At stake is the agreement between the township and the league setting use limitations for the Youth Baseball Complex on Willow Road. League officials hope to increase playing time at the complex.
By: Melissa Edmond
In a feud nearing its eighth year, Little League representatives and Winding Way residents still can’t seem to get along.
Representatives of both groups met with township officials in a private meeting at the municipal building Jan. 12 in a bid to resolve some of the issues including times for using the fields in the neighborhood.
At stake is the lease agreement between the township and the league, setting use limitations for the Youth Baseball Complex on Willow Road.
According to Township Administrator Kevin Davis, who attended the meeting, residents in the Winding Way and Willow Road neighborhoods don’t want any changes to the lease, while league officials are trying to increase playing time because of the deteriorating condition on many of the township’s fields.
Last week’s meeting included Winding Way resident Bob Hollingshead representing the neighborhoods, and Tony Malda, the Little League president.
"We feel the Little League should just stick to its current agreement," said Mr. Hollingshead who pointed out that traffic and noise are a continuous problem for the neighborhood near the complex.
He said that the neighborhood feels that an expanded use of the complex would affect its quality of life.
"It’s roughly 80 percent of the time that we could be outside enjoying our properties that the games are going on," he said. "We need some quiet days."
Mr. Malda, the league president for two years, said the 1,300 players in the league who range in age from 5 to 16 have limited access to safe fields. He said the safest fields for the Little League to use are the seven fields at the Youth Baseball Complex and the township’s two fields at the Village Green Park and two fields at Ann Van Middlesworth Park.
"We feel that in order for the league to play out our schedule on safe fields, we need to be able to use the complex more often than the lease allows," Mr. Malda said.
He cited fields at Woods Road Elementary School, Hillsborough Elementary School, Amsterdam Elementary School, Sunnymead Elementary School, and Auten Road Intermediate School as being unsafe.
Some have dugouts that are falling apart, holes in the outfields, no bathrooms, no bleachers, or no garbage receptacles, he said.
"We hold no animosity against the neighbors. This is strictly a push for safer conditions. We know the township and the school don’t have the funds to fix the fields," Mr. Malda said.
"We have one of the safest baseball complexes in the state of New Jersey and we need to use it more," he added.
According to the lease between the township and the Little League, the Little League is allowed to use the complex from April 1 to July 31 on weekday evenings, all day Saturday, and an average of two Sundays a month for its spring season.
Mr. Malda said he wants the league to start practicing in March and to be able to play past July if weather delays games or practices.
Both of these changes violate the current lease. The agreement was signed in 1998 after the complex opened in 1997, and amended in 2002 to include a seventh field, the Challenger field for children with disabilities, and to add one more week of playing time in July.
"I want to see the lease respected and upheld," said a Winding Way resident, a mother of a Little League player who requested anonymity. She said that the league never stops trying to make more changes to the lease.
"My kid plays Little League so it’s not as though I don’t like baseball. We’ve got a lot of participants of the sport in the area. It’s not as though we don’t like it," she said. "We love baseball but at some point we also love our quiet and quality of life."
She said the reverberating noise from the games of parents cheering, the distinct sound of the ball every time it hits the metal bat, the public address system, discouraged her family from adding a pool to their property. "We wouldn’t have been able to relax and enjoy it," she said.
She pointed out that it’s a "David vs. Goliath situation" with the 1,200 families involved in the Little League often outmatching the 30-or-so families in the neighborhood.
"We’re all taxpayers. We all deserve rights," she said. "There’s some point where you just have to say no this is the season, and they have to look at other areas and fields where they can play."
Mr. Hollingshead said that a high volume field like the Youth Baseball Complex should never have been put in a neighborhood. He said that fields in other municipalities like East Brunswick and Montgomery had been placed in remote areas where they couldn’t disrupt residents.
"We realize and sympathize with the neighbors that the field should not have been placed where it is. However, the field is there and we have 1,300 players to provide organized sports for," said Mr. Malda.
Mr. Davis said both groups will continue to have ongoing discussions and "when there is a resolution, if any, it will be publicly discussed."