Town approves baseball fencing agreement

TOWN OF SKANEATELES – At its April 15 meeting, the Skaneateles Town Board approved a license agreement, that if accepted by Lakeshore Baseball and Softball, will give the baseball organization the ability to put up mobile fencing on the fields it uses on the town park.
In March, representatives of Lakeshore Baseball and Softball came to the town board seeking permission to install mobile fencing and scoreboards.
According to Lakeshore baseball and Softball’s website, skanbaseball.com, “The objective of Lakeshore Baseball and Softball is to provide all children an opportunity to participate in the sports of baseball and softball and to develop their athletic skills to the full extent of their abilities in an atmosphere of fun and good sportsmanship provided by a well-organized program supervised by volunteer coaches and officials who share their love for the game.”
Part of this objective has involved work to improve the fields players get us use.
Most recently dugouts were added to enhance the playing area.
At the Skaneateles Town Board’s March 4 meeting, representatives and players from the program were on hand seeking the board’s support to move forward with several other projects to continue to improve the playing fields and in turn enhance the playing experience.
The leadership of Lakeshore includes President Justin Reeves, Vice President of Baseball Marc Kowal, Vice President of Softball Kacey Marsh, Player Agent PJ Snyder and Treasurer/Registrar Pete Georgianna.
Reeves shared a presentation with the board outlining what Lakeshore hopes to accomplish.
“We are appreciative of you giving us this forum,” Reeves said.
He stressed that Lakeshore is not seeking any money from the town for its proposed projects and will provide the funds necessary of its own accord.
“At no point are we asking for any money,” he said. “We want to make sure you are comfortable that we are going to do what we say we are going to do. The reason we are here are the kids and we are here to make sure it ultimately ends with them. It is more about them than us. We are stewards to give them a positive experience.”
Reeves said Lakeshore is looking to rebuild the pitchers mounds and if the budget can accommodate it, Lakeshore is also looking to rebuild the batter’s boxes.
The pitchers mounds will be dug out and a new base will be placed that won’t degrade and Lakeshore will also plans to work to tarp mounds when weather makes it necessary.
Lakeshore has also acquired more landscaping equipment to make maintenance easier.
Trustee Sue Dove noted that the fields are open for the public to use even with these improvements Lakeshore is proposing and Reeves said that Lakeshore wants people to feel that they are able to use the fields and these improvements overall are a benefit to the community.
Lakeshore is also planning to utilize portable scoreboards this season.
Reeves said these could be placed on tripods which can be put up and taken down easily after each game day.
Town Councilor Courtney Alexander asked if these scoreboards could placed on the light posts already in the fields, which reeves said was also a possibility and that lakeshore was open to suggestions and working to do what the town board is comfortable with.
Town Supervisor Chris Legg said these points have been discussed and the board was comfortable moving forward with approval and agreements.
Lakeshore also proposed considering placing removable fencing around the fields on game days.
Reeves said this adds a level of safety.
Some of the young players when given the opportunity to speak said they hoped to one day hit homeruns over the fence, which would add a level of accomplishment and excitement to the game for them.
Reeves said the high school uses s similar system and that the fence has anchors to connect it to the ground. These anchor points will be flush with the ground so they will not present a tripping hazard and mowing and other maintenance can be done around them.
Reeves said that coaches were polled and the majority agreed to setting up fencing at the start of game days and removing and storing it at the end of game days with the board members such as Reeves agreeing to be responsible and ensuring that it is removed and properly stored with an exception that if there were weather conditions such as lighting that would make it unsafe, they could wait until the weather improved.
The board said it would talk over the memorandum of understanding with the town attorney and reconvene with Lakeshore from there.
The board had a license agreement ready at its April 15 meeting.
Town Attorney Brody Smith said a license is an agreement between two parties and is not attached to the land.
The license outlines that it would grant Lakeshore the ability to install the fencing but does not grant it sole use of the land. The understanding being that the fields are for use by the entire community.
When the season is over the fields will be returned to the condition they were in.
As Lakeshore Baseball noted the fencing has anchors that are flush with in the ground.
Town Councilor Courtney Alexander said the high school uses something similar and leaves these anchors in the ground and according to the high school Alexander said they are otherwise unnoticeable when not in use.
Smith said the town reserves the right to revoke the license at any time for any reason such as not removing the fencing when it is supposed to be for example.
The board agreed to the terms of license and decided to send it to Lakeshore Baseball for their consideration.