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5 <br />MEMORANDUM <br />TO: Greg Wilder, Assistant to the County Manager <br />FROM: Paul Thames, PE, County Enginee <br />DATE: February 8, 2000 <br />SUBJECT: Development of ball field, temporary or otherwise, at Fairview Pazk <br />As per the request of the County Manager and the BOCC, I visited Fairview Park in the company of Eric <br />Peterson, Hillsborough Town Manager, on February 1, 2000. The purpose of this visit was to determine <br />if there was a site on either the County's Fairview property or the Town's adjaining property that would <br />be suitable for developing a baseball field to replace the so-called "Field of Dreams". My general -- <br />understanding about the pre-requirements for this field was that the field had to be ready for play in the <br />2000 baseball season and that the field be at least as good as the existing "Field of Dreams". <br />Based on my site visit, an evaluation of topographic information contained in an old (1982) park <br />development study and a conversation with a local grading contractor (Roy Wilkerson), I have <br />determined that there is no new site available on either of the two properties that meets the two criteria <br />noted above. <br />The azeas on the Fairview Park parcel that have not been impacted by landfilling activities -the extreme <br />northern and southern ends of the property -have site limitations that cannot be overcome readily and <br />without significant expense. The northern end of the property is traversed by a deep drainage channel <br />with accompanying steep slopes. The central portion of the wooded area at southern end of the property <br />is occupied by a wet or swampy azea that is noted on the USGS topographic maps of the area and on the <br />1982 pazk development study cited above. Furthermore, even if the topography of these areas were <br />suitable for developing a baseball field, the process of designing, bidding/contracdng and constructing a <br />field in an azea where large trees and tree stumps would have to be removed and the playing surface <br />graded, compacted and seeded would be a lengthy one. It is unlikely that the field would be ready for <br />playing before eazly fall at the very soonest. It is, in fact, more likely that the field would not be ready <br />prior to the 2001 season. <br />For the purpose of basebalUathletic field development, the topography at the southern end of the Town <br />of Hillsborough property (adjoining the east side of the Fairview parcel) is the most satisfactory portion <br />of non-landfilled area in the Countyffown Fairview property complex. It is likewise the most <br />satisfactory for development of a Town motor pool complex Unfortunately, developing an athletic <br />field in very the southern-most portion of the Town's property appears to be likely to disrupt the traffic <br />pattern design planned when the entrance to the area from the NC 86/NC 57/Public Works access <br />intersection was laid out. Atliletic field development north of the point where the Public Works access <br />road would cross the Town property would span the entire width of this tract and could block off or <br />hinder internal access to the portions of the tract in the northern end The cost of constructing an <br />athletic field in this area would be at least $60,000 for grading and seeding alone, assuming there would <br />not be a rock removal issue. In that we have previously encountered rock during shallow grading on the <br />