Dolan to Youth Sports Groups: Athletic Fields Plan Needs Support

Mayor Rob Dolan continued pitching his plan to build new athletic fields using revenue from Mount Hood Golf Course on Tuesday night, speaking to leaders from the city's youth sports organizations in the Melrose Veterans Memorial Middle School auditorium.

Giving the same presentation for the third time in two days, Dolan said, "this is my most important night." Because the construction of the new fields, if approved, will crunch field time and lead to even greater scheduling challenges, Dolan told the city's youth sports representatives that "we need to collectively be unified and have complete buy-in.

"It's not going to happen unless the leaders of organizations can communicate with each other—not just Joan [Bell] to put our common goal ahead of individual interests," he said. As the city's superintendent of Mount Hood and public open space, Bell is charged with handling the scheduled use of all city fields.

"We do not have an answer to solve every problem," Dolan said bluntly, noting that if the plan proceeds, additional conflicts between organizations seeking field time would be inevitable next year.

After giving his presentation, Dolan only faced two questions from the public—both regarding the special act of the state Legislature that would give the city access to Mount Hood surplus revenues for the project.

Asked where the legislation currently stands, Alderman at Large Paul Brodeur, chairman of the Board of Aldermen's Appropriations Committee, said that the aldermen would take up the legislation—along with the $1 million bond for sewer work and the lease agreement with Malden and the Pine Banks Foundation—on Thursday night, after hearing Dolan's presentation on Monday.

"I don't want to speak for the board, but my sense is that the board is very supportive of this proposal going forward," Brodeur said.

Brodeur added that some residents may be "concerned about the bait-and-switch"—that the city would use the legislation to tap Mount Hood funds for purposes other than the proposed athletic fields, which he said was not an unreasonable concern.

He said that the special legislation (attached) "is very clear" that the funds have to be used for outdoor recreational facilities; Dolan added that the legislation states that the city can only access the Mount Hood funds for 25 years, the length of the bond the city intends to take out to finance the construction.

"This board is committed to make sure this happens without the money going elsewhere for any other reason," Brodeur said.

Rep. Katherine Clark, D-Melrose, said that five other communities in Massachusetts have submitted similar special acts to the Legislature through the state's home rule petition process and that all five passed "without any problem."

Clark said she has spoken to Melrose's state senators Richard Tisei, R-Wakefield, and Thomas McGee, D-Lynn, about moving the legislation quickly on Beacon Hill. She added that she and Tisei both serve on the Legislature's Joint Committee on Municipalities and Regional Government, which will take up the legislation first after approval by the aldermen.

"We will get it through the process in informal session as quickly as we can before the middle of December, when things will really slow down," she said.

Dolan said that it is "key" to have the special act passed on Beacon Hill before Christmas so the city can bid out in January for the sewer work and meet the project's ambitious deadline of October next year.