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Brooklawn tables baseball-field fee ordinance; council discusses bleachers, lights and parking changes
Summary
Council tabled an ordinance to set baseball-field fees and debated bleacher purchases, lighting estimates (roughly $300,000–$700,000), and a revised parking ban on Oldtown Road; members also approved a letter asking DOT to investigate a hazardous left turn.
Brooklawn Borough Council tabled Ordinance No. 3206 — a proposed change to chapter 112 to establish public-use rules and a fee schedule for the borough’s baseball fields — after members said the fee figures were not finalized and more information was needed.
Council discussion that followed described multiple operational and capital items for the fields. Members said the borough has invested in infield and bullpen repairs, replaced tie-wraps on the batting-cage netting, and planned to order additional bleachers after obtaining two quotes. Fee proposals mentioned in the discussion included pro-rate seasonal fees (example figure cited: $1,500 per season prorated), $300 per day for some events, and $25–$50 per night for lighting operations depending on staffing — but council asked staff to produce a consistent fee schedule rather than adopt specific numbers in ordinance form at this meeting.
Council members also discussed a possible lighting project for the leisure field with widely differing cost estimates raised in the meeting: a $300,000 estimate was cited alongside a higher $700,000 figure referenced in earlier estimates. One speaker framed the cost over 20 years, saying operations and capital would amount to approximately $23,000 over that span per the figures discussed. Members talked about limiting hours (by 9:30–10 p.m. limits were referenced) and charging users to offset costs.
Separately, a staff member presented a follow-up ordinance to rescind a 2024 parking ban on Oldtown Road and replace it with a more targeted prohibition: continue prohibiting parking on the east side and allow limited parking on the west side except within 15 feet of the Empire Sports Bar driveway and within 40 feet of Creek Road. The measure will proceed as a two-reading ordinance and Public Works will remove or update signage as needed.
The council also voted to send a joint letter to the New Jersey Department of Transportation requesting an investigation of a hazardous left-turn location referred to in the meeting as the ‘Green Arrow’ project; a speaker said a preliminary cost estimate of about $250,000 was mentioned and that the borough’s share would be roughly 25% if the project advances. Council approved moving forward with the letter and copying the governor on correspondence.
Because Council chose to table Ordinance No. 3206 for more complete fee figures, there was no final vote on the field-use fee structure at this meeting.
