BPC Ball Fields to Close for New Turf and Upgrades During Off-Season

An estimated 50,000 kids play on the Battery Park City ball fields over the course of a year. The fields are set to close during the period that play permits are not issued, beginning at the end of November, with a hoped-for reopening on March 1. Photo: Carl Glassman/Tribeca Trib

The Battery Park City ball fields are getting a makeover.

Work to remove and replace the turf and worn padding, along with other work, is expected to begin in January, with a hoped-for completion by the start of Little League practice in March, a Battery Park City official told Community Board 1.

“We basically have a very finite window that we need to make sure we complete the work in,” Nicholas Sbordone, the Battery Park City Authority’s communications director told CB1’s Youth and Education Committee. Factors such as weather, and delays due to material deliveries and manpower could impact an on-time completion, he said. A “more precise” schedule will be announced once contracts are awarded at the end of this month, Sbordone added. 

The authority says the 80,000-square-foot fields have reached the end of their lifespan. They were last replaced in 2013, after flood waters from Hurricane Sandy swept onto the fields from West Street and ruined them.

The authority is calling the work on the fields an upgrade because it also includes added netting protection for the viewing areas and field-level walkway, new batting cages and outfield fencing, weather proofing of the dugout roofs, and backstop repairs. In addition, the “bioswale,” an earthen trench that collects storm runoff along the fence on the West Street side of the fields, plus five trees along that path, will be removed. “Maintenance considerations,” is the reason for taking out the bioswale, and the trees are being removed for the sake of player safety, according to the authority.

“It’s an absolutely fabulous project,” said Andrew Zelter, a committee member who is on the Downtown Little League board. He noted that the league is in touch with the city’s Parks Department for possible contingency sites if work delays the start of the season. 

“We have every confidence that the authority understands the impact of what it means if it’s [completed] April 1st versus March 1st,” Zelter said. “That doesn’t sound like a lot, but it is.”