A committee in Derby gave the school superintendent permission Monday to sign an agreement with an architect to flesh out whether a new baseball field and field house can be built off Chatfield Street as hoped.
The cost summary available Monday showed the price tag to be $60,445, though that number is expected to increase because the scope of work slightly expanded by the end of the committee’s meeting.
The money is coming from a $2 million (now $2.5 million) donation to the school district from Joan Payden, the founder, president, and CEO of Payden & Rygel, an investment firm based in Los Angeles that manages more than $106 billion in assets.
Payden’s father, Joseph R. Payden, was born in Derby in 1896. He was Derby High School’s valedictorian in 1915, and a scholarship at the school is awarded every year in his honor.
The unanimous vote Monday came from the Field House and Baseball Field Building Committee, a large subcommittee of the Derby Board of Education.
Click play to watch video from the meeting, which was streamed live on the Valley Indy’s Facebook page using an iPhone.
The committee is a new group formed in the wake of Payden’s donation.
The vote gives architect Peter de Bretteville of Hamden the ability to conduct an A‑2 survey of the land off Chatfield Street/Hawthorne Avenue/Nutmeg Avenue which is currently home to a softball field, football field and baseball field.
The plan is to carve out a hill and move the baseball field to where the softball field is off Chatfield Street. The softball field could move to space atop nearby Nutmeg Avenue, though the specifics have not been decided.
Confused?
Why is this happening, you ask?
Here is a general rundown:
In 2016, the state bonding commission approved about $3 million for a new rubberized running track and artificial turf playing field at the Leo F. Ryan Athletic Complex.
But to make room for the new track and turf field, the high school baseball field at the athletic complex had to be moved elsewhere.
The school and city strongly considered moving the baseball field to Witek Park, which would force the reconfiguration of playing space used by Derby Youth Soccer and the high school soccer team. Derby Youth Soccer officials were not happy with that plan, at all.
In addition, the $3 million wasn’t enough to replace the ancient field house next to the football field within the Ryan Athletic Complex.
But Payden’s donation gave the school and city more options moving forward.
The plan now is to build a field house that can double as a sort of community gathering space — and to move the baseball field into the softball space.
School officials, players and coaches have all said they would rather see the baseball field stay close to Derby High School, which basically overlooks the Ryan Athletic Complex.
It should be noted that at Payden’s request, the money for the field house and baseball field is being kept separate from the money coming from the state for the new rubberized track and turf field.
So, although the two projects are connected and are literally next to each other, they are technically being viewed as separate projects.
Got all that?
The Valley Indy recently published a roughly 30-minute interview with Derby School Superintendent Matthew Conway on all the moving parts. Click the play button below to be brought up to speed.
Double Checking The Plan
de Bretteville’s efforts are needed to ensure the new field house and baseball field will fit within the land as envisioned. He’ll create a “site plan feasibility study” that will be able to put a firmer estimate on project costs.
Part of the plan calls for digging into a steep slope next to the current softball field to make room for the new baseball field.
The new architect is going to make sure that can actually happen. The scope of work includes a geological survey for the large hill where the baseball field could go.
If it turns out the land won’t support the plan, a second option is to move the high school baseball field up Nutmeg Avenue, which would force the relocation of the Derby Little League fields.
de Bretteville is Payden’s preferred architect for this job, which she is funding.
Meanwhile, another Derby committee, the Athletic Complex Building Committee, is meeting March 8 at 7 p.m. in Derby City Hall.
That committee is in charge of the artificial turf field and new track that is being paid for thanks to that state grant last year.
The committee is scheduled to review proposals from three architecture firms and possibly pick an architect for the project by the end of the night.
