By AUBRIE GEORGE
The township is moving ahead with an initiative to improve its recreational assets.
Members involved with the recreation advisory committee’s K.I.D.S (Keep Investing and Developing Sports/Recreation) initiative — a plan to update, maintain and expand Moorestown’s current recreation fields and facilities — gave a presentation to Council last night.
The presentation detailed projects that group members advised Council begin pursuing as phase one of what they say should be a multi-phase initiative.
Group members recommended phase one include the installation two turf baseball infields at Pryor Park as well as providing lighting to all fields at the facility. The group also recommended installing an irrigation system at Wesley Bishop Park, expanding and improving the current gravel-based parking area at the facility and improving drainage and signage.
The first phase entails resurfacing and other repairs to the roller hockey rinks at Wesley Bishop Park, converting the lower field there into a turf field and expanding the length of one of the fields to create a warm-up area and two parallel fields, something group members said would draw in the opportunity for sports tournaments.
“Ultimately, we believe these projects are the ones that deserve to be done in the first phase of this initiative,” RAC Chair Scott Cooper said.
The estimated cost of the projects included under phase one adds up to about $2.4 million, group members said.
Group members said Moorestown sports clubs were on board to provide approximately 50 percent of the costs related to the improvements at the facilities each of them use.
Council approved a motion to direct township officials to begin meeting with club presidents to flesh out payment agreements as well as begin putting a bond ordinance in place so that the initiative is able to move forward.
