AN AERIAL VIEW taken by local pilot and photographer Dick Shafner depicts the completed synthetic turf baseball and softball fields at the Lynnfield High School fields complex Dec. 26.(Dick Shafner Photo)
By DAN TOMASELLO
LYNNFIELD —The new synthetic turf baseball and softball fields at Lynnfield High School have been completed.
“The playing surfaces for the baseball and softball fields have both been completed and the fields are ready to be played on,” said Fields Committee Chairman Arthur Bourque in an e-mail.
Pioneer Stadium and two multi-purpose synthetic fields were completed this fall.
While the two fields have been completed, Bourque said the contractor will be returning to LHS in the spring to finish landscaping, sidewalks and stone dust paths that are close to being finished.
“We estimate about two weeks of work is left to complete this phase of the project,” said Bourque.
Bourque said the town was not successful in securing the state’s PARC grant to renovate Jordan Park. The PARC Program, formerly known as the Urban Self Help Program, was established in 1977 to assist cities and towns in acquiring and developing land for park and outdoor recreation purposes.
The fields committee chairman said the committee will begin working on making other field improvements in town in January.
“The Fields Committee will reconvene in January to determine the exact course of that project,” said Bourque. “We will be working with the new DPW Director (Andrew Lafferty) to get the remaining fields fixed.”
Bourque said the Fields Committee has joined forces with Townscape and the Lynnfield Moms Group as part of the second phase of the fields project. He said Townscape is “hard at work reinventing itself,” and said the group will be involved with fundraising efforts as part of a plan to build a synthetic turf field and enlarge the track at the Lynnfield Middle School field.
Additionally, Bourque said the Fields Committee has partnered with the Lynnfield Moms Group to raise money to upgrade the town’s playgrounds.
