The Milford City Council tabled a proposal to renovate Field 3 at Welch Park at its meeting on July 2. It is to be considered at a future meeting once funding has been more concretely determined.
The proposal, which is going through the Milford Community Betterment Committee, calls for the addition of a wooden roof above the seating area on Field 3, which is the northernmost field, new concrete around the area and the switching its bleachers to stadium-style seating.
Dan Schweitzer restarted the area’s legion baseball team last year and said that since then, he has been looking into improving the fields and facilities for the kids who use them. He and Milford Recreation Director Amanda Hromek noticed several aspects of Field 3 that needed fixing.
High school softball teams, rec teams, Sports Express teams and legion teams use the fields, and Hromek said Field 3 is being used increasingly often because Milford is hosting more teams.
It is the only field that does not provide overhead sun protection for spectators.
“A lot of people don’t want to play over there because of that,” Hromek said. “Everybody has been waiting for (the renovation), it’s just taking money to do it.”
Spectators are also more likely to be hit by foul balls due to the lack of a roof.
“If somebody hits a foul ball a little bit over the fence, right now they're just dodging them on the bleachers,” Schweitzer said. “If a mom is there holding a baby or something and not paying attention, they're going to get hit.”
Additionally, the old concrete around the bleachers has sunken down and become a pool for rainwater. As a baseball mom herself, Hromek has first-hand experience with this.
“We played over there for a tournament and it rained the night before and it was all puddled out because it needs to be re-cemented and it's very muddy,” she said.
After adding more concrete, Schweitzer wants to turn the bleachers into stadium-style seating to give families a more traditional baseball experience.
“When you go to baseball, you’ve got your concessions and popcorn and you're sitting there in the stadium and they’re cheering and, like just the whole experience, I want to try to give them that,” he said.
Schweitzer has been designing the renovations and contacting contractors to plan for the project. He said he has found a couple of donors and some companies have agreed to gift some of their time to the projects. However, he is still looking to raise about $21,000.
Hromek said she and Schweitzer plan to raise as much of that money as possible with a golf fundraiser on Aug. 24 and a D-BAT camp fundraiser next April.
Schweitzer said he hopes to have the project finished before baseball season starts next year.
“It’s an in-progress project but we have a lot of people who are really interested in the baseball seating and really want to get it done,” he said. “We've had a lot of people that are really rooting this on, so I'm gonna keep pushing until we get it done.”
