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Rainy Weather Delays Opening of Battery Park City Ball Fields

By Julie Shapiro | September 8, 2011 1:47pm

BATTERY PARK CITY — Seemingly nonstop wet weather is delaying the opening of the much-anticipated new ball fields in Battery Park City.

The Battery Park City Authority could not finish installing the new artificial turf on the West Street fields in time for the scheduled opening this week. Instead, the fields, between Warren and Murray streets, will now open on Sept. 17, said Leticia Remauro, spokeswoman for the authority.

"There's been a lot of water coming in," Remauro said, referring to both Hurricane Irene and the more recent days of rain.

Remauro said the field construction is nearly complete, but the contractor cannot roll out the turf until the ground has a chance to dry.

Bill Bialosky, president of the Downtown Soccer League, said he was frustrated that he had to delay his scheduled Sept. 10 opening day for the league's 1,100 players.

"This is a real disappointment," Bialosky told BPCA officials at a Community Board 1 meeting Tuesday night. 

"We are so grateful to have the field… [but] there needs to be some accountability about how the contingency planning was handled."

Bialosky said the authority should have worked longer hours over the summer to build extra time into the schedule, so that a few days of rain wouldn't derail the start of the local kids' soccer season.

Anne Fenton, assistant to BPCA President Gayle Horwitz, said the authority did everything it could to get the fields open on time.

"This was all going according to plan," Fenton said. "Unfortunately, we could not control the weather."

Downtown's volunteer-run sports leagues, including Downtown Soccer League, have had a difficult couple of years, as first the new Goldman Sachs tower, and then Milstein Properties' Liberty Luxe and Liberty Green apartment buildings, rose around the ball fields. Construction debris from both projects occasionally fell to the field, raising concerns about its safety.

Now that all the surrounding construction is finally done, the Battery Park City Authority is replacing the formerly grass fields with artificial turf. The turf will hold up better than grass under heavy use, enabling leagues to extend their seasons and serve more children.

The new turf field may eventually host an ice rink during the winter, but so far the authority has not been able to find an operator willing to run a rink there.