User fee for playing

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WAKEFIELD — In order to put artificial turf down and upgrade Wakefield playing fields, parents of youths involved in sports may be charged another fee.
During a meeting of the Athletic Fields Committee yesterday afternoon at Town Hall, a number of options were presented where the town would take out a bond for a certain amount of years in order to do some work on the sports fields across Wakefield.
In an effort to recoup some of the costs, the idea of a $30 per child/per family field usage fee was raised.
A debt service schedule was analyzed for general obligation bonds of two, five and 10 million dollars. The committee thought a $5 million bond would be sufficient to fix Beasley and Walton Field. Currently number one priorities and the most used and torn up spaces in all of Wakefield, the committee wants to put in artificial turf and new lights in both areas. A new track would also be requested at the Beasley.
About $2 million could be spent on the Beasley area at the rear of the Memorial High School, with around $500,000 spent just on a new track. Around $2.3 million could be spent at the Walton Field, located at the Galvin Middle School, on two fields ($1.8 million) and lights ($500,000).
All action is pending the approval of the Board of Selectmen. The committee has a July 1 deadline to submit a report to the selectmen.
For the Walton, they want to keep the lights but put in an additional two fields of artificial turf. The parking lot/basketball court area and a two-bay garage could be removed and give space for a minimum of two more large soccer fields and more smaller ones for a total of five athletic spaces. If upgraded, the community could also use the newly built snackbar at the southwest corner of the field. Also, the Walton Fields could be used in August for Pop Warner games.
Zoning Board of Appeals member Charles Tarbell brought a list of fields and what could possibly be added or changed about each one. Nasella Field could possibly see a total of two fields with new fences added. When added to the capacity of Fernald Field, Wakefield Little League would have five fields to hold games.
Sullivan Field stands to remain the same except for a possible secondary use of the outfield as a soccer field in the fall. The committee discussed the status of the BMX track, which apparently is used by a professional racing organization out of Chicago.
Blatz Field, located behind the Woodville School, could be turned into an ‘A’ location for softball “with an appropriate fence so that the high school can play games at the field.” The Yeuell School field could also be labeled as an ‘A’ softball location with an appropriate fence and a secondary use as a soccer field.
Moulton Playground on Harrington Court already has a great baseball facility with plenty of outfield room for a secondary soccer use of one full size field or two smaller fields. Mapleway Playground in Greenwood already has two softball fields with a secondary soccer use. Tarbell wrote in his review that they shouldn’t put a lot of money into Mapleway until the Arundel Avenue project is developed so it can be looked at as a “total package.”
The committee strayed away from talking about Landrigan Field because the project itself would be monumental. But the Beasley Oval, Walton and Landrigan fields are seen as priorities for turf.
Fernald Field, the J.J. Round Park, Sullivan Field, Vets’ Field and the space available at the Doyle School all stand to remain generally the same.
The committee also adopted a “mission statement” that says they want to have multiple use fields with maximum capacity as opposed to having sport-specific fields.
Selectman Stephen Maio, who received permission from his board to set up the committee, said he hopes to get the field renovations into the School Building Assistance Program. If so, the town would be reimbursed from 40-50 percent by the state. “It depends on what the town wants to provide to youth sports,” said Tarbell. “If the goal is to provide fields, sacrifices need to be made.”
With 4,000 youths involved in sports programs, that would result in around $120,000 the town could use for debt service.
One committee member said the fee may not work because Reading recently tried to institute at $25 per-child fee that was fought by families and parents alike.