July 16, 2021

GNGLL is pleased to announce that our Phase 1 fundraising campaign in conjunction with RRCT is now complete. RRCT has acquired 174.3 acres to greatly expand the Intervale Preserve and GNGLL now owns 14.7 acres for potential ballfields.

The completion of the land acquisition now guarantees by deed that all usage of the combined parcels will be for recreational use in perpetuity. This is great news!

RRCT will immediately embark on their Phase 2 fundraising campaign to complete funding for trails and management of their parcel. GNGLL will pivot to attempting to restore our Bennet Road property for ballfields. Our efforts throughout the Fall 2021 will hopefully lead to the restoration of the spent gravel pit at Bennett Road into usable acreage for the community. Rejuvenating this land will make all aspects of this project restorative to the community while preserving the Intervale. In the event that our efforts to restore Bennett are not fruitful, the committee may decide to resume ballfield plans on the Intervale property.

Embarking on this path will require sustained effort from the entire community. Our new ballfields committee will begin meeting Monday evenings in August and will meet bi-weekly throughout the next year to ensure we can achieve this goal. We welcome up to 8 members of the community to join our committee to achieve these goals.

If interested, please reach out to GNGLL at info@gnglittleleague.org.

May 30, 2021

As it is the peak of the GNG Little League season, we are limited in what progress we can make with regards to the Intervale Fields project. However, our committee has met twice and we have the following update to relay.

In the interest of finding the best solution for Little League and the town of New Gloucester, we have begun a due diligence process to review properties we own and properties we might be able to acquire to assess the cost differences and impacts of moving our plans to a different location.

• Bennett Road Land

  • Changes have taken place there since we first assessed the location five years ago.

  • We are working with contractors to get updated estimates of the cost of preparing the land for three ball fields.

• Penney Road Fields

  • We are investigating an updated cost to restart the formerly proposed Penney Road Fields project.

• Other Properties

  • Members of our committee have met and are continuing discussions with other landowners to discuss property swaps and other acquisitions to find alternative sites.

• Timeline

  • In the interest of giving time for proper due diligence, the GNGLL Intervale Fields Committee is pausing activity related to the current location (planning, architectural, and engineering) for a minimum of 60 days.

Our goal is to find whether there are any possibilities for alternative development locations and what cost differences would be required.

Our primary goal has been a facility with three fields and a snack shack/restroom/storage building. Our secondary goal would be the ability to have lighted fields with score boards. Since reducing our plans at Intervale would not meet these goals, we are pausing our development there while we see if any fields can meet our goals without an exceptional cost difference.

Once this research is complete, we will reassess our options and determine whether a subset of our goals at Intervale is the best path forward or pursuing development of fields at a different location would be more amenable to our goals and to the town’s needs.

We would be happy to hear ideas for grant opportunities, funding sources, or other avenues from the public that may help make alternative sites more feasible. If you have any suggestions or comments, please email president@gnglittleleague.org to participate in the dialog.