After 22 months, the controversy surrounding the construction of new athletic facilities at Chase Field was settled in May, and construction is now underway.
"We're very excited to be moving forward with this project," Deputy Director of Athletics Robert Ceplikas said. "There is already much evidence of construction."
The ground-breaking for both the new artificial turf field and indoor tennis facilities took place last week, and excavation of the turf field is now in progress, he said.
The conflict that has dragged on between the College and Hanover residents who live near Chase Field mainly centered on problems that could potentially arise from the lighting facilities and noise in the evening hours, Ceplikas said. The residents' appeal was the final hurdle that was cleared in May, Ceplikas said.
"The conditions were more restrictive than we would have liked, but it is still going to be an incredibly valuable project," he said.
Ceplikas said the College has made many adjustments throughout the approval process, including the relocation of the site for the artificial turf field and the use of different technology to minimize problems created by noise and light.
Both the College and the residents appealed some of the conditions in the Town Planning Board's final approval in December. The College then withdrew its appeal after the Board made some favorable modifications in January.
Nina Lloyd, the representative for the residents, said the neighborhood has requested more limiting conditions than the Board decided to approve.
"At this point, we're prepared to respect that," she said.
Lloyd said, however, she thinksit is impossible to know whether the neighborhood will suffer adverse effects from the new athletic facilities in the future until they are actually in place.
The artificial turf field and the new tennis courts are the most important parts of the settlement, according to Ceplikas, as both are very much needed for students, especially student athletes.
Ceplikas said additional practice space created by the new athletic facilities will alleviate the scheduling crunches that have frequently created problems in Leverone Field House.
"This has been very badly needed for many years," he said.
Weather conditions that frequently make outside practices impossible have caused the many varsity teams sharing the space in Leverone to schedule their practice times very tightly. As a result, many teams have been forced to hold practice at inconvenient hours.
Mainly the men's and women's lacrosse teams as well as the field hockey team will benefit from the new all-weather surface, but the varsity football, men's and women's soccer, baseball and softball teams will also use the artificial turf field for their practices, Ceplikas said.
The six new tennis courts will also benefit the football team, as the current indoor courts in Leverone Field House displaced some of the team's practice space, he said.
The new courts will allow full-time tennis, which will greatly benefit the tennis varsity team and Physical Education classes, as well as intramural and recreational tennis. Previously, Ceplikas said, the four indoor courts in Leverone were only available part of the time, as they were covered by artificial turf at times to allow other teams to practice indoors during harsh weather.
Ceplikas said the artificial turf surface will be completed and playable by October, and completion of the entire facility, including the bleachers and the lighting system, is scheduled for December.
The indoor tennis courts, a larger-scale project, as well as the new football practice field, should be completed by August of 2000, he said.
