Batavia weighs banning use of stadium by youth football
BATAVIA — Batavia Youth Football’s fall 2008 season remains in limbo after the City Council Monday tabled a plan to allow the team to use city-owned Dwyer Stadium for one more — and only one more — year.
The motion by At-Large Councilman Timothy E. Buckley to table was passed unanimously, overriding an agenda item that would have given the team one more season on a gridiron they had used for at least 10 years.
The Council wants time until the Aug. 11 meeting to study options including the use of school athletic fields. The delay will not affect the team’s practice or upcoming season, Council members were assured.
At issue is possible damage that can be caused by all-weather use of the stadium outfield and could result in costly repairs for the stadium’s major tenant, the Muckdogs of the New York-Penn professional baseball team.
The Muckdogs, with their future uncertain because of financial problems, signed a pact earlier this year to pay off the debts and manage the club.
Part of the stadium lease requires the city to spend up to $10,000 in repairs to the field for damage caused by use other than baseball.
Football can cause that damage, especially when the field is muddy. The Council earlier agreed to pay $25,000 for field and stadium upgrades.
When the stadium was built in the mid-90’s with state aid, it was billed as a community facility open to nonprofit sports teams and other events. Local college and high school teams use the field each year, but city officials have become leery of football and the demands of a new operator.
The year’s respite, sought by Youth Football officials headed by former city attorney Benjamin J. Bonarigo, would provide time to seek a new site and raise funds to prepare the location.
That was expected to be a city park, most likely Kibbe Park. Austin Park, suggested by some Council members, is not as large and lacks easy parking access.
The move to Kibbe on the city’s South Side could cost an estimated $61,000 for site preparation, a concession stand and scoreboard. A move to Austin, behind the former City Hall, would cost far less.
The Council also approved an intermunicipal agreement with the Town of Batavia where a $93,000 state grant will make possible a study of possible collaboration. The city and town will each put up $5,200 for a $104,000 project.
A check for $494,000 from the state representing payment to a host city for Western Regional Off-Track Betting operations at Batavia Downs Gaming will be used for debt reduction.
