Deteriorating Wahconah Park Grandstand Closed for 2022 Season
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Grandstand seating will not be available at historic Wahconah Park this year because of structural compromises but the city has capital improvements plans for the facility.
The Parks Commission on Tuesday approved a memorandum of understanding between the Pittsfield Suns and the city for 2022. The agreement stipulates that grandstand seating will not be available for the season but additional accommodations will be made for fan seating.
Parks, Open Space, and Natural Resource Program Manager James McGrath said the city has begun modeling out a funding strategy for a reconstruction and renovation project that is presumed to cost more than $1 million.
McGrath also reported that there is a strong commitment from the city with Mayor Linda Tyer in favor of it.
"There was a structural evaluation that was performed in the late fall early wintertime, we had an architect and a structural engineer come into the facility after we had started doing some in-house capital improvement planning and facility planning that revealed some concerns that we had," he explained to the commission.
"So we quickly brought in some structural engineer and architect firm to look more comprehensively at the facility, the preliminary recommendation as of right now is to not open the grandstand seating to fans."
Though the grandstand will be closed, the uses underneath it including the bathrooms, locker rooms, maintenance room, and concessions have been OK'd for use. Because of the way the facilities were constructed, they are rather disconnected from the superstructure, warranting no risk.
As soon as the city was made aware of the concern, officials reached out to Pittsfield Suns owner Jeff Goldklang to work on making alternative fan seating. Large bleacher sets have been ordered that will provide about 500 additional seats to make up for the loss of the grandstand.
The two entities will work together to place the seating in a way that will optimize the fan viewing experience.
"It's not an ideal situation, but I think we've been able to react very quickly and working with the Goldklangs to come up with a solution to this concern that we're having," McGrath said.
The city has also signed a contract for a full, comprehensive structural evaluation to fully understand the grandstand's condition, repair options, and costs for repairs.
McGrath said the grandstand is "absolutely" something that the city is committed to finding a path forward on and that it provides an opportunity to invest resources into the historic facility.
"The grandstand is on the National Register of Historic Places, its importance to baseball is I think well documented, its importance to the city and to the summer economy of the city is well documented," He explained.
"So we're ready to take this and move it to the next level."
He added that this is also an opportunity to address Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) accommodations and modern building code considerations, pointing out that portions of the grandstand contain asbestos-laden materials.
"At the time that the grandstand was constructed in the '50s that was modern building construction and modern building material, not so much now," McGrath said.
"So this gives us an opportunity to address hazardous materials, to really look at ADA accessibility, life and fire, and health safety concerns within modern building code upgrades and just generally overall, improving the fan experience,"
"So that's the vision and again, we'll work overtime to make certain that we get this right and that we have a path forward that is attainable, and one that the community will be proud of at the end."
Irrespective of what the structural assessment reveals, the city recognizes that there will be costs associated with the repair and has begun to model a funding strategy.
"We've seen the deterioration of the grandstand as well as the other pieces to it, the concession stands, the locker rooms," Commissioner Anthony DeMartino affirmed. "It is a significant need of a major overhaul."
Chair Cliff Nilan said that the facility has not been significantly repaired since the 1980s.
The 2022 MOU also contains a reduced license fee. The team will pay a $5,000 flat fee to the city rather than having license and concession fees per game.
This year the Suns are celebrating their 10-year anniversary. They are a collegiate summer baseball team that competes in the Future Collegiate Baseball League of New England. The team is owned by the Goldklang Group, which also owns the Saint Paul Saints in Minnesota and the Charleston Riverdogs in South Carolina, and moved to Wahconah Park in 2012.
Owner Jeff Goldklang has had a home in the Pittsfield area for about 40 years and when the team was created said, "We intend to honor the tradition and history of the game in Pittsfield while adding heavy doses of smiles and laughs."
In the decade before the Suns came to Pittsfield, professional and collegiate league teams including the Defenders, Black Bears, and Dukes took up residence at Wahconah Park.
In other news, the city is working on an MOU with the Berkshire Chapter of the New England Mountain Biking Association for the Springside bike skills park that was approved late last year.
"The city had advanced a memorandum of understanding to the NEMBA organization and approximately a week ago, week and a half ago there was a phone conversation around some of the concerns from NEMBA with the city's draft language and so the solicitor has received those comments and is considering those comments," McGrath reported.
"And I trust there will be additional sort of staff-level communication around that and then maybe something chairman that we reach out to you for your input on eventually,"
"I see this is sort of a negotiation between the city and member at this point over sort of what the best approach is under the MOU but there was a lot to consider under the previous conversations with NEMBA, we sort of understand where they're coming from, and there are certain things that the city thinks is critically important relative to how this bike skills park should operate, I trust we can get to some kind of agreement, but we're not there yet."
Tags: Wahconah Park,
