Riverhead’s new ballfields will finally see action: park grand opening set for April 27

“Play ball!”

Those two words will ring out for the first time at the ballfields of Veterans Memorial Park in Calverton on Saturday, April 27 when Riverhead Little League opens its 2013 season at the new town park.

The Riverhead Little League opening ceremonies will kick off at 10 a.m. that morning, followed by the dedication of two ballfields to Riverhead casualties of the Afghan war: New York Army National Guard Sgt. Jonathan Keller and U.S. Army Sgt. 1st Class Anthony Venetz, according to Riverhead Town Councilman George Gabrielsen.

A plaque will be installed at each field in honor of the fallen solider to whom the field is dedicated, Gabrielsen said.

Parents of Keller and Venetz will be on hand to toss out the ceremonial first pitch on the field named for their son, the councilman said.

There will be Little League games played on all four fields that afternoon, he said.

“We’re going to make a big day of it,” Gabrielsen said, with a veterans color guard and live music. “I’m tickled pink.”

The opening of the ballfields in the new 62-acre municipal park had been delayed by red tape and disputes with state and county agencies over land clearing, road access and bathroom facilities.

The town has spent about $2.5 million on the new fields and parking lot, Gabrielsen said.

“People talk about how long it took,” he said, but when I took office [in 2009] it was really an abandoned project. The town had spent at that point $1.6 million, but the last administration didn’t do their homework,” he said. “They never got DOT or health department approvals, so they built a park with no road access and with no bathrooms.”

It’s taken time, he said, but the fields are done and they are “the best fields in Suffolk County” and something the town can really be proud of.

The new 62-acre town park at the 2,900-acre former Grumman site in Calverton has been in the works since 2004, when the town’s recreation advisory committee, which Gabrielsen then chaired, recommended it to the Town Board. The ballfields were the first phase of the overall park plan approved by the board. The project was delayed by disputes between the town and the state Pine Barrens Commission (over land clearing), the county health department (over the use of temporary non-sewered toilet facilities) and the state transportation department (over the need for sidewalks along Route 25 and site access issues). The four grass fields themselves were installed by 2010, but have sat unused waiting for the rest of the site work to be completed.

Gabrielsen said that even with $140,000 in recent change-orders, the project will still be completed within 5 percent of the projected cost.

The project was funded with per-lot or per-unit recreation fees paid into a special recreation fund by developers.

Rain date for opening day is April 28.

Photo caption: Riverhead Town Councilman George Gabrielsen Wednesday morning at the ballpark.

RiverheadLOCAL photos by Peter Blasl
Click thumbnails to enlarge images
{gallery}2013/slideshows/2013_0320_epcal_ballfields{/gallery}