The Ballston Parks and Recreation Committee underwent a reorganization in early March and will focus most of its immediate efforts on finding a place to develop Diamond Anchor Park, a park that will be largely created with moneys left to the town by Frank Schidzick in his will. The committee will also look at additional funding opportunities and pinpoint what type of park would best suit the town’s needs.
President Dan Russell said the committee has been meeting about twice a week since its formation in January and is in the stage of looking at different types of parks and features.
We’re looking at everything from tying in trails to buying a piece of swampland or buying a nice piece of property to have ball fields on. We’ve done a lot of homework on what type of parks we want to consider and the big question on this particular piece is going to be how much money the estate is going to give us, when it will be available and what kind of property can we afford with it, said Russell.
Russell said the committee is searching for all available land larger than 15 acres. It drafted a letter that will go out to landowners on Wednesday, March 31, asking any interested in offering up their land for a park to make contact. The committee also went a little further and collected records for the `blanket land` in the town to see if any is suitable for a park. The trick now, said Russell, is to determine what park essentials will make up the criteria.
`We’ll look at size, shape, what surrounds it and cost, which is a big driver. It it’s in middle of a subdivision people in that subdivision may not want it there because of noise or various other reasons,` said Russell. `The criteria would be something we’re going to look at and compare it to the information we get off a piece of land. A piece of land suitable for a trail system obviously would not necessarily be suitable for putting a ballpark on.`
The process will be extensive, said Russell, with the committee describing each piece of land with regard to its access, location within the town and topographical features like swampland, trees or open fields. He said the town surveyed residents back in 2006 about what type of park they’d like to see created. The response was mainly, he said, that a passive-type park would be preferred.
`Right now, we’re generally thinking something like Jenkins Park would be best. So we’re looking for land big enough for a baseball or soccer field, maybe both, a parking lot and pavilion,` said Russell.
Russell said the committee’s main goal, besides securing a location, will be to keep the town’s difficult fiscal situation in mind, keeping the cost as low as possible.
`We have to recognize that the town doesn’t have any money to buy a park, so until we get the money from the estate, we’ll have a certain amount of money to purchase the land and some money for later maintenance costs. The ultimate cost to the town would be zero or negligible. If we decide we can provide improvements in the future, that would be depending on our source of funding, whether we have volunteer workers or some type of other donations,` said Russell.
Russell said without being left money specifically for this project, erecting a new park most likely wouldn’t even be on the town’s radar.
`It’s a great opportunity that somebody left us a sizeable amount of money to be used specifically for a park,` said Russell.
Ballston has Jenkins Park, which is about 44 acres, and Rita Park, which is a small pocket park in a neighborhood with half a basketball court and playground equipment. There’s also the bike path and fishing pier. Supervisor Patti Southworth said she’d like to see a park created that can be a community meeting spot.
`I’d like to have a nice gathering place where maybe we could hold community events and get people out and moving about,` said Southworth
The estate money will be presented once a parcel of land is found, said Russell. He expects a full accounting of the actual estate value mid to late summer, which means the committee’s presentation or proposal of what land will be purchased would fall right around the end of summer or early fall.
Frank and his wife Wanda Schidzick were residents of Ballston for many years in the Round Lake Road/Diamond Road area, according to Supervisor Patti Southworth. They owned and operated Anchor Glass and Schidzick requested the Park be called Diamond Anchor Park.
Russell said he encourages Ballston residents to express their ideas at the Parks and Recreation Committee meetings, held on the third Wednesday of each month at 7 p.m. in Ballston Town Hall.
Residents who are interested in having their property considered can send a letter of interest to [email protected] or c/o Ballston Town Clerk, PO Box 67, Burnt Hills, NY 12027. Letter s should be received by May 1.
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