PTSA Field Quality Petition

To:   Peters Township Parks & Recreation Board
        Michele Harmel, Peters Township Parks & Recreation Director
        Michael A. Silvestri, Peters Township Manager
        Paul F. Lauer, Peters Township Assistant Manager

Subject: Quality of Multipurpose Fields Permitted to Peters Township Soccer Association

The fields allocated to the PTSA by Peters Township Parks & Recreation (PTP&R) have been consistently experiencing poor quality for a number of years. This problem continues to be PTSA's number one issue for complaints by its members, including coaches, parents, and players. PTSA would like to proactively address this issue, but most of its efforts are handicapped since the routine maintenance is beyond our control and in the hands of PTP&R. PTSA feels it has been cooperative with PTP&R over the past year, including the implementation of an Adopt-A-Field Volunteer program. Nevertheless, the fields continue to suffer.

PTSA feels that the poor field conditions are a result of a lack of quality ownership by PTP&R. Recent new field creation in the last couple of years has resulted in adequate spatial area, but not quality playing surfaces, due to a lack of adequate topsoil (both in quality and thickness) for turf development. Compounding that problem with newer fields, the current system of field management seems to leave the fields in less than satisfactory conditions all too frequently as they are without a responsible owner that is able to react efficiently to climate conditions(e.g. watering during a drought), or proactively to apply pesticides (e.g. grub infestation). Although PTP&R has put forth a good initial effort to reform our fields, the response time by PTP&R to field issues, and its lack of consistent week to week maintenance when conditions change will likely continue to leave the fields in poor condition.

Because PTSA does not own its fields and is prevented by Peters Township from routine maintenance activities, our youth soccer players continue to play on some of the worst field surfaces in all of Western Pennsylvania. PTSA continues to receive negative feedback regarding this issue from parents, players and coaches (from within and outside of Peters Township). PTSA would like to stress that poor field quality creates two important issues and negative outcomes for our association: safety issues and playability. Soccer, unlike other township sports, requires a higher quality, turf playing surface for ball control, ball roll, and player safety. It is difficult to develop our youngest association players (starting at age 4) when they are required to control a ball on uneven and dangerous playing surfaces.

PTSA would like to ensure that Peters Township is taking full ownership for better quality soccer fields. Consequently, we, the petitioners, request that Peters Township (1) allocate more resources (dollars and manpower) to properly maintain its sports fields, and (2) hire a full-time PTP&R Fields Coordinator whose performance measurement would be reflected solely on the condition of the fields and their playability as determined by the Peters Township sports associations in cooperation with PTP&R.  If, for any reasons, these measures cannot be done, we petition Peters Township to allow PTSA to contract for the services of a turf specialist for conducting field maintenance and quality control, and for PTSA to work with PTP&R to provide status and coordination of the overall maintenance and care of the allocated soccer fields.

Thank you for your consideration. As petitioners, our intent is not to be critical of those currently responsible for field maintenance as we are without knowledge of budgetary or manpower constraints they may be operating under. However, the current approach to Peters Township field maintenance must change unless you are content with their poor overall quality. We believe that if our petitioned requests are acted upon by you, PTSA and PTP&R can provide some of the best playing field conditions in Western Pennsylvania. You owe that to the 1,200 soccer players resident in Peters Township.

Sincerely,

The undersigned, concerned taxpayers of Peters Township.