Ken Cleveland<\/b><\/p>\n
HOLDEN \u2014 Dawson area recreation facilities will be growing, adding synthetic turf fields and other features.<\/p>\n
The fields to be built off Industrial Drive will be added to the field to the rear of Dawson, which could also be a turf field, Town Manger Peter Lukes said at a recent meeting of the Select Board.<\/p>\n
He told selectmen he has been meeting with presidents of Holden sports leagues to discuss turf field plans, which will open added athletic opportunities.<\/p>\n
Design and engineering planning was put out to bid, and Weston and Sampson, already familiar with the area from previous work, was the low bidder.<\/p>\n
Before shovels come out for any ceremonial groundbreaking, however, the project has some hurdles to clear.<\/p>\n
The Board of Selectmen has set a tentative Oct. 17 special town meeting.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will present a funding formula for a solid cost estimate,\u201d which is expected from Weston and Sampson in the next three to four weeks, Lukes said.<\/p>\n
He estimated the project would use about $2 million of federal America Rescue Plan Act funds.<\/p>\n
The remainder of the $5 million project would be financed or combine borrowing and use of stabilization money, he said.<\/p>\n
Once the final plan is done, it could be phased in, starting with the synthetic field.<\/p>\n
The plans call for total renovation of the Dawson playground, Lukes said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat will allow us to have one very large recreational center in at that part of town\u201d with ample parking between Industrial Drive and Dawson areas.<\/p>\n
The project required some land swaps.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe managed to get a land swap with the DCR for the front of the Dawson area,\u201d Lukes told the board.<\/p>\n
The town did not own the area where tennis courts and woods were located. He said the idea of a land swap had been kicked around for decades. It was accomplished earlier this year, making it through the state Legislature with the help of State Rep. Kim Ferguson and State Sen. Anne Gobi.<\/p>\n
Final legal work still has to be completed with state agencies.<\/p>\n
Lukes said the town is trying to finish renovations to the basketball courts using donations.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need to shore up the surrounding areas\u201d as erosion has affected the area.<\/p>\n
\u201cBefore we resurface the courts and re-fence the courts, we need to do something with the surrounding land.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said the goal would be to have the work done by the end of fall.<\/p>\n
The woodland area work would likely occur later, once the town fully owns the property.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we are able to do a special town meeting, we would start construction in early spring,\u201d with synthetic fields and then baseball fields and renovation of the soccer field and playground.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s taken some time,\u201d Lukes said, noting COVID delays, not owning the land and needing design and engineering work to be completed.<\/p>\n
\u201cOnce it really kicks into gear, it will go from zero to 60 quickly,\u201d resulting in a whole change in the recreational facilities, he noted.<\/p>\n
New rec director<\/b><\/p>\n
With the departure of Recreation Director Nichole Hallett, Lukes said assistant director Angela Green had been appointed acting director.<\/p>\n
Having worked for the department for the past eight years, Green had become assistant director the last two years, training to fill the role.<\/p>\n
He said Green will likely be in the acting role for six to 12 months.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s doing great already.\u201d Lukes said the town had been working on extending recreation programs.<\/p>\n
He said the before and after care program will be diff\u0081erent in the future, with the department increasing offerings slowly but surely.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a trial and error process,\u201d he said, adding \u201cwe intend to add more programming,\u201d building on what works.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Ken Cleveland HOLDEN \u2014 Dawson area recreation facilities will be growing, adding synthetic turf fi\u0081elds and other features. The fi\u0081elds to be built off\u008d Industrial Drive will be added to the fi\u0081eld to the rear of Dawson, which could also be a turf fi\u0081eld, Town Manger Peter Lukes said at a recent meeting of the Select Board.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":40076,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","_sitemap_exclude":false,"_sitemap_priority":"","_sitemap_frequency":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-40073","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"blocksy_meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40073","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40073"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40073\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40076"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40073"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40073"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40073"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}