There has been some confusion regarding the status of Esmark Field and its availability for play during the 2012 High School season.    We wanted to provide this update to help clear up that confusion.

This past spring was the first season of play for Esmark Field and the softball/ Little League field.  The grass and playing surfaces were installed in the fall of 2010, and the dugouts and stands were completed in 2011.  While we had hoped both fields would be available for play throughout the 2011 high school and QVSB seasons, the persistent rain we received in March through May did not allow the fields to dry sufficiently.  A significant amount of dirt was moved during the original construction process and the fields needed a period of dry weather to settle appropriately.  Unfortunately we did not receive that, so no high school games were played there; however we were able to begin playing Little League and Pony League games on the new fields toward the end of May.

As a result of the heavy spring rain and the summer drought last year, QVRA learned a great deal on how best to refine the fields to increase performance and playability for the decades to come.    The fields are still in their infancy and we are watching closely how they react to the extreme weather.  Early this fall, we implemented some changes to improve the longevity of Esmark Field.   We estimate we will still need a short window of dry weather to complete those changes.  This work can be done during the winter/early spring and we have professionals engaged to do this work.  We are doing this work within these intermittent pockets of warm/dry weather that occur between the periods of snow or rain.  We fully anticipate Esmark Field will be hosting games this spring.  We expect the same for the softball/Little League field.

The caution being expressed by Dr. Marrone at the School Board Meeting the week of January 16^th was meant to set expectations for the unexpected weather that could occur this spring.  If we get the same extreme storms, it could take some time for the fields to dry out given their newness.   It is important to remember that in Western Pennsylvania, rain impacts the playability of all grass fields.  Much of the baseball season last spring was condensed into a shorter time-period in mid-May due to a significant number of rainouts.  We had a number of games canceled at Chadwick Field and Sewickley Community Center, although since they are more mature fields they recovered more quickly.  Dr. Marrone was simply pointing out that the fields are still young, and if we get heavy rain in March and April without some drying time, it is possible that games could be delayed until we get some dry weather.

QVRA is fully committed to do the necessary work to make both fields ready for spring play.  The high school season begins toward the end of March and we are hopeful for a more normal weather pattern this spring.  The QVRA board understands the frustration of those who wish to play on the new fields.  We share that frustration.  Yet we cannot  control the weather and brand new fields take a season or two to settle in.   We feel very confident that this complex is going to be one of the premier sites in western PA, and we continue to work to perfect its design and tailor its necessary maintenance.   As always, QVRA extends its heartfelt thanks to the community for past and continued support of this project.

 The QVRA Board of Directors

This past Monday night, 07/18/11, between 6:15 and 7:00pm, our area was hit with 2.25" of rain and high winds.  That amount of rain in that period of time is just about equivalent to a storm that has a 1% chance of occuring every 100 years.  The flooding in our area was intense.  Rte 65 was shut down.  Driveways were washed out; hillsides collapsed; some roadways had water up to the middle of your car door.  We then had a break of a few hours and then it continued to rain on and off through much of the night.  The damage caused by this storm was synonymous with the level of damage caused by Hurricane Ivan.  The problem with this storm is when we experience the level of high heat and drought such as we have been going through, combined with rocky, clay-based soil we have in this part of western PA, the water hits the ground and it is largely not absorbed.  Most of the water flows downhill.  At the Legacy Fields, we got a lot of water.  It was encouraging that the run-off from our neighboring property that routes its water via terracotta pipes onto our site was handled very well by the portion of our storm water management system meant to handle it.  That water flowed through Pond #1 and then flowed in a controlled fashion to Pond# 2 which is slowly bleeding off each day as it was designed to do.  So that was very good news.  We did notice that Pond #3 took more water than it should have for a very short period of time.  That pond is taking water from the northeast side of the complex and it is taking water from the area north of Hawthorne Acres which is crossing the street and coming on to our site.  Representatives from QVRA were on the site during the storm to monitor the performance of our storm water systems and we held an on-site meeting with our engineer the following morning to review the observations and identify recommendations to tweak parts of the site to better handle the 100 year storm.  For the past two years, we have received what are equivalent to 100 year storms every season.  It has been really unfortunate but it is what it is.  Our strategic approach at this point is to continue to modify the site with the assumption that we are in climatic pattern where we will have to live through such violent storms possibly through the next decade.  The original design was meant to handle such a storm once every 100 years.  We now are assuming we will get these storms 2-3 times per year.  So we need to build some additional redundancies to protect the site.  The color of the water in such extreme events still has an orange-hue from the iron and clay in the soil.  However, once the grass we have seeded takes deeper root across the site that hue should dissipate greatly.  Ideally, we would would like to start planting trees this fall on the non-field areas.  That is part of our 2-3 year plan and the advantage in having more trees is the root structure will absorb water at a rate roughly 5 times that of grass.  This is important because if the ground is hard from drought or saturated from frequent rains, the water will flow off the site.  More trees will mean more water is being absorbed at a faster rate when the ground is being saturated.  So if we are getting hit with many back to back storms, the trees will go along way to helping the site retain more and more water.  Prior to construction, residents have reminded us that that hairpin turn next to the site used to flood in an uncontrolled fashion when rains like this would come through.  These waters would bring with them all the non-anchored debris from the undeveloped site and dump this all into the Little Sewickley Creek.  This uncontrolled flooding also endangered the integrity of the road foundation.  Now, with the re-design of the site and our efforts to have the county repair the storm water outlets and repair some of the foundation of the road, that flooding has stopped and the road has remained intact.  But we still have some tweaking to do over the next fall and spring season to make sure the site is well prepared for the next 50 years.

Representatives from QVRA met with the Bell Acres Council last night to provide an update on the status of the Bouchard Family Park project.  QVRA identified that the storm water water management systems are now fully deployed and the remaining construction work on the site is largely cosmetic with the final spreading of topsoil and hyrdoseeding to occur before this coming weekend.  Council asked that we continue to update the borough engineer and the borough manager as per our previous agreement and to have them attend the next site inspection by the Allegheny County Conservation District.  The ACCD has advised that the site is far enough along that we can remove the chain link fencing with erosion control fabric along the perimeter.  We will be allowed to remove the temporary construction baffles once we have good growth along 70% of the site but the QVRA Fields and Facilities Sub-Committee is recommending to keep the baffle structures in place for one more spring season regardless of the growth percentage on the site.  The baffles are an eyesore but we should anticipate another spring season like the last two and we feel the baffles will help manage the flow of water while the root structure of the vegetation in the ponds continues to take deeper root.   As mentioned in the previous post, the next phase of construction will involve the completion of the inner roadway and the vegetative and man-made privacy fence agreed to by QVRA will be constructed then.

We are finally nearing completion of Phase 1A.  The majority of the site has been covered with topsoil and hydroseeded.  The temporary baffles in the retentention ponds have all been tweaked to work more specifically with the demands of the site.  The mild rains this summer and in the early fall will help promote continued growth of the indigenous vegetation along the slopes and within the retention pond areas.  At this point, the QVRA Fields and Facilities Sub-Committee feels confident that the site will be ready for the next round of 100 year storms whether they come in the fall or in the spring. 

Work left to do on the site involves some final spreading/seeding of the topsoil in the few areas not yet addressed, the installation of the scoreboard on Esmark Field, installation of power to the site by Duquesne Light, installation of the backstop netting and removal of the temporary backstop, replacement of the black batters eye cover with a green version to match the rest of the fencing on the site and final installation of the internal amenities within the Esmark Dugouts.  Otherwise, all of our attention will be focused on the continued grooming and studying of the site. 

Every site like this has what is in effect its own "personality":  how the site handles the rains, the composition of the soil, what and how the vegetation grows or doesn't grow.  With the site stabilized and the construction for this phase complete, we can now focus on better understanding how best to maintain the site over the next 50 years.  In an effort to gain advice from different consituencies, we have reached out to the Penn State Turf Grass College in State College and we have also started a dialogue with April Claus, the Fern Hollow naturalist.  We will look to the advice of specialists to help guide us in the development of our plan to plant trees across the site and identify the preferred types of vegetation across the slopes.  Future phases for development on the site will occur as we raise additional funds and we feel that we can control the impact of any development across the site itself.  This means future work will be done in smaller less invasive increments.  Previously, we were forced to move as much earth because we had to re-design the entire foundation of the site.

The next phase of work will involve the completion of the inner perimeter road and some remaining infrastructure work.  Given the types of rains we have experienced in the spring over the past two years, we will not begin any future work until after a spring season has passed. We don't yet know when that work might be planned to occur as right now our concern is totally focused on growing the grass, planting trees and further perfecting the look and implementation of nature's own storm water management system.

It is our expectation that during the spring of 2012 we will see families from different QVRA sports playing and enjoying all the site has to offer.  It has been a very long, challenging journey but we are just about home.

We finally received what we needed: a few weeks of hot, dry weather.  The infields on both baseball fields are tightening up as originally planned.  Esmark Field has been hosting some colt/pony games while the little league field should be ready to go starting next week.  Games being played on the fields will always be subject to the prevailing weather but we are past the stage of dealing with the flooding caused by the spring rains.  Construction is still active on the site.  It is very important for families to follow the directions of QVSB volunteers on where to park and sit during games.  The construction crew is adament about not having people wander the site.   For example, the area around the dugouts are off limits until they have been completed.  If the crew feels people are not adhering to these rules, they will shut down both fields until construction is complete.

We have been fortunate over the past two weeks.  The weather forecast has not materialized as originally forecast.  It has been relatively dry and hot during the day.  This weather has allowed us to work quickly on the following:

• Completed the grooming and seeding of all three retention ponds.  We have placed stone in key areas to handle rapid water flow when we receive torrential downpours.
• Applied additional drainage to Esmark Field infield.  The weather of the past week has helped to cure both infields on the site and they are hardening nicely.
• The dugouts and press box on Esmark field have been bricked, framed and roofed.  Finishing work on all three is continuing and should be finished next week.
• The warning track on Esmark Field has been largely completed and the outfield fence will start to go up next week.
• The foundations for the dugouts on the WPIAL Softball field have been poured and brick work began this week and is expected to be completed next week.
• The large mini-complex site has been rockhounded, graded and hydro seeded
• The other remaining fields and plateaus will be rockhounded, graded and seeded next week.
• Grooming the grass fields to insure the root structure of both fields grows as healthfully as possible and to prepare us for the dry summer months.  Although intuitively we would think all the water over the past 12 weeks would be helpful, the heavily saturated soil actually filled the pores within the soil and inhibited root growth.
• Manicuring of the perimeter of the site will begin next week.  We will be looking at lines of site along Camp Meeting Road to make sure there is as much visibility as possible into/out of the site entrance.

Over the next two weeks, we will start to see the foundation for the spectator seating at Esmark Field poured followed by the metal structure that will support the individual seats.   All in all, we are behind schedule by roughly 1 month due to the unfavorable weather February thru the 1st two weeks of May.  The Grand Opening is now tentatively set for the weekend after July 4th.  More details will be posted next week.

We are still waiting for dry weather.  Crews are standing by ready to work as soon as the site is dry enough to handle the heavy equipment.  We are hopeful that after today's storm we will get enough warm, dry weather that we can start working again late next week.  Right now, our targeted completion date for the next round of work is sometime in early May.  Once the fields dry out enough, we will have the QV High School Baseball and Softball teams out there training in anticipation of their late March games.

We received a question from a Bell Acres resident about the street light specifications being used on the inner perimeter road.  This resident expressed concern that the street lights would create residual light that might be disruptive to the surrounding residents.

The requirement to place street lights on the inner perimeter road is a Bell Acres Borough requirement.  The Borough wants to have the lighting in place to help the police be able to patrol the area during night time hours.

We may place lighting on the pathways through the site but we anticipate that lighting would be very low to the ground and designed more for marking the paths for safety purposes.

We will not be installing the lighting until we have completed the inner perimeter road which will happen during the next phase of the project.

The following links are the specifications we are planning for the street lights:

Street light - pole
Street light - lighting unit

There is a rumor working its way through the grapevine that QVRA is attempting to bring electrical power onto Bouchard Park in order to "sneak" field lighting onto the fields.

There are plans to bring electric power to the site.  In our current Phase 1A, there will be some limited power brought to the site but the majority of the electric access work will be performed in Phase 1B.

There are (3) reasons we require electric power on the site:

• Provide street lighting on the interior perimeter road once that is completed.  This is a borough ordinance we are required to fulfill.  Please click here for more information on the type of street lights we will use.
• Provide electricity to the concession stand, the maintenance building, pavilions and the visitor reception building once constructed.
• Provide electricity to certain fields for scoreboards and lighting.

Though our plans are designed to physically permit lighting on 1, maybe 2 fields on the site, we have not yet detailed any field lighting work for the project.  We will create specific designs when we raise the funds for such an expenditure and then present to the Bell Acres Borough Council.  Rest assured, there is much work that needs to be done before we reach that stage of the project.

There have been some very progressive advancements in the design of field lighting over the past decade.  The idea is to cast light directly on the field of play in such a way as to greatly reduce the amount of residual lighting that would be cast on the surrounding area.  Our plans to limit the impact of field lighting on neighboring properties were incorporated into the original design.  For example, we will be planting numerous trees across the non-field playing areas and the perimeter of the park.  As they grow, they will help contain the lighting on the site.  Additionally, the fields we would like to light are located on the interior portion of the site and we positioned them there deliberately with this issue in mind.  As we get closer to this future phase of the project, we will fully explore all the options available to limit the effect of any field lighting.

It appears that the sewer authority that services the Bell Acres community was up near our site the night of June 28th marking off lines for the preparation of a new sewer line.  Residents were advised that this was for the "sports recreation authority".  This is not the case.  This work is being requested and paid for by the property adjacent to ours.  It has also been rumored that the this property intends to place a pump station on the property managed by QVRA.  This is also not true.  All of this work has no connection with the QVRA property and is under the direction of the adjacent property owner.   If you have questions about this work, it is best to reach out to the Quaker Valley School District.  They can guide you to the appropriate contacts for answers to your questions.

It has been an outstanding week for us from a weather perspective.  Unlike the previous week when we received two solid days of hard rain right in the middle of week, this week we have only had light sprinkles.  At the site, the crew has been working feverishly with as many as 14 workers attacking different deliverables:  (1) the southern entrance has been cut to its final grade, the catch basins are almost complete and the surface is being covered with stone.  We will allow this surface to remain this way until fall when we will asphalt this part of the road and the parking lot immediately adjacent to the WPIAL Softball Field.  (2) Retention  pond #3 has been fully cleaned out of silt.  (3) The multi-field complex is being brought to final grade and large amounts of earth were moved to this end.  We created a new diversionary trench along its perimeter to route water to Pond #2 and take the pressure off Pond #3.  (4) The county is in the process of finishing its paving of the road on the southern perimeter of the site (Camp Meeting Extension).  The catch basins and storm water pipes across this whole section are new and fully functional.  Many, many thanks to the Allegheny County of Public Works for stepping up to get this done!  The crew has been working 12-hour days all week so they will most likely take the weekend off.  We await the artificial liner for Pond #2 and once that arrives, we will immediately drive to install the clay and artificial liner into that pond.  All is going very, very well.  Huge amounts of progress this week and we look to continue the pace next week.

Dear Residents:

This letter is in response to Susan Craig's letter of last week (06/10/2010) in which she described the effects of silt on our local watershed. There were some inconsistencies in her representation of the facts as they pertain to Legacy Fields project that we felt it was important to clarify. Please refer to our own letter published in the 06/10/2010 issue for additional information.

First, Susan's letter implies that QVRA has been negligent in its stewardship of the Legacy Fields site and the run-off that has impacted the Little Sewickley Creek. Further, it was suggested that we were not taking any corrective action until the Conservation District inspected our site. In fact we had taken numerous steps to address the run-off and have sought additional approvals from the authorities for measures to deal with new problems as they are uncovered by the deluge of rain. We have communicated more frequently with the authorities than they are used to from projects like ours. The reason we have is not only do they have the authority but they also have the expertise to provide counsel on unforeseen situations such as this. The authorities approved our plans before we began work but no one could reasonably expect rainfall of such proportions that we have received in the past 45 days.

Second, the storm water retention ponds have yet to be completed and therefore should not be expected to be fully functional at this stage. They are capturing a great deal of silt as originally designed but because they have yet to be completed orange-colored water is still escaping and with that some silt. Susan states the ponds are not working. The reason is they are not yet complete. If we can just get a few weeks of dry weather, our systems will then be fully functional.

Third, when Camp Meeting Road floods at the hairpin turn, the road is frequently reduced to one lane for the safety of the drivers. Before QVRA assumed stewardship of the property, this area of the road would often flood during hard rains. Once this phase of our project is complete, this will no longer occur.

Please understand that QVRA joins the entire community in its support of preserving our watershed. The silt run-off that is impacting the rivers around all of western Pennsylvania in the face of the massive rainfall over the past 45 days concerns us greatly. The Legacy Fields project has unfortunately played a role in contributing to this run-off in the Little Sewickley Creek but as we pointed out in our letter of 6/10/10 there have been certain challenges that needed to be overcome before the storm water management system could be made fully functional. Once this is complete in the next month, the run-off from the site will be behind us and we will have finally completed the critical first step in building long overdue field space for generations of children from our community.

Sincerely,

QVRA Board of Directors

Dear Residents:

This year has so far proved to be both exciting and very hectic for those of us managing construction at the Legacy Fields at Bouchard Family Park. We are pleased to report that we have made substantial progress and still expect to begin playing on the new WPIAL baseball and softball fields in the spring of 2011. However 2010 has also provided several challenges. The record levels of snow we received beginning in February pushed us 6 weeks behind schedule on the completion of the necessary grading and retention ponds that would handle the spring rains. On 4/26 we were struck by the first enormous downpour of the season. The wet weather continued in May with rainfall almost 3 times the historical monthly average. The excessive rain restricted our ability to catch up on our schedule. It also caused several flooding events elsewhere around the valley that have directly impacted the Little Sewickley Creek and other parts of our watershed.

On our specific site, the delayed schedule meant that our storm water retention systems were not fully deployed. Much of the topsoil that had been cleared to complete the final grading and fill work had yet to be spread and seeded. This left a surface largely of clay. When the storm water ran over the clay, the water developed an orange hue. In addition, the storm drainage system maintained by Allegheny County on Camp Meeting Extension was in need of repair. These factors resulted in the flooding of orange-colored water on the Camp Meeting Extension hairpin turn.

Since April, tremendous energy was deployed toward resolving the excess flow of water across the site. The Allegheny County Conservation District and our engineers from L.R. Kimball inspected the site. QVRA and its contractors spoke or met daily to review progress before and after each subsequent downpour. We worked closely with Allegheny County Department of Public Works to accelerate the necessary repairs on the storm water drainage system maintained by the County. Senator John Pippy and his staff, as well as the Allegheny County Conservation District, were instrumental in this process. We are enormously grateful to the Allegheny County Department of Public Works for making this a priority.

Prompt responses by all parties have resulted in a much better containment of storm water run-off. However, it is critical that we keep the pace of construction moving quickly to complete this phase. Once the topsoil is spread, the grass is planted, and the storm water management system is fully deployed the site will manage storm water as was originally intended.

Thanks to everyone for their continued support of this project. It will become a tremendous asset for our community on which generations of children will be able to play.

Sincerely,

The QVRA Board of Directors

During the past 45 days we have received almost 4 times as much rain as we normally receive during this time of year.  This period was proceeded by January-February snowstorms that dumped enormous amounts of snow on the area.  The snow delayed the project by 4-6 weeks which meant we had not progressed as far as planned by the time the spring rains started in late April.

This rain has saturated the construction site and the crews are spending much of their time working on soil and erosion mitigation activities.  At this stage in the project, we have skimmed back much of the topsoil while we perform the final cut and fill and grading activities.  When the water hits the subsurface made up largely of clay, the water turns orange and has been running off the site.  We are working aggressively to stop this runoff.  Once the weather dries for a week or two, we will be able to complete the majority of the Phase 1A work and at that point the topsoil will be spread, grass seeded, the storm water management systems will be fully implemented for this phase and Allegheny County will have fully repaired the storm water drains around the hairpin turn on Camp Meeting Extension.