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Home My Public Portal About17-07-25 Public Comments Received from July 10 to DateJuly 25, 2017 Members of the ad hoc Committee on Victory Field Phase 2: Attached are all the emails that I received since our last meeting on July 10 through today from the public, or that were forwarded to me from other members of the Committee, and are for our consideration as we develop our recommendations. Please note that I did receive several emails that were entirely for or against artificial turf, and I have chosen not to include those because they are outside the mandate of this committee. Thanks Vincent Piccirilli Chair Page 1 of 5 -Z/i.:-.1/47 I am proposing that you relocate the play area next to my home. It would be better if it were moved to the open, adjacent space at least 50 feet away: on the other side of the fountain. It could also be relocated to another area in the field. The play area is directly :next to my home which mates a great deal of noise and is negatively effecting ectirig my well-being. It prevents rn a from resting when I feel tired. My doctor has advised nie that rest is necessary for good health. Given that you are planning to update the Victory Field Area, I strongly urge you to listen to my request and relocate the play arca out of respect for my health. f . -4g4L-i) ,.2..p yoatvi-x ibr4.06-- afraAr . 7t r 8 kj aLLig-Itti-rg, Page 2 of 5 Date: Thursday, July 13, 2017 3:39 PM From: Dave Martin, North Beacon St. To: vpiccirilli@watertown-ma.gov Cc: Elodia Thomas Subject: Victory Field Phase 11 Construction Plans Dear Vinnie, I know the subject was discussed on Monday but I hope it is not too late for me to provide my input. As a concerned citizen, I am interested with maintaining good aesthetics in our Town. Therefore, I must raise my concern over the 20 foot poles proposed to be erected in order to protect outsiders from potential lacrosse ball injury. (Rogue soccer balls are really a non issue.) There has to be a better way to go about this: 1. Can telescoping poles be installed instead of permanent, fixed height poles? 2. Could lower poles (maybe 10 feet) be installed and still provide reasonable protection? 3. For practice games, could much softer balls be used that closely mimic the official balls in all ways but hardness? 4. Could a "pass by at your own risk" policy be adopted during a lacrosse meet? Would this be a reasonable stance to ward off possible injury suits? 5. Could the surrounding areas be restricted to pedestrians during lacrosse events? Maybe a combination of these (i.e., 2 & 3 above) could be used to address the issue. I hope the final decision addresses the concerns of us all. Thank You, Dave Martin Page 3 of 5 Date: Tue, Jul 25, 2017 at 2:55 PM From: Ron Trial, Marion Rd To: Elodia Thomas Subject: RE: Dick O'Connor's Letter re: Victory Field Unfortunately, it is impossible to be in two places at once. We had to miss the last meeting because we were in Quebec. Tonight, we are committed to attend the airport noise meeting at the Coolidge School apartments which directly conflicts with the Victory Field meeting. There are two items on tonight's agenda which we feel strongly about: Additional Parking: We are absolutely against the addition of parking spaces. We are not against the reconfiguration of the driveways to accommodate bus turnaround. We understand that this could entail removal of a tree or two. The gated access from our part of Marion Rd. must remain in place. (The road through the field area should be renamed to eliminate the confusion of being a continuation of Marion Rd. on many GPS systems. Eventually this might reduce some of the traffic on our street.) Courts: We do not wish to see the courts moved at the expense of losing additional existing grass area. An option that could be considered is elimination of the basketball court (would make Steven and Julia Kennedy happy we are sure). No additional lighting should be added to the courts. Timer and use control of the court lighting must be added. RTaZEIS Page 4 of 5 Date: Tue, Jul 25, 2017 at 5:43 PM From: Kara Flyg, Fuller Rd To: Elodia Thomas, vpiccirilli@watertown-ma.gov Re: Comments on parking at Victory Field Hi Elodia and Vincent, I'm sorry that I can't attend tonight's meeting about Victory Field due to a prior commitment. I want to share my concerns regarding expanding the Field's driveway and parking as I understand that will be discussed tonight. I live one block from Victory Field, and have been negatively impacted by Phase!. I have been to several meetings about Victory Field over the past few years, and I think one thing we can all agree on is that the field has two main purposes: to serve as a neighborhood park/recreation spot for the Watertown community, and to serve as an athletic field for Watertown High School students. Neither of these two stakeholder groups needs additional parking! Most high schoolers do not have cars (even if most of the seniors do, which I sincerely doubt, it is still a small percentage of the high schoolers). People in the neighborhood or even from other communities do not need additional parking either. We do not have permit -only parking in Watertown, therefore people who drive in to use the field can park anywhere in our neighborhood. Orchard Street and the side streets where I live have plenty of parking all year round. Even during the busiest home football games, parking can be found within a 5 or 6 minute walk of the Field. Buses with out of town students are currently using the Public Works parking lot just next door and that is working just fine. We need more trees and grass at Victory Field, not more pavement. A larger parking lot will NOT be serving the community members and high schoolers who we've decided are Victory Field's primary users. It will only mean that Watertown plans to rent the field out to outside groups, which is not a primary goal. We already have two large parking lots in this residential neighborhood (Public Works and Lowell School); we don't need to make Victory Field's parking capability any larger. Thanks, Kara Flyg Page 5 of 5