Discussions to reorganize the fields at the 7‑acre complex off Chatfield Street have been going on since last year. An ad hoc group of officials, parents, coaches, and recreation officials are involved.
Conway told the group Tuesday that Derby’s original request to the State Bond Commission — totaling $4.8 million — was returned to state Rep. Theresa Conroy with instructions to bring the bottom line closer to $2.9 million.
The Valley Indy interviewed Conroy about the price tag Monday on ‘Valley Navel Gazing,’ this publication’s weekly talk show.
The episode is embedded below. Conroy discusses Derby’s fields around the 14-minute mark.
Plans Revised
Conway said the price was cut by reducing the scope of the project.
It originally envisioned a new 4,000-square-foot athletic building with four locker rooms — home and away facilities for boys and girls — at a price tag of about $1 million.
The revised plans call for a building about half that size, with two locker rooms.
The cost for that part of the project — about $500,000 — will be paid from a separate grant totaling about $1.2 million the school district will be receiving to address disability access issues, Conway said Tuesday.
“We asked ‘Can we use dollars out of that grant that we’ll receive and allocate them toward this building?’ and the answer was yes,” Conway said.
The superintendent said another $290,000 was saved by removing planned improvements to the little league complex — new dugouts and a watering system — from the plans.
The project’s architect shaved about $56,000 off his original cost projections, Conway said, and the reduced scope of the project meant about $551,000 less will be required for contingencies and fees.
The changes brought the bottom line to $2,990,792.
Click the play button on the video above to see a portion of Conway’s remarks.
What Next?
Conway said after Tuesday’s meeting he’ll be submitting the revised plans to the state, after which it’s in the hands of the bond commission.
A former state lawmaker, Conway said that school-related items are usually taken up by the bond commission in June, at the end of the general assembly’s session.
While he hopes they may approve the money sooner, if the funding is approved in June, he said construction would likely begin in June 2017, with the field ready two to three weeks into the high school football season.
“This does look more promising,” Conway said Tuesday. “With Rep. Conroy reaching back out for more specifics … She’s very very optimistic, as am I, that this will move forward within the next few months.”
What About The Baseball Field?
Still to be determined — where exactly to put a new baseball field.
The plans call for increasing the size of the football field so it can accommodate high school soccer games, as well as adding an eight-lane track around the outside so the high school track teams can practice and compete at home.
Those changes would nudge out all the space needed for the baseball field.
Derby is small city where most of the land has been developed. Playing fields aren’t exactly a dime a dozen — and demand for time on those fields by various youth leagues, recreational leagues and school teams is very high.
Options discussed in the past included moving the baseball field to the current softball field, or to the Little League fields on Nutmeg Avenue, which overlook the football field. Or moving the field to Witek Park, which is currently home to two soccer fields.
Janine Netto, a Board of Education member who was at Tuesday’s meeting, asked Conway whether the revised project still included money for a new baseball field.
“It includes the funding for the baseball field to be built, (but) it doesn’t dictate where,” Conway said.
Second Ward Alderman Art Gerckens also attended Tuesday’s meeting and said the sense he got from many people was opposition to the baseball field being relocated to Witek Park.
The superintendent said if the city receives money for the new turf field, public hearings will be convened to get input on where to move the baseball field.
“There might even be other locations in town that we haven’t even considered for baseball,” Conway said. “I don’t want to go down that road until we know we have funding, and a reason to go down that road.”
“I’m just wondering if people are starting to think about how that’s going to happen,” Gerckens said.
“I hope they are,” Conway replied.
