NL will try to get lower price for new ball fields

New London - In 2006, a group of residents got together and submitted a wish list for new and improved ball fields at New London High School.

The price came back at $9 million - a little steep for a city trying to keep taxes down.

Three years later, an architect came up with more manageable plans for the nine acres behind the high school, and last week the city opened five bids, ranging from $4.2 million to $3.6 million for the new athletic facility.

But the lowest bid is still about $400,000 more than the city has to spend, according to City Councilor Peg Curtin, who created the Mayor's Sports Complex Commission in 2006 when she was mayor.

The City Council did not award a contract and asked the city manager to talk to the lowest bidders about bringing down the price.

The original wish list included a lot of extras, Curtin said. The project is now pared down to the necessities.

"We're still making it a first-class sports complex,'' she said.

The existing grass playing field, an accessory building and accompanying speciality field will be replaced with two, 95,450-square-foot synthetic turf fields, which will be used for high school and youth football, soccer and other ball games. The project includes driveways, walkways and handicapped accessible parking.

There will lights on both fields, cast concrete bleachers on the field used by the high school Whaler teams, and a 140-by-30-foot building that will contain a concession, two team locker rooms and new bathrooms.

The high bids have set the project back, but Curtin said it will only be a slight delay. If the contract is awarded soon, work can begin immediately after. It will take one and half to two years to complete, she said.

"It's going to be first class,'' she said. "We're always second class in New London. We want this to be first class and to last a long time.''

All-Phase Enterprises of Stafford Springs presented the lowest bid of $3,639,900 and Carlin Construction Co., a New London based contractor, came in second with a bid of $3,712,000. Milton C. Beebe & Sons of Storrs had the highest bid of $4,154,399.

The City Council approved $3.5 million in bonding for the project as part of a larger bond package that included $10 million for road and infrastructure improvements. Some money has already been spent on the design.

The city only has a portion of the money needed for the project, she said. It may be eligible for about $1.2 million in reimbursement from the state and fundraisers are being held to bring in another $200,000.

k.edgecomb@theday.com