Council Affirms Nursery Field Artificial Turf Plan

Rye City Council affirmed the artificial turf plan for Rye Recreation’s Nursery Field on Wednesday evening. You never quite know, but the Council’s final support was expected based on its actions two weeks ago and the draft resolution issued in the council agenda packet last Friday.

There was some discussion of an amendment to split the $2.9 million in private funding from the local Let the Kids Play group into two tranches – either $2 or $2.5 million and then the balance based on the exact construction amount in a winning bid. The idea was for the donor group avoid over raising funds in the event a construction bid came in less than the $2.9 million. In the end, Councilmember Keith Cunningham acted as the swing vote to join Goddard, Jensen and Nathan in defeating the amendment.

Then the resolution, with a minor edit around the donor account holding the funds, was voted on and passed unanimously by the Council. The resolution also directs City Manager Greg Usry to solicit proposals to analyze both Sterling Field in Disbrow Park for increased playability and separate proposals for all other grass fields for increased playability (as grass fields). Sterling is unusual because it sits on top of an old City garbage dump so there are a host of special environmental concerns.

The City will also fund up to $250,000 for plantings, safety and noise mitigation to ameliorate concerns of Nursery Field neighbors. If for any reason the Let the Kids Play group does not deliver the cash at the set deadlines, the City will immediately proceed with plans for an improved grass field at the location.

Play ball.