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My comments are primarily directed to the Wilbur Avenue residents who will have the re-located Winslow Park at their doors and my comments are no reflection against the current or past AGS board members. Good job people!

First of all, I have been at my current residence for over 59 years. Please... don't tell me... Why not sell your home? I'm not someone who re-located to this area AFTER Winslow Park was constructed. My parents lived here prior to me since 1948 and finally, the house was built in 1929 which was 2 years before an airport ever existed.

Things I would consider when RIAC is ready to break ground at Lake Shore Drive.

First things first...

I believe Camille Vella-Wilkinson and Peter Frazier and anyone else who will be overseeing this project please, first visit the existing Winslow Park (softball fields) during one of the six tournaments the league holds. NOTE: Three of the tournaments are non-sponsored tournaments by AGS.

These three are sponsored by Apponaug Girls Softball and are posted on their website at: http://www.agsoftball.com/2012_Tournaments.html:

1. Summer Slam"

2. Durning Memorial

3. Ocean State Invitational

A good time to come would be on Saturday in the late morning and early afternoon. This will give you a "flavor" of what to expect at the new location regarding:

1. The number of teams present.

2. The number of people, AND

3. Lack of sufficient parking space available.

My list of things that should be considered when developing this new complex:

A. As a minimum, double the number of parking spaces as proposed by the FAA in the FEIS July 2011 statement from 177 to 354. Believe me, you'll need it.

B. Add "oodles" and "oodles" of stop signs and no parking signs and consider adding speed bumps.

C. During tournaments, the AGS board members should designate specific areas for "softball practice only" instead of practicing behind someone's property on vacant airport property as such is my case. It's so bad I had to buy a sign this past season and clamp it to my backyard fence post with RIAC's authority.

The sign reads: “NO SOTBALL” “Please Respect Homeowner’s Property”

B.T.W., this wasn’t effective. They still came.

D1. Regarding the current location of field 5 which is the smallest of the 6 fields (90 feet down the lines and 112 feet straight away center), The AGS board members SHOULD NOT ALLOW tournament teams (16U and up) to use this field for practice especially with their batting nets. Why I say this is because an incident occurred at my home a couple of years ago which Chuck is fully aware of. There should be designated areas established by the league board for this during tournaments.

D2. Continuing with regard to field 5, over the something 20 years or so since they have been here, I pushed for signage to be posted on this field reading "Hard Ball (or Baseball) Playing Is Strictly Prohibited By All Ages" (since the outfield fence is about forty some odd feet from my front door) AND POSTED ON THE INSIDE OF THE BACKSTOP and not on the outside like it is today! The closest thing they've done a while ago (which has now since been removed) was post a sign saying something to the effect "Instructional Field Only. Please Be Courteous To Our Neighbors". THANK YOU Gerry Iadeluca (past AGS president). Today they DO HAVE A SIGN posted on the outside of the backstop and facing away from the field saying “This Field For Instructional And Minor League Use Only”. It seems to me why would they have it facing in the opposite direction especially with the parking lot located along Bedford Ave. where most of the families park when using field 5. How can they see it??? Weird!

Another suggestion I would like to make to the board members (similar to what Bryant University does) is twofold:

A. Send or mail flyers to those people who live in the Lake Shore Drive area and letting them know approximately the length of the season the softball fields are used. For example, the CCRI Lady Knights softball team began this past season on Sunday, March 18th with the AGS Charity Classic tournament ending this year on Sunday, October 21st.

B. Again, send or mail flyers to those people who live in the Lake Shore Drive area well of the upcoming tournament season and let them know the upcoming AGS Tournament schedule including the 3 non-sponsored tournaments so they at least know why people are arriving so early around 6 AM or 6:30 AM on Saturday morning.

Regarding the Airport Road access road, these people must take a hard look at this one. In my opinion, the only way they’ll use this effectively if you deny them access from Lake Shore Drive to allow to get to Winslow Park. It will be nightmare during tournaments. Better have plenty of speed bumps!

Regarding Vella-Wilkinson’s last comment: “I don’t want the neighborhood inundated by outside traffic,” she said. From my over 20 years’ experience with Winslow Park, during the night time or “after hours”, there is unfortunately many vehicles entering the park at all hours. I’ll leave it at that.

Finally, the overall 2 major differences I see from my perspective regarding the current Winslow Park and the proposed Winslow Park are:

1. Location. That is after looking at the FEIS proposed layout of the new complex, it appears to be secluded from any major road (Airport Rd. and Warwick Ave.) unlike the current Winslow Park and:

2. Now, you will HAVE BOTH the soccer fields and softball fields combined into one area (unlike it is now).

Let’s not forget the soccer league(s) traffic also.

NOTE:

For those interested in the Site Of The Cedar Swamp Road Site Plan (artist’s rendering of the new Winslow Park) proposed location please send me an email at: nitch6@gmail.com attn.: RAC.

From: Lakeshore is future home for Winslow fields

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