With the recent talk about Webster Woods and NewCAL, it is notable that there has been no discussion with regard to the maintenance of the playing fields in Newton. A not-so-secret observation by those us who regularly see and use the fields as players, coaches, referees, and parents is that they are in terrible condition. Yet, there has been virtually no action taken to restore them to a safe and appropriate condition.
Here’s an example, an analysis funded by Newton Girls Soccer of one of the soccer fields at Weeks Park. The report gave the field an overall “D” grade, or “low standard,” with individual attributes like percent of vegetative cover, weed cover, surface hardness, and water infiltration rates reaching “E.” What this all means is that a safe grass surface does not exist, that a fall on the ground is potentially dangerous, and that the fields do not drain well after rain. Further, as noted in the report:
Low Standard Rating is marginal and indicates a field that is currently fit for purpose but will likely need future remedial work to maintain playability. A Low Standard Field will continue to decline unless additional maintenance efforts and management changes are implemented quickly.
Following this analysis, the consultant was engaged by both NGS and Newton Youth Soccer to make recommendations with regard to short- and long-term measures that would bring the fields back up to standard.
In the short-term (12-18 months), “a dramatic increase in field maintenance is required to improve conditions. Given the poor field conditions and high usage there will be a higher investment needed to improve quality.” In the longer term (18-36 months), “there is a need for a formal maintenance program that matches the usage levels and desired conditions.”
Although the report focused on just one of the large fields at Weeks Park, similar or worse conditions exist throughout the city–at Cold Spring, Albemarle, Nahanton Park, Oak Hill-Brown, etc. The comparison with fields in other towns is embarrassing, as seen in these photos in a recent NGS mailing. In my 30 years of association with the soccer program, I am hard-pressed to remember any time when all the Newton fields were so consistently bad. (At some point in the 1990s, the soccer leagues and the City collaborated on a multi-hundred thousand dollar rebuild of the fields across the entire Weeks Park–replacing soil all the way to the sub-soil, installing irrigation, maintaining the new grass: That investment has now wasted away.)
The city has over 40 acres of soccer fields alone. My buddy JT Traxler, president of NGS, notes that the industry standard for proper field maintenance is $5,000 to $10,000 per acre per year, so we should be spending $200 to $400 thousand per year just for these “multi-use” fields. This doesn’t include ANY dedicated baseball fields or elementary school fields. All draw funds from the same budget line.
In her May 23, 2019 budget message to the City Council, the Mayor noted:
Total contractual spending on turf management has been in the $60,000-$95,000 range over the past three years using the 52409A “Athletic Field Maintenance” account plus some funds from the much larger 52409 “Public Property R-M” account as well. While the majority of larger account #52409 is utilized for grass cutting and ongoing maintenance, we have been able to use some of this line item for turf management and field renovations. With the Administration’s proposed $45,000 increase for FY2020 to 52409A, the investment in turf management will grow further. The Administration hopes to continue increasing this account in the FY2021 budget as well.
The extra $45,000 added to the Athletic Field Maintenance account will help allow the multi-pronged approach to move forward with a graduated approach to improving our athletic fields at a pace that allows for continuation of athletic programs.
While those of us concerned with the fields truly appreciate this action by Mayor Fuller, the amount of current funding remains insufficient, and the prognosis for future funding is unsure given the City’s other obligations. It’s time for a dedicated revenue source, and I would propose that it should come from the teams themselves. JT has informed me that most every other city and town in our region charges $10 to $30 per player per season. If Newton charged the leagues $25 per player it would raise about $150,000 per year. That would more than double the budget.
Let’s put this idea on the agenda for the City Council and the Mayor.
It will be a good Idea to charge per player per season
Yes let’s charge kids to play sports on a poorly maintained field but give seniors a nice new multi million dollar fitness facility…. Has there been any discussion about seniors having to pay to use NewCal?
@Kyle
The Seniors aren’t asking for a “nice new multi million dollar fitness facility”, That is the mayor and NEWCal Working Groups vision.
From what I can tell most Seniors just want a Senior Center.
I am not a Senior and I haven’t put any children through Newton public schools. From my vantage point Newton spends way more on children than Seniors. I am happy to have my tax dollars support both as long as it is done in a cost effective way.
Paul:
Let’s also talk about our playgrounds. No splash park, older equipment, broken equipment.
I’ve taken my kids to parks outside of newton for years. Except for Angier and Newton center parks, ours don’t usually compete.
It is a budget issue AND a creativity issue. I blame the city and parks and Rec.
Preserving open space is great. But if it is just preserved and not maintained, you won the rhetoric battle but lost the practical war.
My kids play soccer on dirt. They play on broken playground equipment. They go to Cambridge for their splash park and also Boston common.
Thousands of folks signed up to protect the loss of a Park. I love that engagement even if I’m willing to hear the mayor out on the newcal location.
All of us should be equally passionate about the poor state of our parks.
Don’t believe me? Ask any parent with kids age 2 to 12.
Fig is right. Our parks pale in comparison to neighboring communities. The lack of spray parks is particularly noticable – we go to Waltham or Watertown. And our playground structures are mostly “meh.”
The City needs to budget in for maintenance. Homeowners know that if you don’t maintain buildings and grounds, then when there is a problem, the problem costs more to fix.
My kids used to play soccer and there was one soccer season that the OAK HILL soccer field was so bad that my son missed 6 games and had three games played. There was no room for moving the game, because every soccer field was already being used that day.
Again, we increased the salaries for councilors and school committee members (completed with the added health insurance costs) but we don’t allocate enough for maintenance.
Paul,
Thank you for your article and helping to shed light on this important issue in our city. I have personally devoted many hours over the past year to meeting with the mayor, P&R, City Councilors, Turf Management firms and even other municipalities in an effort to improve athletic fields and facilities in Newton. We are far behind neighboring cities and towns in the quality of our athletic facilities. Until now, I did not think it was appropriate to “make this political.” I realized however that when a large group of residents (Many thousands of athletes and their families) want attention to an issue that the city is not addressing, that is to me a form of politics.
As a resident of Newton for 20 years, I have come to appreciate there are numerous things that many of us “expect and/or want the city to pay for”. This includes the proper maintenance of our athletic facilities, parks, schools and general infrastructure to name a few. None of us want to raise funding through fees. The problem is the “do nothing” alternative approach that the city has used for many years. Without funds, our fields cannot be improved. This is not a radical idea.
I appreciate there are many discussions going on within the city about the budget, spending priorities and capital projects. What I rarely hear about is how to “increase the pie” by finding new sources of funds. As “a soccer guy”, I am not prepared or able to debate what other projects can or should be deferred to upkeep our athletic fields. That is beyond my scope and a broader topic for another forum. Budgets are usually zero sum games. You need to “take” from one area to give to another. These are difficult decisions.
We are fortunate to have a myriad of facilities available to our community and rather than saying they are “over used” we should be happy that so many people want to enjoy them in athletic and social pursuits. What we (city hall) need to accept is that the more we use something such as an athletic field, the more maintenance it needs. As our population increases and the number of young adults playing sports increases (many on more than one team a year) the use of our fields has also increased. What has not, are the funds required to maintain them.
Thank you to everyone on this forum for your thoughtful comments and support.
Best,
Justin Traxler
President, Newton Girls Soccer
Let me anticipate some people’s possible objection to the fee structure I propose, that higher costs will discourage families and children from playing in the various sports leagues. I note two things. First, the leagues (and schools!) already charge hundreds of dollars in fees, and there seems to be no adverse impact on sports participation. This would be a small add-on to the base rate charged by the leagues. Second, I know that NGS–and I’m guessing all other leagues–offer a no-questions-asked scholarship to any family that requests it. Indeed NGS also offers help to pay for uniforms and tournament fees for those families who request it.
Wait until you see what it will cost to maintain a bubble over a swimming pool. Bubbles, btw if they are anything like a tennis court bubble are very expensive, and you have a lifespan of about 20 years. The one that was just replaced at my tennis club cost nearly a million dollars and they no longer take the other one down in the summer as it causes too much wear and tear on it.
Likely the one over the pool will be much smaller, but you have to factor in the wear and tear and cost of heating a bubble in winter.
Not to mention the rest of the maintenance for a community center…
This makes great sense to me. As a parent and former coach I can attest to the woeful state of our fields in comparison to neighboring towns. Thank you JT for all of the time and effort you have put into this issue!
This is not just a maintenance issue. Maintenance alone can’t compensate for overuse. No matter how well managed, sod will not stand up to heavy wear, especially in mid-field and goal mouth areas. What we need in addition to better maintenance is field rotation and rest. That means repositioning fields at mid-season so wear patterns are shifted and adding overall capacity so that fields can be taken out of use for a season and allowed to recover. Those practices were undertaken in the mid- to late-90s, but eventually lost in the face of increasing demand. Those short-term decisions were made despite knowing that the long-term consequences would mean much higher field repair and replacement costs. Any solution to field maintenance has to include attention to how we maintain and/or build capacity. Otherwise, we remain in the same vicious cycle.
As always on such matters, Doug makes good points, although if you look at the report, there is a conclusion that resting fields would not accomplish all that is needed, that other forms of active maintenance are essential. One of the ironies, too, of creating a small hill in the middle of the previously flat Weeks Field when it was rebuilt is that the amount of flexibility for reorienting fields was substantially reduced. The berm is a lovely visual addition to the topography of the site, but it eliminated the feasibility of rotating the full sized fields, in particular. Nonetheless, there is some room for small re-orientations that could better preserve goal mouths and other heavily used sections of the fields. But it isn’t just those areas that have deteriorated, and you can only reorient so much.
Indeed, it would be great to create additional field capacity around town. In the face of ever-growing demand for fields–for soccer, an expanding youth lacrosse program, ultimate frisbee, and use by the high school teams for soccer and lacrosse–a few more acres would be terrific.
As a Newton parent, I would fully support adding a small amount toward athletic fees to use towards improving and maintaining our fields.
I have coached Newton Girls Soccer for a couple years and can attest that the fields are bad and that other surrounding towns generally do much better. I have personally seen players get hurt tripping on holes and other irregularities on the fields. Not only are clubs and leagues paying fees for the use of the fields which are in deplorable shape, but taxpayers are paying millions for a Parks & Rec Dept. that can’t maintain them. I understand when people think the solution is to give the City more money, but if there is no competence and accountability then that money too will be wasted or diverted to other priorities. I’d like to see the Mayor lay out in detail her plans to address the issue and what funds the City has or needs before assuming more club fees are the answer.
I’d be fine with it on a per family basis. Namely, one fee per family. Having 3 or 4 kids adds up in Newton. I think they do a similar family cap in other city wide items.
The Newton fees thus far are pretty reasonable for soccer, lacrosse and other sports.
One thing to note, there are a number of adult leagues that use our fields on the weekends. That’s some very heavy use and there should be a reservation fee for maintenence for those folks as well. All nice groups, but no reason why they can’t pay a bit.
I organize one such group, and we pay a permit fee per game to the city. Not all groups do. This requirement should be better enforced.
Does the city have a reservation system? If so, would be simple to require a payment per reservation.
Paul, what is the permit fee?
Fig, You can only reserve a field if you get a permit. The permit fee depends on what category you fall into. (See here: http://www.newtonma.gov/civicax/filebank/documents/77372) For example, my adult group, with over 65% of players from Newton, pays $15 per hour with a two-hour minimum.
Some adult groups choose not to reserve or get a permit, squatting on available space. They are subject to getting bumped if a permitted group shows up for their appointed time.