By PATRICK ADRIAN
Special to the Eagle Times
SUNAPEE – By next month the recreation department expects to have cost estimates for a number of improvements to Veterans Field, which could include field modifications, drainage work and a new facility for equipment storage, concessions and public restrooms. On Monday night the selectboard approved Blewitt’s request to earmark $50,000 from the department’s revolving fund for improvement projects.
Recreation Depart-ment Director Scott Blewitt updated the selectboard last night about the $7,500 engineering study of capital improvements to Veterans Field, Sunapee’s multi-purpose sports and recreation park. Veterans Field hosts town and school athletics activities, winter ice skating and a skateboarding park. The projects comprise improvements Blewitt recommends based on his assessments as well as public feedback.
“I had improvements I wanted to make,” Blewitt said. “Right now, the soccer field is too short and too narrow. The baseball backstop is old and built too close to home plate.” He also wants to lay new asphalt on the basketball court and redesign the parking lot to maximize space.
However, the priority issue is the storage shed, which holds the department’s athletics and field maintenance equipment and functions in winter as a warming hut for ice skaters. Blewitt said the shed is in disrepair and needs to be replaced.
Blewitt wants to construct a multi-purpose building, one that includes equipment storage, public restrooms and a concessions stand.
The park currently lacks a restroom facility and only provides chemical toilets, Blewitt said.
Blewitt also said that a concessions stand would be an ideal fundraiser for the recreation department. The field hosts many year-round family activities, from organized sports to the skating rink.
The revolving fund that the promised $50,000 will be drawn from comprises revenues the department raises annually through activity fees; fundraisers like the Turkey Trot, an annual 5K race held on Thanksgiving; and individual donations.
Blewitt said that the study is about 90-95 percent complete, and he expects to have cost estimates for the selectboard by his next scheduled update to them in July.
Blewitt said that a new facility, as well as a new basketball court surface would cost around $20,000. However, the study will determine many unknowns of other improvements, such as drainage. The town spent $37,000 on drainage in the outer areas of the field about eight or nine years ago. Addressing the field interior could be more complex and costly, Blewitt told the board. The study included an assessment of the town’s underground drainage system around the field, which Blewitt said will factor heavily into the estimated cost.
Blewitt said that these projects could be scheduled in phases based on priority and funding availability. In addition to the department’s existing revenue streams, Blewitt said that grants could be attained.
Blewitt also discussed the upcoming town sestercentennial (250th anniversary) with the selectboard. He handed each board member a wooden quarter, and explained the quarters are tokens that children will be able to spend as currency this summer at the Dewey Beach concession stand. The department budgeted $250 to create 1,000 wooden quarters, which it will dispense to children during the summer like awards for accomplishments in school, athletics or in the community.
Vice-chair Suzanne Gotling liked the idea.
“A child could get a quarter for passing a swim test,” she suggested.
Blewitt said the town’s 250th celebration will take place August 17-19. Events will include fireworks, a big parade and a performance from Aerosmith tribute band Draw the Line.
The quarters will be voided when used so children can keep them afterward as commemmorative coins, Blewitt said.
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