Dietz transfer expected by end of year
City to take full ownership of stadium after decades of sharing with school district
With voter approval in hand for more than three months now, the city and the Kingston school district are close to finalizing the agreement under which the city will take full ownership of Dietz Memorial Stadium, Mayor Steve Noble said Tuesday.
“I have met with the superintendent [of schools, Paul Padalino,] about Dietz Stadium, and our legal teams are working on a draft memorandum of agreement that would allow the school district continued use of the stadium while also making the necessary deed transfer [to the city],” Noble said in an email.
Once the necessary documents are finalized, the Common Council and Kingston Board of Education will vote on resolutions to formally enact the deal.
“I hope to have this done later this fall, for a January start of this new arrangement,” Noble said.
There has been no indication about whether the city will charge the district to use the stadium.
The Uptown stadium — which the Kingston school district uses for interscholastic football games, field hockey and lacrosse matches, and trackand-field meets — currently is co-owned, 50-50, by the city and the district. On May 15, school district residents voted 1,473-413 in favor of the district ending that arrangement and giving full ownership to the city.
Noble favored the proposal and tweeted “this is wonderful news” after the vote result was announced.
Full ownership of the stadium by the city of Kingston will allow the city to use about a quarter of its $10 million Downtown Revitalization Initiative grant from the state to make improvements to the facility.
Dietz Memorial Stadium — named for Robert Dietz, a 24-year-old Army staff sergeant from Kingston who was killed in World War II — opened in 1949 at what is now the corner of Joys and Grandma Brown lanes. Forty years later, the school district paid the city $10 for a half ownership stake in the facility. That included an agreement to share expenses related to the stadium and the 12-acre site on which it stands.
The stadium was upgraded in 1989, a project that included replacing the grass on the main athletic field with artificial turf, and installing new lights and a new running track. New artificial turf was put down in 2000, and both the turf and the track were replaced in 2010.
Since 2016, the 2,000-seat stadium has been the home field of the semi-pro Kingston Stockade FC soccer team, which plays in the National Premier Soccer League.
The stadium also has been the site of regional high school sports competitions and Kingston High School’s annual graduation ceremony, and it’s open for public use when not being used for a scheduled event.