New Haven Register (New Haven, CT)
Insurance to cover storm-wrecked field
Officials expect work to be done in early November
EAST HAVEN — If Connecticut high schools get the go-ahead to play football, soccer and other fall sports this year, the East Haven High School Yellowjackets may at some point get to play on the recently destroyed new synthetic turf at Frank “Coach” Crisafi Field after all.
The insurance company for the contractor that installed the field, which was nearly complete but had yet to be signed over to the town when it was destroyed in a severe storm Aug. 27, has accepted the claim and the field will be reconstructed this fall, town and school officials said Tuesday.
“There’s insurance and the contractor has made a claim that has been accepted,” said Town Attorney Michael Luzzi. “We’ve walked the field and claims adjusters have been out” and have told
local officials “that all will be covered.”
“They are moving very quickly,” Luzzi said.
School and town officials expect the job to be done in early November, said Luzzi and East Haven High School Athletic Director Anthony Verderame.
“The insurance company accepted responsibility for $500,000 in damage for the field,” which will include regrading the field — which must be graded with lasers to just the right pitch — and reinstalling new turf, which then will be finished with coatings of rubber and sand.
The total cost of the new turf and running track was $925,000 plus architectural fees of about $40,000, said Verderame.
Sebastien Veilleux, vice president and director of sales and business development for Hera Sports Services LLC, which installed the turf, said the field — which was ripped up, rolled up and in some places shredded by the apparent microburst in August — is not salvageable and will have to be redone completely.
“It wasn’t an option to even save” some of the turf, said Luzzi. “It was pretty clear that once it got moved and mangled, it couldn’t be used again.
But I’ll be honest with you, it’s been moving very quickly . ... Everyone’s been working together,” he said.
“Unfortunately, the bleachers and fencing are going to be on the town — it’s going to be on us,” said Verderame. He estimated that it will cost $175,000 to replace the visitors’ bleachers, which were flipped upside down by the storm, and repair damage to the home bleachers.
While there has been some question as to whether Connecticut high schools will play football at all this fall, “as of now, we’re planning on proceeding to play October football,” Verderame said.
The high school soccer team also uses Crisafi Field. “Soccer as of now ... is 100 percent on,” he said. As things currently stand, “We’re going to play a few games on the grass here,” on the Junior Varsity field in the outfield of the softball field adjacent to Crisafi Field, Verderame said.
Verderame, who attended a walk-through with town officials the night before the storm, said he was ready to cry when he saw the damage.
But “the kids, they’re not that upset about it. They just want to play,” he said.
Head Football Coach Scott Benoit, who also attended the walk-through the night before the storm, said the field — which at that point was just a few days away from completion — looked beautiful.
After the storm, he was stunned by “just the amazing force that ripped bleachers out of the ground and the cement pad” in which they were anchored. “It was a lot of damage,” he said.
Despite the difficulties of being out of school since March and now seeing the field destroyed, “I think we’ve done a really good job of pressing on,” Benoit said.
As for the team, “We will play wherever we have to play,” Benoit said. “The old Crisafi Field behind the middle school is a real nice old grass field. ... At this stage of the game, we just want to play — and we’ll play wherever we’ll have to play.”