The park is a joint recreation effort between the town of Saratoga - where the 27-acre property sits - and the town of Northumberland, which borders the grounds. It is governed by a committee comprising six volunteer board members from the two towns.

"This will accommodate the growth that the communities are experiencing," said Griffen, on a recent weekday afternoon. That afternoon, 10 students from Saratoga BOCES were providing some final cleanup work and gaining real life experience as part of their environmental conservation and forestry studies.

The land was donated by Saratoga Builders and the park committee began putting plans together in 2007 to transform the land into a site split between recreational field sports and more "passive" recreation, such as trails for hiking.

The sports fields sit on about 6.3 acres and feature a baseball field, a softball field and two multiple use soccer fields, each 120 yards long by 70 yards wide, that could also accommodate lacrosse and football games.

Another 6 to 7 acres will be developed over the next year or so with a basketball court, a playground, concession stands, restrooms and a parking area.

The project is a community park and upholds the committee's goal to create a park with minimal impact on the towns' taxpayers.

"There were a lot of monetary donations, but also there were in-kind services - equipment and manpower, that were happening every step of the way," Griffen said.

Design estimates set the project's cost at about $1.6 million, but the hands-on participation has lowered the bill, and fund-raising by the nonprofit organization, the Friends of Schuyler Park, has also helped.

The two towns - which have final approval on the park project - have contributed funds designated for green space projects.

"Our main focus is that this is a community park - not to be a big moneymaker - or to be a money pit," said Griffen, who also sits on the Saratoga Planning Board.

Park committee member and Saratoga Planning Board Chairman Ian Murray has been active in the project, as has town of Northumberland councilman Daniel Gale.

"It's the right mix of people," Griffen said.

Griffen is co-owner of a sod business. Murray is co-owner of a garden center that specializes in landscaping and design, and Gale is an advisor with a local financial firm. They have been able to use their individual expertise as valuable resources to move the project forward, they said.

"We have similar communities and we're serviced by the same school district," Griffen said. "Any time you can coordinate things together, everybody wins."

The Old Saratoga Athletic Association - the governing body for youth sports in the area - will use the new park to supplement a busy schedule of sports currently sited at Fort Hardy Park in the village of Schuylerville.

The Schuylerville school district, currently doing construction work that limits the use of its fields, has contracted to use the Schuyler Park fields for limited, late weekday afternoon use.

Aside from the scheduled sports activities, the fields are free for community use.

"If someone wants to have a pickup football game and nothing else is scheduled - have at it," Gale said.

Plans call for the park to be open from dawn to dusk, year-round, and in the winter months to be used for sledding, snowshoeing and cross-country skiing.

The Friends of Schuyler Park Committee will be hosting a "Party for the Park" fundraising event April 15 at Longfellows Hotel, Restaurant and Conference Center in Saratoga Springs.

by THOMAS DIMOPOULOS

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