Aldermen Praise Athletic Fields Plan

The Melrose Board of Aldermen gave rave reviews at Monday night's meeting to Mayor Rob Dolan's plans to build new athletic fields at Melrose High School and Pine Banks Park using up to $5.5 million in surplus revenue from Mount Hood Golf Course.

The three orders needing approval from the aldermen for the project to move forward were sent to the aldermen's Appropriations Committee, which is comprised of the full board and meets on the call of the chairman. Once the committee meets and votes on those orders—the special act of the Legislature allowing the city to tap Mount Hood revenues; authorizing the mayor to execute a lease agreement between Melrose, Malden and the Pine Banks Foundation; and a $1 million bond for sewer work—they will be sent back to the full board for a final vote.

After Dolan's presentation Monday night, Alderman at Large Don Conn said that he's cautious of the cost to taxpayers regarding any decisions made by the aldermen, and that using surplus Mount Hood revenues to fund the project is a "tremendously innovative and novel idea" that places no additional burden on the taxpayers.

Conn added that his children—who will be graduated by the time the projects are completed—had to practice on asphalt parking lots when they were younger, which is indicative of the "incredible renaissance in fields construction" in the city over the past decade.

"I'm very comfortable with this project—I think it's a very creative solution to our field problems," Conn said. "I'm confident that this isn't going to have a negative or adverse effect on the taxpayers ... I don't think we should use Mount Hood funds for all purposes, but this is close enough to the purposes for which this fund was set up that we should do it."

Ward 6 Alderman Peter Mortimer—whose ward includes Mount Hood and last year suggested, in lieu of building an athletic field at Mount Hood, using Mount Hood revenue to fund field improvements around the city—agreed with Conn's assessment and tipped his cap to the mayor and the Park Commission.

"Everybody is going to win," Mortimer said. "A lot of thought and wisdom has been put into this. This is the wiser choice [than a field at Mount Hood] for so many reasons. This is beautiful work."

Ward 2 Alderman Monica Medeiros said that at first, she had some reservations about taking money from the Mount Hood Enterprise Fund, but felt comfortable that the money would be used solely for recreational activity. As the alderman from one of areas hardest hit by flooding, Medeiros added that she's "particularly happy" about the sewer line improvement included in the project.

"I've seen the residents in the [Melrose] Towers [Condominiums] suffer through a lot of flooding and sewer problems," she said. "Although this will not necessarily cure all that, it does allow us to say we've done everything we absolutely can do ... I think this will help improve the value of people's homes in Towers, as well as all the homes in the community." 

Alderman at Large Mary Beth McAteer Margolis added—as Melrose Athletic Director Pat Ruggiero nodded in agreement—that another benefit of the new all-weather synthetic turf fields is reducing the injuries suffered by student-athletes on messy, hard-to-upkeep grass fields in areas that routinely flood.

"I think that's a really big factor in considering this—the safety of our young people," McAteer Margolis said.

Dolan will meet with the various groups that use that athletic fields to present the city's plans Tuesday night at 7:30 p.m. in the Melrose Veterans Memorial Middle School auditorium.