By Katie Wagner, Staff Writer
MONTGOMERY — Lifetime Montgomery resident Frank Drift made an offer to the Montgomery Township School Board this week he thinks they can’t refuse.
He offered to transform 15-acres of a township-owned tract across from the high school into grass practice fields. All he wants in return, he said, is to be reimbursed for his materials cost, which he projected at no more than $32,000.
During Tuesday’s school board meeting, Mr. Drift handed the board a proposal of what he’d like to do on the land between the Skillman post office and Otto Kaufman Community/Senior Center. Mr. Drift’s plans call for leveling the land, plowing it, seeding it and mowing the grass until its flat and ready for use.
”I’d bring the board to see it when it’s done and if they felt it wasn’t good enough, I would just plow it back under,” Mr. Drift said.
School Board President David Pettit said the board would consider Mr. Drift’s proposal. As of Thursday afternoon, Mr. Drift said he hasn’t heard back from any board members.
Tuesday night wasn’t the first time Mr. Drift has offered to build the field. Mr. Drift said he has spoken to at least one school board member in the past about his interest in the fields, but heard his offer was not accepted when the board presented it to the Township Committee during a joint meeting in January. During that meeting, the Township Committee said the amount of work required to have the land converted into playing fields would cost approximately $750,000 — a cost the board considered too high. Township officials added they were skeptical that a quality job could be done for a significantly lower price, due to past experiences they’d had with athletic fields in town.
”The school isn’t looking for per se a professional baseball field or soccer field, they just need a nice grass space close to the school for practices,” Mr. Drift said, during a phone interview following Tuesday’s meeting. “What’s better than a nice open grass space? And it will be within walking distance from the school, so the district will no longer have to pay to bus all its athletes to practices.”
Mr. Drift said he also directly brought his interest in building the fields to the Township Committee last year, but was told he was unqualified to do the work by Committeewoman Louise Wilson, who was deputy mayor at the time.
When she was questioned about Mr. Drift’s offer this fall, Ms. Wilson told The Packet she didn’t think Mr. Drift was an expert at building athletic fields, emphasizing the importance of building the fields correctly.
”If this thing can be built at no cost and no hidden cost to the township, we will fully support it and I don’t think any committee members will stand in the way,” Mayor Cecilia Birge said, in a phone interview following the meeting.
