Rec Committee Provide Updates on Planned Projects

Recreation Director Art Psaledas provided several updates during a brief monthly meeting of the Recreation Committee.

First up, the maintenance building at West Road is expected to be completed by Labor Day.  The outside structure is completed and the overhead doors, insulation, drywall, electrical and heat will be added in the coming weeks.

Shelving is also needed. Psaledas contacted Greg Warren of Bode Industries.  He and owner Scott Fawcett of Londonderry came down to talk about the shelving needs and they offered to help keep the cost down by providing leftover and extra inventory shelving for the project.

The planned Nelson Road softball field lights are expected to be completed in the late fall.  The contract with the supplier will be signed soon and an installer is lined up.

About the softball field, Psaledas shared that they have had major drainage issues with all the rain lately. The infield consists of a clay mixture which, while great to play on, does not drain well.  When there are heavy rains, the water must be pumped off the field.  The committee plans to investigate options to improve the drainage, but fears that solutions could be expensive.

At the skate park on Nelson Road, volunteers from the Londonderry Police Department and others did further work on improving the skate park. Also, at the skate park, a memorial bench was installed honoring Eric David Pierce, a 28-year old former resident of Londonderry and LHS graduate who passed away in October 2017.  Funds for the bench were provided by his family.

Psaledas recapped the results from the summer playground program with 217 kids registered this year.  He compared that to eight years ago when the program had a high of 300 kids.   He believes that the hot humid weather and the increased number and variety of other camp options contributed to lower turnout.

The usual fall and winter adult recreation are planned again this year including men’s free play basketball, an adult volleyball league, an over 30 men’s basketball league, adult dodge ball and co-ed pick up volleyball.  He said the schedule for each will be posted once school starts and gym availability is finalized.

At Nelson Road, the lights at the basketball courts now stay on an hour later to midnight.  This change was requested by Town Councilor Joe Green.  In the same complex Eversource fixed a power problem that was keeping the light there from working.

In response to a resident having a heart attack at the West Road soccer fields, member Todd Ellis shared that the Londonderry Soccer Club was discussing the possibility of installing defibrillators but are concerned about their cost and theft or vandalism.

Finally, Psaledas shared that whereas he as concerned about a month ago about the field due to the dry weather, now the town fields are in great shape because of all the recent rain and humidity. The challenge now is to keep up with the required mowing.