No more mud bowls at Jimmy Lee Stadium.
Those go away with the new turf that has been installed, turning the former grass multi-sport complex up the hill from Crosby High School into an all-weather facility. Turco Golf Inc. was contracted by the city to do the work. The facility, located directly behind Rotella Interdistrict Magnet School, also includes a new track and field set-up.
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| The renovated Crosby multi-sport complex looks amazing. |
The facility upgrades were long overdue. Mayor Neil O’Leary said as much at a Jan. 5, 2015, Board of Education meeting. Here are his comments from that meeting:
“However, at the end of the day, the Crosby Fields are
deplorable, they were never designed properly, they’ve never been utilized or
able to be utilized properly so we’ve got our kids from Crosby High School
going to other football fields and baseball fields because they can’t play in
their own backyard which has been a real bone of contention for me since I came
on this Board in 2009. The other thing is the use of the track. Quite frankly
there’s two areas of the City that get most pedestrian walkway traffic – one is
the Bradley/Oronoke Road circle and the other honestly is Crosby High School
track and if you go up there you just want to bomb it when you see the
condition of it and wonder how it could possibly have deteriorated to that
level and then when you drill down into it they tell you it was flawed from the
beginning and not designed properly, the material wasn’t adequate then,
certainly isn’t adequate now, it’s a health hazard, you can’t even compete on
it, it’s amazing.”
Waterbury’s Board of Alderman held a public hearing on bond authorization for the project on Oct. 20, 2014, and it passed.
The BSC Group of Glastonbury was authorized for architectural and engineering work at the Jan. 5, 2015, BOE meeting. On Oct. 5, 2015, the Board of Alderman hired Turco Golf Inc. for a little over $2.35 million to do the project.
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| Another view of the complex. |
Now, the Crosby boys soccer and football teams have a renovated masterpiece to call their own. In the spring, the Bulldog boys and girls track and field squads will get to host meets on terrific grounds.
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| The location of the new shot put area at the Crosby sports complex. |
It’s a long way away from deplorable. In fact, it is downright beautiful.
Here’s a list of when the first official events on the turf will take place:
BOYS SOCCER
Oxford, Sept. 9, 6 p.m.
FOOTBALL
Derby, Sept. 16, 7 p.m.
Note: Crosby football is scheduled to host Thanksgiving rival Kennedy this year. The game will be played on Thanksgiving morning at 10 a.m.
