Written by Bronxville Quality of Life Committee (BQLC)

Dec. 31, 2014: Editor's note: On December 23, the Bronxville Quality of Life Committee sent an email with the following text to Bronxville Village residents who are included on the village email list.

Thank you for your previous support of our efforts to maintain the quality of life in our village. 

During the course of 2014, the BQLC has played an active role in some important community matters and issues, including the 2014 board of education election, supporting The Bronxville Historical Conservancy's efforts to maintain the brick road on Park Avenue, and other matters.

The coming year also promises to be active--and this is part of the reason we write to you at this time.

FEMA & Hayes Field Projects

As many of you know, in conjunction with the approval of the FEMA flood mitigation and control project, the Bronxville Board of Education has also approved a measure to install artificial turf on Hayes Field. This would mean the school would have use of two regulation-size artificial turf fields on the school grounds: Chambers and Hayes. During January, a public vote will be held to approve the FEMA project and the Hayes turf project and to approve the funding for each. The village's share of the $7 million FEMA project will be $900,000, to be funded via tax levy, and the cost of the Hayes turf will be $2.2 million, which will be drawn from the school district's capital reserve fund. The details for each project are available for your review at http://www.boarddocs.com/ny/tbs/Board.nsf/Public.

The BQLC's Viewpoint

In the recent past, the BQLC has contributed to successfully forestalling serious quality-of-life infringements at the school. At the same time, we recognize there are school facility and infrastructure challenges, including a rarely usable athletic field--Hayes Field. This grass field is situated in a location where it has proven virtually impossible to maintain a reliably useful natural turf field. We believe this is a misuse of extremely limited outdoor space, which has contributed to causing a field space shortage for all students, including recess students, physical education students, and student-athletes playing on school-sanctioned teams. 

Accordingly, the BQLC supports the installation of artificial turf on Hayes.   

You may recall the BQLC had originally proposed this as a solution to the school's field space issue in 2013. And while we have reservations about the turf proposal, we recognize there are dwindling options available to address the school's educational mission--which includes school-wide participation in outdoor playtime and athletics. 

Your Input and Vote Matter

We appreciate and understand there is valid community concern regarding the Hayes turf project. So, while we support the installation of turf on Hayes, our support is qualified with the expectation that the Bronxville Board of Education will work with the community to successfully address project mitigations and improvements that increase green space, maintain irreplaceable mature trees, and ensure the health and safety of our students who use the field.   

We respectfully encourage you to vote to approve funding for both the FEMA and Hayes turf projects. The public vote will take place on Thursday, January 22, 2015, from 7:00 am to 9:00 pm, with separate votes for each aspect of the project (flood mitigation and turfing Hayes field). Balloting will take place in the multipurpose room at The Bronxville School.

Thank you for your past support and please accept our best wishes for a joyous holiday season.

Sincerely,

The Bronxville Quality of Life Committee

Editor's note: MyhometownBronxville does not fact-check statements in letters to the editor or to the community, and the opinions do not necessarily reflect the thinking of its staff. Its objective in publishing such letters is to give air to diverse thoughts and opinions of residents in the community.