Second and Final Hearing on Turf Field Ordinance Tonight

The Turf field ordinance needs four votes to pass, and a crowd is very likely to gather at the to see whether those votes come through.

Four members of the Township Committee voted in favor of pursuing the $3.4 million bond needed to build synthetic playing fields at Dayton .

Democrat Richard Huber, a longtime leader for Springfield recreation, voted in favor of pursuing the project, but said he had significant reservations about the synthetic field and would be researching the material and before tonight’s vote. Huber’s fellow Democrat David Amlen was the sole dissenting vote.

A tentative plan presented by township and private engineers at the previous meeting included tennis courts, softball/baseball fields, a football field and other facilities. The engineers emphasized that the plans were more of a wish list than a finalized vision of how the field would look, and they crammed in as many features as they could to speed up the permitting process.

Turf field facilities for Dayton have been , with and taking action. While supporters of the turf field project have been and , critics have voices heard.  

The February 14 meeting was the first reading of the bond ordinance, and three votes were needed to pass that stage. Four votes are needed for the bond ordinance to get final approval tonight.

Earlier this month, . Nonetheless, Huber said he supported a turf field, but was concerned about safety.