Tentative Completion Date Picked for Madison Baseball Field

Originally written by Jack Kramer, Correspondent

MADISON, CT – A tentative completion date of June 2nd for the Town Campus baseball field was selected at a lengthy special meeting on the project between town officials and interested community members on May 1st.

The opening date could be met, officials said, if the weather cooperated and the town’s Building and Grounds crew were able to devote two days a week to working on the fields during the month of May.

The meeting was called because at a recent Board of Selectmen meeting officials had expressed concerns about both the work, and cost, status of the baseball project. (To sign up for Madison breaking news alerts and more, click here.)

First Selectman Tom Banisch opened the special meeting by telling those in attendance the town “would like to get the field completed as soon as possible.”

He said the short-term goal is “to make sure that the field is safe and playable.”

Banisch ran through a list of items that still need to be completed, which include:

• the warning track needs to be finished;
• the pads needs to be poured for the dugouts;
• fencing needs to be completed;
• the tension netting system needs to be completed;
• drainage needs to be completed;
• one foul pole still needs to be installed;
• Pitchers mound and benches need to be finished.

There was a lengthy discussion about the cost of installing dugouts, which will not be ready for opening day of the field, and who would do the construction.

The overall cost of the baseball project has been budgeted at $150,000, and town officials said the funds are nearly depleted already, without the dugouts being built, at an estimated cost of $11,500.

There was some discussion about whether the dugouts could either become a project taken on by a community group, such as an Eagle Scout project, or whether the baseball community could help in picking up some of the costs of the dugout construction.

Some members of the Board of Selectmen suggested that once the project is finally completed that a review of the whole project be undertaken to get a better understanding of all the costs involved.

(Editor's Note: This story first ran previously but here it is again in case you missed it.)