$5.5M Renovation At Belleville High School Athletic Fields Begins

BELLEVILLE, NJ — The starter’s gun has sounded on a highly touted, $5.5 million plan to upgrade the athletic facilities at Belleville High School.

Last weekend, Belleville officials and community members gathered for a groundbreaking ceremony at the high school to kick off the effort, which Mayor Michael Melham called “Belleville’s most monumental public works project in probably 50 years.”

According to a statement from township officials, improvements will include:

NEW TRACK - “The highlight of the plan will be a new track that will allow the high school boys and girls teams to host home meets for the first time in several years. And because the plan is to build an eight-lane track, Belleville will be able to host New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association-sanction state track meets.”

NEW TURF, LIGHTING - “The project will also include a new turf surface and state-of-the-art LED lighting for the football field and a soccer/softball field that will be created from the adjacent smaller baseball fields and land recaptured from a redesigned sloped retaining wall.”

The project is scheduled to be completed by late summer, in time for the 2021-22 school year. It will be financed with $2 million in Green Acres grants. The township also bonded for about $3 million, which is already funded through the municipal budget, Melham said.

With this plan, the township will have almost quadrupled its field turf space in the past three years, Melham said.

“It’s a big day for Belleville,” Township Manager Anthony Iacono agreed. “Anytime we invest $5.5 million in our infrastructure is a great day, but what we’re doing here today will bring enjoyment and fun for generations of budding athletes.”

Melham said when the members of the township council identified the need to add LED lighting in some areas and replace outdated lighting in others, it invited the Belleville School District to partner on the project.

“When we wanted to upgrade the lights, the board of education and Superintendent Richard Tomko immediately stepped up and funded the last half-million dollars for new LED lighting – which is energy-efficient and will save us money in the long run,” Melham said.

Attendees at Saturday’s groundbreaking ceremony included deputy mayor Thomas Graziano and council members Marie Stumolo-Burke, Steve Rovell and Naomy De Peña, as well as Belleville Board of Education president Christine Lamparello, vice president Gabrielle Bennett-Meany and board trustee Frank Velez.

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