Milton council reviews two Deerfield Active Park designs, prioritizes fields and flexibility on amenities

Milton City Council members on April 28 reviewed two conceptual designs for Deerfield Active Park and directed staff to prioritize field capacity while keeping flexibility on some auxiliary amenities such as pickleball and a splash pad.

Parks and Recreation Director Tom McElveen and Deputy Director of Public Works Rob Del Ross presented concepts created by consultant Loos Designs that respond to a parks master plan and public input. The concepts both show four diamond-shaped baseball/softball fields clustered on the flattest portion of the 80-foot sloped site, plus two rectangular multipurpose fields intended to serve soccer, lacrosse and other rectangular-field sports.

The council and staff framed the issue as a capacity and engineering trade-off. "We showed the need for those two multipurpose rectangles and four baseball softball diamonds that will support our recreation programming for years to come," McElveen said, summarizing staff analysis of registrations and ideal field capacity. Del Ross noted site constraints and engineering implications: "There's 80…