Article 49 - Davis Field Park & Recreation Commission Town Meeting May

Overview Davis Field is an existing Town owned recreational parcel containing acres of land Is was acquired by the Town of Sudbury on December 23, 1975 As stated on its deed it was sold to the town “for park and recreation purposes, under management of its Park and Recreation Commission” An adjacent acre parcel (A-2) to the west was acquired by the Town from William Davis on November 15, 1974 for use as conservation land 2

Overview - Deed 3

Overview – Recorded Plan – Parcel A-1 4

Overview Davis Field is uneven, poorly drained, and could be better utilized by the community Davis Field renovation to include – 152 space parking lot – Level field space programed according to need – Four Little League baseball fields Renovations will address field shortages and enable proper management of existing fields elsewhere in town. 5

7

Why - Playing Field Overview Increasing scheduling conflicts among user groups – some continuous User groups voicing field shortage and condition concerns Clear deterioration in field conditions Condition related field closures 10 years since field related capital improvements were made 8

Efforts Undertaken by the P&R Commission In 2012 Gale Engineering updated the 2003 Athletic Fields Needs Assessment. – Inventory fields – Evaluated each field – Assessed Demand Gale Engineering Athletic Fields Needs Assessment confirmed need and substandard field conditions: – 28% of Sudbury playing fields are below acceptable standards – Fields are scheduled at 118% of sustainable capacity 9

Field Needs Assessment Conclusions “The chronic poor turf conditions which prevail throughout the Town of Sudbury are indicative of overuse, lack of restorative rest periods, and lack of properly constructed fields”. “In addition, virtually none of the fields have a spring or fall rest period during the active turf growth periods. As a result, there are numerous fields that have chronically poor turf condition despite the expenditure of maintenance resources”. “In addition, the Town is lacking sufficient athletic field space to accommodate the existing amount of youth and adult sports programs that are active in the Town”. 10

Little League Field Needs Supply of four usable fields provides 138 hours per week of Little League field space Demand of 321 hours per week for Little League field space at one game and two practices per week per team Factoring one day per week of inclement weather and 15 minutes between games a Little League Field shortage of 6.7 fields exists 11

Little League Field Needs 12

P&R Commission Planning Efforts Review report, substantiate need Explore solutions Determine viable options - includes – preliminary engineering review – permitting review – feasibility (cost) review – Town department and committee reviews Commission meetings with public input (Public forums) 13

Davis Plan – Balance Among Users Parking lot sized to accommodate rail trail parking Open field vista from parking lot Little league fields up against trees allowing for open views and use by radio plane flyers Walking path All existing activities can continue as they currently do at Davis 14

Davis Operating Expense No additional costs for the baseball fields as you will be taking the baseball costs from the 4 fields and moving them to this one site. There are economies to scale for having all the fields in one place. Additional costs for labor time to mow the large multi purpose rectangular fields and materials cost to fertilize and over seed yearly - these costs are estimated at $10,000- $15,000 over what we are already experiencing for this field. Additional costs for irrigation in the range of $5000 per year. These additional costs would be paid out of the Field Maintenance Enterprise Fund funded by user fees 15

Parking & Traffic One lane turning into the site and two lanes turning out of the site to help with traffic flow Can institute a stagger start with the user groups if the traffic becomes difficult Parking lot sized for rail trail users 16

CPA Recreation Funds FY In total Recreation has been allocated $3,385,128 of $27,430,930, or 12.3% of CPC revenue from FY 2002 – 2014 Fields total 6.8% of annual CPC revenue over the 12 years Playing fields account for 55.5% of total Rec dollars while Walkways account for 26.6%, Rail Trail 11.2%, and the Town Center 5.7% 17

CPA Recreation Funds

Conclusion Clear overuse of fields Inadequate supply of playing fields Playing fields must meet acceptable standards Park & Rec/Town has not kept up with capital needs and has lacked appropriate capital expenditure Most cost effective solution with no debt incurred given CPC and youth sport funding. 19