County ready to move forward with land purchase for ballpark
Rotterdam Little League players can rest assured they’ll have a field to hit home runs out of for years to come.
Schenectady County officials announced on Tuesday, Oct. 26, the county is ready to proceed with purchasing an 8.7-acre Burdeck Street parcel of land so the Rotterdam Little League can have a home for their games. The county is purchasing the land for $260,000, which utilizes funds set aside by county legislature for expanding and improving parks.
We are pleased to announce that Schenectady County is ready to move forward with the purchase of the Burdeck Street site, said Susan Savage, chair of the Schenectady County Legislature. `The Rotterdam Little League will now have a place they can call home.`
The little league is currently located on North Thompson Street, but the home wasn’t permanent. As developers moved forward with Timothy Larned and Maria Esposito’s plan for a 248-unit apartment complex and a 20,000-square-foot commercial strip, the little league was allowed to remain at the current location. Although, as development progressed, the fields would have to be relocated and a permanent open space for passive recreation would also be created.
The county signed a purchase contract with the owner in April, but county staff had to determine if the site could successfully accommodate the little league. The site plan was developed in recent months and it was determined that the site could successfully be developed as the new home for the Rotterdam Little League, said Joe McQueen, spokesman for the county.
On the Burdeck Street facility there will be three baseball fields, a pair of dugouts and bleachers for each field, a central concession and restroom building, a plaza area with some landscaping and a parking lot with 120 spaces that will be accessed from West Campbell Road. An existing bird club on the site will remain and has been supportive of efforts to utilize the land for the little league, said McQueen.“
