Riga seeks public input on recreation plan

The best ways to spend $300,000 that was allocated for a soccer field in the Town of Riga will be the topic of conversation at a January 31 workshop scheduled for the town hall. Supervisor Pamela Moore said issues have been raised by other members of the community on various other ways to utilize the money such as for installation of water lines or to address other town concerns.

Moore said a proposal presented to the town board in November 2005 to revamp the South Sanford Recreation Facility, was divided into phases and included new soccer fields, new baseball fields, bathrooms, a concession building, maintenance building, parking and landscaping. The original proposal for the project was estimated at $2 million - on the same scale as the new town hall, Moore said.

Moore said public input is necessary due to the scale of the project and the estimated costs. "Community input is both welcomed and important," Moore said. "Time will be provided for the public to participate in the workshop, through written comments and at the open forum of the town board meetings."

Further development of the facility has been under consideration for several years, she said. "In 2005, working in conjunction with youth soccer and baseball, a recommendation was made by the recreation advisory board to add athletic fields," she said. The town board allocated $300,000 for the additional soccer fields and parking. "After the allocation was made, it was realized that before beginning to build, a full plan for the full development, including estimated costs should be prepared."

A proposal was prepared and presented by the town engineer in November 2005 with an estimated cost of more than $2 million, Moore said. "The town board then asked for further topography work to be done in an effort to refine the cost estimate," she said. "This work has been completed and will be part of the Tuesday presentation."

Moore explained the costs and time for construction of athletic fields and parking lots vary significantly depending on whether work is contracted out or performed by the highway department. "Only $100,000 is allocated in the 2006 budget for this project and that is based on the assumption labor will be provided by the highway department," she said.

The original $300,000 that was allocated was done with no plan other than to curry favor with various factions of the town, Moore said. "The initial facility was not well planned and this plan actually will call for re-doing the parking lot to make ingress and egress, tearing out and replacing existing soccer and baseball fields and moving some landscaping out of the unsafe parking lot," she said. "Even the parents who want the fields agree we need to do a total plan.

The meeting will run from 7 to 9 p.m.

"The bottom line is, residents need to attend the meeting because this is the first step in establishing the community dialogue we promised when we took office," Moore said. "The more active the participation, the better the decisions we ultimately make."

In other matters, board members have put out to bid estimates for a new roof on the highway department building and for construction of a storage shed. Moore also said the town hall is now equipped with a standby generator. "In the event of a snow emergency there will be power at the town hall," she said. "In cooperation with the village department of public works and the highway department, we were able to address the issue of the building not having a generator."

January 29, 2006