Without Dipping into General Fund, Gabrielsen, Giglio Plan to Propose over $500,000 in Rec Improvements

Councilman George Gabrielsen, town board liaison to the recreational advisory committee, said he will soon be presenting plans to the town board along with Councilwoman Jodi Giglio which would improve soccer fields at and athletic fields in Calverton, fields which have yet to open since construction began over six years ago. Gabrielsen estimated the costs of the projects at almost $600,000.

The good news: the proposal doesn't take a dime out of the town's general fund.

For over 20 years, the town has collected fees which are placed into a separate fund, reserved for the Parks and Recreation Department, each time developers subdivide a residential property (or some commercial subdivisions). The funds can be used only on capital projects or for public acquisition of park land, according to one of the people who helped institute the "impact fee" in Riverhead, Vic Prusinowski.

Gabrielsen said that about a year ago, the town had approximately $854,000 in the fund. He said that after hearing several complaints from parents and coaches in the Police Athletic League, who use the fields along with a few men's soccer leagues, he decided to see what he could do. Both he and Giglio worked together to lobby those funds for these two specific projects.

The councilman estimated total cost for the Stotzky Park soccer project around $275,000, and work at the ballfields in Calverton around $300,000. A call to the recreation department supervisor to check on the current balance was not returned.

"With the economy down, it’s nice that we can give the people something back without having it come out of taxpayers’ wallets," Gabrielsen said. 

As long as the fields at Calverton remain closed to the public, however, the news may indeed be too good to be true. While baseball fields in Calverton remain complete, the lack of suitable sanitary facilities, among other snags with the Suffolk County Department of Health Services, has kept anyone from throwing a first pitch. In addition, inadequate striping and curbing has, until recently, made access to the facility not up to par according to Department of Transportation standards. Gabrielsen said DOT has signed off on a temporary permit, while Giglio said SCDHS should sign off on a five-year approval shortly, as the town will use a handicapped-accessible trailer until it hooks up to sewers.

"The money is there," Gabrielsen said. "We're pulling the trigger, finally. The only thing holding us up now is putting the bid specs together."

At Stotzky, Gabrielsen said he would like to install an irrigation system on the soccer fields, located on the north end of the park, along with new sod and fencing. In order to make sure it works long term, he's suggesting the men's soccer leagues who regularly play there move to fields which would be created over in Calverton, adjacent to the baseball fields on Route 25. 

"Those fields are just beyond being maintained," said Ed Powers, a member of the recreation advisory committee, Police Athletic League football coach and Riverhead's representative on the Suffolk County P.A.L. board. "It's due to a number of reasons, but mostly usage."

Powers said in addition to men's soccer leagues, P.A.L. soccer and lacrosse teams use the fields, and football teams as well before daylight savings pushes practices under the lights on the town's softball fields.

In Calverton, Gabrielsen wants to mow some of the grass covering fields east of the existing baseball fields to be used for men's league soccer. And in addition to the costs of striping and curbing Route 25, Gabrielsen is planning to propose a 120-spot parking lot between the fields.

Former Councilman Prusinowski, who said he was intrigued by the fee after reading about it in the Wall Street Journal in 1986, said the amount of the fees imposed on developers can fluctuate "at the pleasure of the town board." Just last week, the board lowered the fee from $5,000 to $3,000. The fee started off at $2,000.

He added the funds from the impact fee have been used to improve the Peconic Riverfront, the Stotzky Skate Park, and tennis courts at South Jamesport Beach. 

"This way, as the population of a town goes up, this fee helps keep the pace of providing recreational services," Prusinowski said.