Funds for Hannaford Field bleachers to be added to capital
projects bond
By a 5-2 vote, the Town Council Feb. 11 agreed to fund up to 50 percent of
the cost of bleachers for Cape Elizabeth's new Hannaford Field.
The vote will add no more than $150,000 toward the cost of the bleachers
to a $2.4 million bond issue scheduled for the spring. The bond, which includes
funding for various capital needs, was approved along with last year's
municipal budget, but did not include funding for the bleachers.
After nearly an hour of testimony from citizens favoring the bleachers, a
move to send the expenditure back to the Town Council's Finance Committee
failed to win support among the council.
"Normally I would be in favor of that," said council Chairman Mary Ann Lynch,
who along with councilors David Backer, Sara Lennon, Paul McKenney and Cynthia
Dill voted to include the bleacher funding in the bond. However, she said,
the committee debated funding the bleachers at length last year and only
rejected it because the School Board did not support it at the time. "The
School Board is now supporting this project," she said.
The School Board, at their January meeting, voted 6-1 to conditionally support
the recommendation of the Hannaford Field Committee that a 1,400-seat bleacher
system be added to Hannaford Field. Estimated cost of the system is $315,000,
with up to 50 percent - but no more than $150,000 - to come from the upcoming
bond. The balance will come from privately raised funds.
Already, more than $800,000 has been raised privately for the artificial
turf surface and lighting for the field located behind Cape Elizabeth High
School. Fifteen citizens, four of them students, told Town councilors before
their vote that they supported the Town expenditure.
"I see this not necessarily as a burden or an undertaking for the town, but
really as an opportunity to get their hands in and help finish this special
project," said Michael Ott, a Cape Elizabeth High School student who's father
helped spearhead the
KidsTurf fundraising campaign
for the field surface.
Supporters brought an enlarged photograph of the fall's football playoff
game against Mountain Valley, showing spectators crowded around the field's
fence trying to watch the game. Out-of-town visitors wonder why such an
impressive facility doesn't have any seating, speakers said.
Smaller contests will benefit from seating as well, supporters said. "I know
my grandmother would like to come to a lot of games but she wouldn't want
to stand in the cold for an awful long time," said Brentwood Road resident
Ben Raymond, who teaches and coaches at Cape Elizabeth schools.
Others said that the entire community, not just the schools, benefits from
the field.
While no one, including Town councilors, disagreed with the merits of the
project, not all agreed that it should be approved that night. Councilors
Jim Rowe and Anne Swift-Kayatta supported a motion, made by Swift-Kayatta,
to send it to the council's Finance Committee to be considered among other
budget considerations next month.
"Taking one project and deciding on it without considering the rest of the
budget environment, I think, is imprudent," said Swift-Kayatta, adding that
the council is facing $12 million worth of other capital needs. Those
projects would benefit the library, Fort Williams Park, open space and
road safety, among others. "Fort Williams Park," she said. "They have bleachers
over there too, and it's going to cost $500,000 just to repair them,"
Swift-Kayatta said.
Rowe, this year's chairman of the Finance Committee, also wanted to send
the request to committee, adding that approving bleachers that evening would
be a circumvention of the budget process. "And I just plain don't think that's
right," he said.
However, the private fundraising effort that had driven field this far seemed
to sway the majority of councilors. "What we have is the most impressive
job of fund-raising that this town has ever seen," said Councilor David Backer.
The town's share of what will amount to a $1.27 million project will be 23
percent, Backer said. "For every dollar that the Town puts in, approximately
$5 is matched," Backer said. "That seems to be an outstanding return," he
said.
Lynch said she would normally vote to send requests for funding to the Finance
Committee, but in this situation, where donors are willing to raise 110 percent
of the Town's investment, she's willing to make an exception.
The motion approved by the council says that no municipal funds will be expended,
and no contract will be signed for construction, until the Town is in receipt
of matching funds to cover the balance of the full estimated cost of the
project ($315,000).
Total cost of the 20-year bond will be $199,300, with a payment of $15,425
the first year, said Town Manager Michael McGovern.
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