New Field Planned for Stephen Hands Path Recreational Facility in East Hampton

A new, multi-use field that will be striped to incorporate football, soccer, men’s and women’s lacrosse, field hockey and Little League baseball and softball is planned for the playing fields at the former Child Development Center of the Hamptons on Stephen Hands Path in East Hampton, Councilman David Lys announced on Tuesday, November 19.

The recreational facility presently comprises the two Little League fields that were recently relocated from Pantigo Place in East Hampton to make room for the freestanding emergency room that is presently under construction; two volleyball courts; two grass soccer fields; two playgrounds; and an approximately half-mile walking trail. The new, ADA-accessible field, construction of which could start in mid-January 2025, will replace the westerly soccer field, Lys said, and be shifted slightly farther west. It will have 20-foot fencing at the “end zone” sides to limit stray balls leaving the field, he said, and, provided funding is available, field lights for night play, bleachers and a scoreboard.

“This location will have elements that will allow for easier maintenance of the field [and] greater use of the field by active users, but it will also be a multi-use field in which we will now be able to line and stripe it for multiple different sporting events,” Lys told his colleagues as a rendering of the proposed field was displayed. The striping colors of the field will match the current configuration of East Hampton High School’s multi-use field, he said, and the walking trail will be reconnected into the design.

Construction will take five or six months, depending on weather conditions, Lys said.

John Rooney, the superintendent of recreation, said that 189 children took part in the town’s fall soccer program and 179 in the spring program. While the spring program will have to manage with one field instead of two during construction, it will start a half-hour earlier and the transition between matches shortened, he said. Changing the length of games and halftime was considered, he said, but “we didn’t want to mess with any of that … so we hope that everybody cooperates” with transitions between games happening in 10 minutes instead of 30.

“I think everybody’s going to be so excited about this getting done anyway, they’ll be happy to have the 10-minute switch for one season,” he said.

Past and present East Hampton High School coaches are “very excited for this opportunity,” Lys said, while the East Hampton Soccer Club, which has a waiting list, is “extremely ecstatic, over the moon” about the new field.

“This will allow for more kids to be off their devices and playing sports,” he said.

Board members were supportive of the plan.

“You had me at ‘get people off their screens,’” Councilwoman Cate Rogers said. “The benefit is even broader than what we’re talking about here.”