Town Council Denies Beach Volleyball Court at NBHS

At the , Council member Rose Angeloni said that the Board of Education had appeared before the Inlands Wetlands Commission to get a variance for a beach volleyball court, with the intent of being placed behind the boys’ locker room at.

said that the variance was a moot point as Town Attorney John Gesmonde had previously ruled that “the only body that can build anything on town property is the Town Council.” He also questioned the cleanliness of the court saying that many states had banned beach volleyball courts at schools because they tend to be used “as litter boxes,” becoming contaminated.

The issue was raised again at the Sept. 4 meeting after the Council received more details from Superintendent Scott Schoonmaker and the Board of Education. Schoonmaker was at a BOE meeting on Sept. 4 but Supervisor of Operations Bill Choti was on hand to answer questions.

Angeloni said that in Schoonmaker’s email to he said the “cost of the sand was encumbered in last year’s budget” and then asked Choti what the cost of sand would be.

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Choti said that Keegan Sand and Stone had given them an estimate of $6,200 for 160 yards of washed mason sand. , questioned the total cost of the project.

“We were looking at using some unused polls from and we have some indoor nets that we’ll use,” said Choti. “We’d be installing 20-foot black iron pipes along with a net so that the ball doesn’t go into the brook bed.”

Council member Vin Caprio questioned the location proposed for the court, pointing out that there was a manhole nearby and the “thing you’re calling a brook is actually a swamp with mosquitoes all around and there’s a .”

Caprio also questioned the maintenance as far as raking the sand and keeping the court covered so that it wasn’t contaminated as well as how often students would be able to use the court, concluding with, “It just doesn’t make any sense to me.”

The Council made and approved a motion to not send the matter forward to Planning and Zoning.