Baseball Field Improvements Get Unanimous Approval

With the safety of players being the main concern, not a single town council member voted against funding a project for much-needed improvements to Windsor High School's varsity baseball field.

It's been well over a decade — Mayor Don Trinks estimated over a few decades — since the field has seen any significant work, and the facility will now receive a number of upgrades.

Several baseball parents, supporters and even players turned out to the council's meeting Monday to voice their support for the project, and share their horror stories of dealing with the unsafe playing surface.

Turned ankles, a lack of playability and even stories of visiting teams refusing to play due to the field's unsafe conditions were shared with council members.

All of the safety concerns, with the exception of the summer sun, which tends to blind players, are being addressed in this project, according to Paul Norris, director of leisure and recreation.

The project will cost $80,000 and includes regrading the infield, resetting home plate and the pitcher's mound, installing sod, adding clay mix to the infield, construction of a dugout, improved irrigation, replacement of the outfield fence and fence repairs behind home plate.

The council's unanimous approval overrides a town planning and zoning decision to shoot the project down — a decision the commission made on the basis that the project failed to include enough improvements.

According to Town Manager Peter Souza, a two-thirds majority vote in favor of the project was needed, Monday, and the project, having been unanimously approved, will now go to bidding, and work will likely being in late August.