Although spring was nowhere to be found on the first day of March, there was activity at the Battery Park City ballfields as they were prepared for the next phase of progress.
Site plans for the installation of 83,000 square feet of synthetic turf were reviewed this morning. Small wooden stakes with flags that marked the drain caps that are not to be covered by the turf were put in place. Then, two pieces of machinery – a tractor and heavy roller – made passes around the fields to first remove ruts and bumps and then compact the surface layer of small stones. Below those stones is a layer of larger stones which cover the drainage system. That system held up well in the storm caused-flood.
Once leveling is complete, the fields will be ready for installation of the mesh, filter fabric which will be sandwiched over the stones and under the “Brock pads” which were cleaned from the original fields and will be re-used. Barring unforeseen conditions or severe weather, that is expected to start next week. To follow at a time soon to be determined, will be the installation of the new AstroTurf surface. The project however, will not conclude with turf installation. “Infill,” which mimics soil and serves as the surface on which athletes will run, must then be delivered and evenly spread over the fields.