LETTER: 'Keep Featherland Park a Multi-Use Resource'

Photo: savefeatherlandpark.org

Submitted by Mark Waiting:

Featherland Park’s 50-year history as a park enjoyed year-round by all of Sudbury’s residents is in danger and very few people know about it. Efforts are underway to replace Featherland’s four tennis courts with two small Little League baseball fields to be used only by 6 and 7 year olds. This would effectively turn a town resource enjoyed by people of all ages and genders into a baseball complex that caters to a select population.

News of the proposal has not been widespread outside of baseball circles. It came to light for a limited number of residents who live within 300 feet of the park less than a week before an Oct. 5 meeting held by the Parks and Recreation Commission to discuss the plan. Clearly, this excluded from the discussion the many Sudbury residents who have enjoyed playing tennis at Featherland through the years.

In addition to replacing the four tennis courts with two Little League fields, the pending plan would also expand the existing baseball field at Upper Featherland and remove seven mature trees – actions that will irreversibly change the park’s landscape and the scenery along Sudbury’s Morse Road.

The Parks and Rec Commission has the authority to approve this plan without community input, but this article is intended to at least bring the plan to the attention of the many residents who will be affected by it.
Following the Oct. 5 meeting, a group of concerned Sudbury residents began studying the issue and looking for ways to maintain Featherland’s status as a multi-use park with year-round activities for a broad spectrum of Sudbury citizens. In the process, we found several reasons to be concerned about the haste with which the plan to build the Little League fields has been pulled together.

First, it is unclear that our 6 and 7 year old Little Leaguers needs can’t be met at existing fields. Members of the Sudbury Youth Baseball League contend that the existing Little League fields, located primarily at the Noyes and Nixon schools, are unsuitable and difficult to maintain given regular wear during recess by elementary students.

When we visited the fields this week at Noyes, it appeared they hadn’t been maintained since spring. We were shocked to see how nice these fields were and there was no sign of any damage from children playing at recess. If the problem is having these fields available to children who do not participate in Little League, then will the proposed new fields at Featherland be closed to the general public?

In the spirit of providing the widest array of sports opportunities to the broadest array of people, it would seem logical to refurbish and maintain the school fields where 6 and 7 year olds are already playing and do likewise with the tennis courts.

Second, the cost of refurbishing the existing tennis courts at Featherland has not been determined by the town. When the nets and fences were removed earlier this year, published reports stated that the existing courts were beyond repair and that the cost to replace them would be $100,000. However, the Parks and Recreation Committee did not solicit quotes from tennis court repair firms to confirm this amount was accurate and the courts were indeed beyond repair. Independent quotes, including from the firm that recently resurfaced the Feeley tennis courts , are considerably lower if the courts are resurfaced. J.G. Coffey, the tennis court specialist that resurfaced the Feeley courts, indicates resurfacing is an option for the Featherland courts. If the courts are resurfaced, an option which should be discussed, the cost would be $22,500 at prevailing wages and a new fence would cost an incremental $28,500, for a total expense of $51,000.

Third, no traffic or parking study has been conducted to ascertain the impact to roads near Featherland, and per the Parks and Recreation Committee, none is planned despite requests from residents in surrounding neighborhoods urging for a study to be conducted. There are currently 145 parking spaces for the five baseball fields and four tennis courts already housed at Featherland. Those lots already fill up on spring weekends and no new parking spaces have been proposed. Two more Little League fields would result in an incremental 50 to 100 more cars jockeying for parking space off of two busy roads, Concord and Morse.
Certainly, baseball is a beloved American pastime, but it seems that the interests of a few baseball supporters are far outweighing the interests of a broader swath of Sudbury residents. If the changes to Featherland go through as planned, a multi-use park that once catered to men, women, boys and girls of all ages will welcome only a select few. Parks and Recreation could vote on Featherland’s future during their next meeting at 6:30 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 26, at Fairbanks Recreation Center.

If you would like to keep Featherland a place where tennis and baseball coexist, voice your concern by calling Parks and Recreation at 978-443-1092 x3259 and email them at recreation@sudbury.ma.us. For more information, visit www.SaveFeatherlandPark.org.

Submit letters to the editor to charlene.arsenault@patch.com.