Finish Line in Sight for New Ball Parks

Riverhead Town Councilman George Gabrielsen remembers standing on land at Enterprise Park at Calverton ten years ago with his daughter, holding a baseball bat. At the time, he had his picture taken and vowed that someday, ballfields would be built on the site.

And now, that dream is set to become a reality: Gabrielsen said on Monday that the town board has recently awarded the bid to finish the ball fields on Route 25 at EPCAL to LandTek, a firm based in Amityville. The fields are expected to be finished by late July or early August.

The plan, which calls for new softball and baseball fields, as well as soccer fields, has , with some disagreement in February about whether or not to bond for $800,000 in lighting, a proposal the town board ultimately nixed. The plan was initially to open the ballfields by Memorial Day or early June.

This week, Gabrielsen said the parking lot has just been completed. The new parking lot, Gabrielsen said, includes 200 parking spaces, which have all been striped.

"The parking lot was the biggest obstacle," he said. "Now, we just have to finish up the fields," he said. 

Work on dugouts, bull pens and line fencing will begin at the end of this week, Gabrielsen said. Work should take approximately a month, the councilman said. "We have a lot of concrete we have to dig up."

The cost of the new ballfields is expected to total approximately $375,000, with the cost of the parking lot approximately $260,000.

Gabrielsen is thrilled the work is set to commence. "This is a big deal for me," he said. "It's been a long time coming."