BLOOMFIELD, NJ — A logistical problem with overhead electrical lines has been resolved, allowing for the construction of a multi-purpose building at Foley Field in the near future.
According to Mike Napolitano, president of the Foley Field Foundation, the delay for a $300,000 building at the south end of the field was a PSE&G power line pole. An existing field house receives its electricity from it.
Demolishing the pole was necessary since it is within the footprint of the proposed building. Power lines were then to be run underground to service both the field house and the proposed building. But Napolitano said the township and the Bloomfield Board of Education decided to keep the power lines overhead.
“It was determined that it would be preferable to relocate the pole rather than demolish it,” Napolitano said in a telephone interview last week. “The plan would allow for another light post without interruption of electrical service to the existing field house.”
The underground plan was scrapped, according to Napolitano, when a new PSE&G engineer inherited the project.
It had been proposed to have underground wiring go into a transformer pad and then connect to the new building and the nearby field house.
“The field house would have had to have been on a generator,” Napolitano said. “Now there will be no interruption of service.”
Bloomfield Engineer Paul Lasek said a new pole will be placed farther south, toward the tennis courts at Memorial Park. A second pole may be required. But digging a trench and putting the wiring underground would have been labor-intensive.
“It was just an idea,” he said of the trench. “It depends on who from PSE&G is out there.”
The new building will be two-storey. Each floor would be approximately 1,875 square feet. The ground and second floors will be accessible to the disabled by elevator.
At ground level, there will be men’s and women’s lavatories meeting ADA compliance; a storage area; and a food preparation area with a concession window facing the playing field. Napolitano said the storage area would be for marching-band equipment.
The second floor would have a multi-purpose room; two ADA-compliant lavatories; and a kitchenette, as well as closet and storage space. The attic will be reached by a ladder. A crow’s nest balcony would face the playing field.
Construction will be funded by Investors Savings, the Joseph Poniatowski Beneficial Association, Bloomfield High School alumnus Robert Pascal, Brookdale ShopRite, a soon-to-be-named donor, according to Napolitano, and the Glendale Foundation. The foundation, a creation of Glendale Cemetery, is new and making its first-ever donation. It is contributing $25,000.
The president of the board at Glendale Cemetery, Dennis DeCarlo, said in the telephone interview earlier this week that although the cemetery has been a non-profit since its inception in the early 20th century, the foundation was something he wanted and his board agreed with him.
“What we’ve been trying to do is to become a bigger part of the Bloomfield community,” he said.
The first donation to Foley seems to be a perfect fit. DeCarlo said four of the six board members, including himself, are Bloomfield High School graduates. He graduated in 1963.
DeCarlo said at a golfing benefit he bumped into Napolitano who was looking for donors and made a presentation before the Glendale board.
“We’re just starting the foundation,” DeCarlo said. “Once we’re established, there will be a mechanism to apply for donations.”
Napolitano said the groundbreaking for the new building at Foley Field will be in the spring.
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