Politics & Government
Hopatcong Investigating 'Mystery Field'
New field in Nariticong Park built without permission of the borough council.
If you build it... they will want to know where the heck it came from.
The Borough Council Wednesday directed Administrator Robert Elia to get to the bottom of changes made without permission to two of the borough’s recreation facilities, one of which was the building of a new T-ball field without permission.
Councilman John Young, the liaison to the recreation committee, said that the outfield at one of the softball fields at the Veteran’s Park has been closed for use during the current season. No one on the recreation committee gave that approval, he said.
According to Young, the second issue was more serious.
A fourth infield and backstop has been constructed at one of the baseball fields at Nariticong Field. Young said it is a field used by the local Little League and appears to be a T-ball field.
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Again, he said, no one at the recreation committee or the Borough Council approved the new field. Further, he said, equipment owned by the local recreation football team was pushed down an embankment and during the construction of the field, which included a fence.
Young said the equipment is older and may have to be disassembled to get it back up the embankment.
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The real issue, he said, is that the changes were made without anyone in town government being consulted.
“We have to follow our own resolutions, ordinances and procedures,” Young said. “There should be repercussions.”
By rights, the field should be torn up, Young said, but since that would cause harm to the children who use the field, that is not really an option.
Regarding the softball field closure, Young said he was told by a recreation committee member who supervises the fields that he closed it with permission of Mayor Sylvia Petillo.
Petillo said Wednesday that in a telephone conversation with the recreation official and Young, the softball outfield was to be closed until mid-summer to allow the grass to take hold. Young said he walked the field and the grass is fine condition and should be used.
The new infield and backstop was more puzzling, he said. A project of that scope has to be reviewed by the recreation committee and Borough Council. Because it was a construction project, the borough’s construction and zoning office should have been informed.
“How do we know the field is built to standards?” Young said. He said that there were concerns about insurance liability because no approvals had been given and the construction could be suspect.
“This is inexcusable,” he said.
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