Stephen Tait
NEWBURYPORT — Neighbors of the Pioneer Fields on Merrimac Street said last night they have no major opposition to the Pioneer League’s plans to give the park a face-lift, which allows league officials to move forward with extensive fundraising for the project.
Pioneer League officials invited residents to City Hall to view the conceptual plans for the $600,000 project, which is centered on making the field safer for children and others.
About 20 people gathered at the meeting, including Joel Rusnak, who lives across the street from the park. Rusnak said the new plans are wonderful for the neighborhood since they address parking issues.
“It’s about time,” he said. “It’s great to get cars off the road. It is deadly. It is unbelievable that somebody had not been killed.”
Under the current parking situation, cars park on both sides of the thin street, sending a steady stream of parents and kids across the street during games.
Under its new plan, the league will put in 92 parking spaces along the street. But unlike the parking situation now, the lot will be pushed back from the road. A 24-inch curbing mechanism will separate Merrimac Street and the parking lot, which will provide a buffer between the traffic and the cars and people at the fields.
Vehicles will park at an angle, and all cars will exit from one spot, which will make it easier for cars to leave the area.
The plan also calls for the playground to be positioned off the street, the fields to be reduced from four to three to decrease the number of people at the park at any given time and also for a new clubhouse in the center of the park. On the baseball side, plans call for new dugouts, stands and electronic scoreboards, but no new lights will be added.
Still, officials said the main goal of the project is safety.
“This project is 100 percent about the children and the community,” said Mike Doyle, vice president of long-term planning for the league. “This plan tries to take things off the street.”
Doyle laid out the plans at the meeting, breaking the aspects of the project down to four areas of improvement: safety, functionality, aesthetics and ball-playing.
As the league grows, the dangers of the location along Merrimac have been magnified. Ten years ago, the league had about 400 players, he said, and now there is almost double that — 750 to 770 players — most of whom play their games at the fields on Merrimac Street.
To increase safety, the league plans to relocate the concession and facilities building and the playground away from the road. It will also create sidewalks and the buffer zone between the street and the parking area. The parking spaces will almost double, from 45 to 92 spots along Merrimac, with a parking lane being 12 feet wide.
Some neighbors did voice some concerns, including drainage and tree trimming, but the majority of the concern centered on the playground. Deborah Linett is the director of Head Start, a preschool program that is directly across the street from the park.
Head Start and the Pioneer League have an eight-year-long partnership that allows the children to use the playground equipment at the park. Linett said she had concerns about moving the playground since it will be farther away from the Head Start building. She said the children often have to take breaks to use the restroom.
But by the end of the meeting, Doyle and Linett had planned to sit down to work out the concerns and ensure the Head Start children could still use the park.
“I have some concerns,” she said, “but we’ve had such a great relationship for eight years that I think we can work it out.”
The Pioneer League plays most of its games at the fields on Merrimac Street. But the league also uses fields at Cashman and Perkins parks, and the senior leagues also play at the high school and Bresnahan fields.
Doyle said construction should begin next year, but the construction will be a phased project that will take about five years.
Conceptual Plan Details
Safety Improvements
r relocate concessions/facilities building
r relocate playground area
r separate parking area from Merrimac Street
r provide sidewalks
Functional Improvements
r build new concessions/facilities building
r improve drainage conditions
r increase parking capacity
r improved park infrastructure
Aesthetic Improvements
r new tree plantings along Merrimac Street
r grand entrance
r fountain centerpiece
r interior park landscaping
Ball Playing Experience Improvements
r new dugouts
r new electronic scoreboards
r new fencing
r new bleachers
r grass baseball fields
r two additional batting cages
Source: Pioneer League conceptual plan details
