Unfortunately the Town of Bethlehem has been blessed with clay soil especially at the Town's Elm Ave Park. In wet weather, even the best fields (i.e. soccer) at the park are unusable for days after rain. This is especially true for spring sports where the majority of the season is impacted by unreliable field conditions leading to canceled games and practices. In addition, no fields are lit at night shortening play and creating unsafe conditions for players during practice and pickup especially in the fall.

Users of the Park have been asking for a synthetic turf field with lighting since the Town's 2005 Comprehensive Plan but no actions have been taken to address the issue/request. A synthetic turf field with lighting will allow play during wet weather and allow extended play during the fall season. The synthetic turf field will avoid damage to the park's natural turf fields caused by play while the fields are still wet and/or over usage especially during dry summer months. New synthetic fields are completely recyclable and do not require mowing, irrigation or fertilization and have an installation cost comparable to that of a properly designed natural turf field that would permanently address the field's poor drainage conditions. As such, the signees of this petition collectively request the Town of Bethlehem to take the following actions at the Town's Elm Ave Park:

- Install a multi-use synthetic turf field with minimum dimensions of 35 yards x 60 yards.

- Install lighting at the synthetic turf field.

- Prioritize the above actions to improve the existing field conditions prior to adding new amenities such as adding exercise paths/equipment, and pavilions.

Parents, friends and family of past, present and future young athletes, please endorse this petition by signing below. We encourage you to leave a polite* comment about your thoughts on this issue based on your personal experiences. Please forward to others you think may have similar feelings concerning this issue.

Once compiled, this petition will be provided to Supervisor VanLuven and the Town Board for their consideration.

* Please do not leave vulgar, obscene, racist and/ or hateful comments. If you are not willing to use your real name or email address with your comment, it is probably a good sign the comment is not appropriate. Also remember that just because you do not use your real email address that the comment cannot be traced back to you; that would be very naive. The use of such speech can carry serious consequences