Kimberly Torrey on Monday evening at the Stafford Town Board meeting-photo by Mike Pettinella
By Mike Pettinella
For Video News Service
Calling Stafford a “unique community,” 13-year town resident Kimberly Torrey on Monday evening presented her idea of a multi-use youth baseball/softball field behind Emery Park to the Stafford Town Board.
“The big thing is that it supports our community,” she said. “We have a very unique community here in Stafford because multiple school districts come into it. We’ve got Byron-Bergen, we’ve got Batavia, some students go to Pavilion, and then we have a few more school districts. So the field will definitely get used.”
Torrey and her husband, Lucas, are the parents of three sons and a daughter, ranging in age from 11 years old to 11 months.
She said that their oldest boys, Everett and Elbert, currently are playing baseball as members of the Le Roy Little League, and that they have been practicing on an open space behind Emery Park, off of Route 5, with their teams.
She said a youth baseball/softball field would provide a visible boost to the town.
“Right now, so many kids are so connected to technology and AI, but this provides a safe outdoor space for them to be at and encourages it. And it promotes families coming into Stafford,” she said. “It brings business to Stafford, too. It will generate revenue for the restaurants, the (Shell’s) Post, and other roadside stands … Casper’s (meat market), where people will be driving by and more people will be feeding into there because more people are coming to the baseball park.”
Torrey also said local groups and clubs using the field would be able to generate revenue through concession sales at the park.
She distributed a 10-page packet of information that included drawings and details of her proposal, along with preliminary cost estimates and a budget, possible funding sources, a target timeline and quotes form landscaping, turf, fence and park bench companies and photos of the youth field in Elba.
An overview of the project calls for professional leveling and grading of the infield for safety and drainage, sand base and infield mix (no grass in the infield), portable pitcher’s mound for easy conversion between baseball and softball, fencing of the backstop and safety areas first (with outfield phased in) and player benches first (dugout when funding is available).
Torrey outlined cost estimates as follows:
— Site leveling and grading, $20,000.
— Infield mix (approximately 100 tons), up to $12,500.
— Fencing (backstop and field), $21,000.
— Benches, $900.
— Portable pitcher’s mound, $500-$4,000.
— Future dugouts, $3,000-$15,000.
She said she has researched possible funding sources, listing grants such as NYS Parks & Historic Preservation Grants, Environmental Protection Fund, Land and Water Conservation Fund and local government performance and review program, while mentioning local support, partnerships and sponsorships.
“For phase one, if we do all of it without any donations or any help at all for volunteer work, it would be $56,000 for a total of just one field that would be multi-use,” she said, adding that costs would come down depending upon the extent of community/volunteer contributions, monetarily or otherwise.
As far as a timeline, Torrey points to coming up with a final design, securing key funding, grading and infield work and possibly installing fencing by this fall – leading to late spring/early summer of 2027 when the field would open for practices, games and small events.
Town Board members seemed to be receptive to the idea, raising questions about parking (in the event of a baseball/softball tournament, engineering and site plan reviews, and about utilizing current baseball/softball diamonds at Genesee County schools.
Torrey explained that youth fields are different than high school fields and are in demand.
“For instance, for Le Roy Little League, my son made all-star team last year, and because the Le Roy Little League isn’t the correct dimensions for the all-star games, they weren’t able to actually host any of the tournaments there,” she said. “We had to travel out of town for all of our tournaments, which would be nice because, for instance, if Stafford did do this, they could actually host a Le Roy all-star Little League game right in Stafford, which would be phenomenal.”
Board members said they would help Torrey with finding the right person(s) to draft grant proposals.
“Also, we wouldn’t preclude the use of town funds to get this going, but it would be nice to get a grant,” Deputy Supervisor Ronald Panek said.