On Oct. 27, the Town of Vienna and Vienna Little League representatives met with the neighbors living by Glyndon Park to discuss plans to renovate and improve the baseball field there.

The meeting was held on site, and Parks and Recreation Director Cathy Salgado explained the project to install synthetic turf, expand the field’s fence line and install lights, and answered residents’ questions.

Exactly one week later, last Monday, Nov. 3, the Town Council unanimously approved spending the money to make it a reality. First, though, Salgado presented further details to the Council members.

She said Vienna would actually “ride” Fairfax County’s contract with Field Turf USA for the synthetic turf, and another company would install the lighting. Although Glyndon’s a public park, the Little League uses its baseball field extensively, so it’s helping to pay for the improvements.

“We’re contributing up to $200,000 toward this, and the Vienna Little League will get bank financing and contribute the rest [of the money needed] for the field and the lights,” said Salgado. “We’re straightening out the fence line and enlarging the right-field area to make it a standard, 200-foot, Little League field.”

THE TOTAL COST is anticipated to be $455,396, which includes a $25,000 contingency fund. “It’s in case there’s bad soil when they start to remove it,” said Salgado. “And, with good luck, we won’t need that contingency – and then the price will go down to about $430,000. The site is really elevated and we’ve had the engineers out there numerous times. So we feel very confident that we shouldn’t encounter any unforeseen problems.”

The plan is for the Vienna Little League to give the Town a check for $460,000 – enough to cover the full cost of the project – and the Town will pay for the work from those funds. Town attorney Steve Briglia said the Little League will take $100,000 out of its budget and get loans totaling $360,000 for the rest.

Besides the turf and field work, an important part of this project is the installation of special, state-of-the-art, LED lights. “They’re more costly than the older style of lights, but the benefits of this type of lighting will far outweigh the cost,” Salgado told the Council. “The LED lights won’t disturb the nearby residents, and we’ll also save on future electric bills.”

Councilman Pasha Majdi asked about the expected height of the light poles, and Salgado told him that normal light poles are about 70 feet tall, but the new ones with LED lights are just 45 feet high. “That’s important because of where this park is situated because the tallest trees are 85 feet, but the shortest trees are just 45 feet,” she said.

THERE’LL BE SIX POLES total and the lights will shine downward, with a reflector shield illuminating the playing field. “This company has had good results with them,” said Salgado. “But this is the first neighborhood, local install they’ve done, so we’re very excited about it, as are they. The lights will last 100,000 hours, or a little under 100 years.”

Councilman Emil Attanasi asked if the project involved more parking, but Salgado said no additional spaces are needed – although the parking lot needs relining. Councilwoman Linda Colbert then made a motion to approve the Town’s monetary expenditure, subject to receiving the approved financial contribution from the Little League, and the Council members all voted yes.

“I talked to the neighbors about this, and they received a well-coordinated presentation from the Town and the company [doing the work],” said Majdi. “And the feedback from the residents was positive.”