Township Officials Consider Plans For Field Upgrades

Two landscape architects presented their master plan for the possible ways Washington Township could modify three of its athletic fields to the mayor and council Monday night.

The plans, presented by John Williams and John Duda of landscape architecture firm MKW & Associates, included possible changes to . At the council's previous meeting, representatives from the township recreation board presented their case in favor of . Williams and Duda said artificial turf was a possibility for the field and it could solve some of the site's maintenance problems.

The four potential plans outlined for Memorial Field all included a football field, one baseball field and a combination soccer and lacrosse field. One of the two existing baseball fields on the site may be removed. Williams said having the two baseball fields can cause problems when both are used simultaneously because of overlapping outfields, but the second field could be kept in the final plan if residents and officials want it.

The plan also included additional diagonal parking spaces on School Street and a path around the perimeter of the fields, as previously suggested by recreation board members Scott Spezial and Eamonn Twomey.

Twomey said Monday that the plans seemed fine and he hoped the council would act quickly.

"Don't do it next year, do it this year," Twomey said.

Williams and Duda also presented possible changes for Gardner Field and Sherry Field, which involved some repositioning of existing fields to make them larger or add in additional fields.

According to Duda, the next steps will be for the council and recreation board to review the plans so a final plan can be chosen. Once it is ready, the plan will be sent out for bid, a contract will be awarded and construction can begin.

Other residents have said they do not want to pay the additional taxes for the artificial turf. Chris Kazlau said the money could be used better on other projects.

"If this mayor and council is going to expect me to pay even more taxes, I'd rather spend it on schools," Kazlau said.

Spezial estimated an artificial turf project for Memorial Field would cost an average of $18.30 more per year for township homeowners than the cost of maintaining the current natural turf field, which has some damaged areas.

Council President Richard Hrbek said officials would need time to look over the plans before coming to a decision.