Joining Forces: Officials Share Pride in Oval Project

As three silver shovels plunged into the soft infield dirt near the third base line of the Kiwanis Oval baseball diamond Monday morning, dozens watched and cheered the official start of construction for the new multi-use turf field.

"This is a long time coming and we are very excited," said Caldwell Mayor Susan Gartland, who dug a silver spade at the Kiwanis Oval along with West Caldwell Mayor Joseph Tempesta and Essex County Executive Joseph DiVincenzo.

The two municipalities have been planning for years this nearly $2 million cooperative project between Caldwell, West Caldwell, Caldwell College and Essex County. 

In addition to grants worth $750,000, each municipality will contribute $375,000, Caldwell College will pay $200,000 over a 10-year period for its baseball team to use the facility and an unnamed corporate sponsor will donate $200,000.

DiVincenzo praised the project's "vision," and hailed it as a model for effective government.

"This is what shared services looks like," he said. "This is a great investment, not only for our kids but for our taxpayers."

At the ceremony, attended by members of the Caldwell and West Caldwell governing bodies, Tempesta praised the project's longevity.

"Our kids are going to remember this for a long time," he said. "It's great."

The was awarded last month to Applied Landscape Technologies, of Lake Hiawatha. 

The facility, scheduled to open in September, will feature covered dugouts, bleachers, a place behind the pitching mound to plug in a batting practice machine and programmable lights.

"This is a dream come true for us," Tempesta said. "We've worked on it for years."

The field will be used for baseball, football, soccer and lacrosse. Caldwell College's baseball team, which currently leases a field in Parsippany, will use the facility from March to mid-May for daily practices between noon and 3 p.m., then again in the fall.

The team will host about 20 home games at the field in the spring. However, like many others in the region, the new field would not meet standards to host an NCAA-sponsored tournament for a variety of reasons, including lighting designs, the location of the pre-existing masonry building that houses bathrooms and a concession stand that shortens the distance between home plate and the backstop.

While Caldwell College never had intentions of hosting an NCAA-championship event, the municipalities expect many recreation baseball tournaments to be played on the field.

The field will also feature a drainage system that will funnel away as much as 8 inches of water in a 24-hour period through a system of underground pipes.

"This is a very exciting time for both towns," Gartland said, throwing a shovelful of dirt to signal the official start of the project.