sponsorship.
"We also are going out to individuals in town to raise money that way," Geraghty said.
It's important to plan the Nutting Road and high-school projects at the same time in order to drive the best bargain with contractors, Hanly said.
"You want to leverage three fields," he said.
Once the fields are built and the high-school field is resurfaced, the town should not have to worry about them for a couple of decades, Hart said.
"Twenty years is what every turf company will tell you those fields will last," he said.
The committee's public-relations campaign can be expected to tout the overall need for new fields and the benefits of using synthetic turf.
The town's existing fields -- including the high school, Parker Village fields, the Graniteville fields and Veterans Memorial field -- are all so heavily used that they are wearing out, the committee members said.
Communities such as Lowell, Tyngsboro and Concord already have synthetic fields that look great and are available to athletes long before Westford's natural fields open in the spring.
"You say to yourself, we're cheating our kids by not doing this, they are that good," Hart said.
Committee members minimized complaints from Timberlee Lane and Nutting Road residents concerned about the proximity of the Nutting Road fields to their homes, saying there is a tree line between the fields and homes to mitigate the impact on privacy and noise.
The fundraising appears to be a daunting task in a shaky economy, but committee members believe the money can be raised.
"I feel very confident we'll get to the finish line, but it's a marathon not a sprint," Antonelli said.
Source Lowell Sun, July 11, 2008