Baseball Field, Swings, Being Moved at Williamstown ElementaryBy Andy McKeever, iBerkshires Staff
10:17AM / Friday, August 12, 2011 | |
 Landscapers began relocating one of the baseball fields at the Elementary School earlier this week to make room for the construction of a new Youth Center in the spring. |
The swing sets were uprooted and moved closer to the center of the fields to make room for the new building. |
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The playing fields and swings sets at the Elementary School are being relocated to make way for the new Youth Center.
The new center set to be built on the school's land will force the relocation of two swing sets and a baseball field, which landscapers began moving earlier this week to avoid interference with the school year. The first day of classes is on Aug. 31.
"This was planned so that the children will be able to use the facilities throughout the school year," Youth Center Executive Director David Rempell said in an e-mail on Thursday. "Construction of the new youth center will begin in March or April but will not impact the use of the relocated facilities."
The playground area sparked a heated debate last year and triggered the formation of a subcommittee to approve any changes to the current layout. The architects, Black River Design, proposed multiple options to limit the impact. The approved design kept the playground structure, which was the main focus of the debates, in place but shifted the baseball field and the swing sets to make room for the center.
The debate cause Youth Center officials to push back the originally scheduled June ground breaking until October. Last month Rempell announced that the project was once again delayed until the spring to give the architects more time to work out all the details of the plan.
The construction is supported by a fundraising campaign that as of July 1 raised about $3.8 million.
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