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Iona proposes Division‑I baseball upgrades in Bronxville; planning board delays final approval
Summary
Iona University presented plans to renovate its Bronxville baseball field—leveling the field, adding a 141‑seat spectator area, dugouts, safety netting and accessibility improvements—but the planning board agreed to review additional parking, noise and drainage studies and took no final action tonight.
Iona University representatives presented a site‑plan to the Bronxville Planning Board proposing to level and upgrade the baseball field at 182 White Plains Road, add a raised press box and spectator seating for about 141 people (including six ADA spaces), new dugouts, a scoreboard, an outfield fence with 30 feet of fence plus 10 feet of safety netting and improved accessible paths from the parking area.
"The proposed improvements consist of leveling the field, upgrading the dugouts, open spectators seating, and the press box, adding a scoreboard, providing accessibility from the parking area to the field, adding safety netting, an outfield fence, warning track, and a bullpen area," said Mark Weingarten, counsel for Iona University. He emphasized the university is not proposing field lighting and estimated roughly 16 to 22 home games between mid‑March and mid‑May with an average of 87 spectators per game last year.
Landscape architect Cynthia Reynolds (SLAM Collaborative) outlined site changes including a shortened sidewalk connection to keep pedestrian circulation interior to the site, ramped access to spectator areas, and a distributed PA design. Engineering consultant Mike Tucker said the project adds an underground detention system beneath the tennis courts and an infiltration system at the baseball field that the applicant calculates will reduce runoff to Crawford Avenue by about 70% for several storm return periods.
The planning board closed public comment after more than a dozen residents spoke and then identified a list of studies and clarifications it expects before taking final action: a fuller parking/traffic circulation and signage plan, an independent or more comprehensive sound study with experts present, detailed drainage coordination with village engineers, and a construction‑period footprint. The meeting ended with a motion to adjourn; no site‑plan approval was granted tonight.
