Northern Lehigh School District has received notification that the district’s ballfield permits have been released, and the fields have been turned over to the district.

Superintendent Dr. Matthew J. Link informed the school board at Monday’s meeting that the district was very excited to recently receive the notification from Lehigh County, and appreciated everyone’s patience in that process.

Resident Chad Christman, president of the Emerald Playground Association, said he watched the committee meetings last week and was a little disappointed to see the direction of the use of the ballfield for the summer.

“In years past, decades, way before even I was involved, after high school seasons were over, the high school field was then utilized by either Connie Mack, Legion, Babe Ruth, whatever organization was using it at that time,” Christman said. “So I’m a little concerned why that olive branch is not being extended again for the summer, especially because it has some ripple effects that trickle down to the youth level.”

Christman noted that the district proposed possible Pay to Use for outside organizations.

“We submitted emails asking if our youth association would be considered an outside organization and we were not given direction on that yet,” he said. “So I guess we’re just curious on that just so we can plan accordingly with all these moving parts going on.”

Christman said the school’s scholastic season runs until the first or second week of May, followed by about a two-week break before the summer season begins and runs until roughly the third week of July.

“I’m just asking for a little guidance, little clarification, because how you guys dictate how that moves forward, it rolls downhill to things that we have to do at the youth level to accommodate changes that we have to plan for accordingly,” he said.

Christman then suggested maybe they could reconsider opening the field usage for the summer.

“I understand you have to come up with a maintenance plan; biasly, my personal opinion, I feel like having teams play on the field for a month or so would probably actually give the maintenance team a break because by playing on the field, it actually prohibits grass growth from coming back onto the field, but that’s my biased opinion,” he said. “Again, just wanted to express a little concern about the path we’re headed.”

Board President Mathias Green responded.

“I think a lot of what you’re asking is up in the air, to be honest with you,” Green said. “The fields were just released, and they’re still looking at them seeing what it is.

“Obviously you don’t want to tear up a brand-new field. We’re still not sure (where a lot of it’s going).”

Christman said he understood.

“Quite frankly, a shame on Lehigh County for dragging their feet on that permit process taking so long,” he said. “Probably the slowest county process in the entire nation.

“I know there’s only so much you can do; I understand the concerns of a new field. Obviously we all want that thing to stay beautiful for generations to come; it’s a big investment on the back of taxpayers. I don’t think any of would want to see that new renovation go to the wayside, but just understand there are some concerns.”

Green said he thinks Christman hit it on the head.

“We’re still looking at it; we just got the field back,” Green said. “And we should have answers shortly.”

Christman noted that thanks to the board, they were able to expand to a middle school program to three scholastic teams, “which is amazing for a small school the size that we are.”

He added they also have 10 youth teams from ages 4-15 for Northern Lehigh Youth Baseball as a whole.

“So going to these league meetings that I attend for the size of district that we are, we’re actually growing in that department, when others are declining,” Christman said. “So I have no doubt that over the next couple of years, the field will continue to get good use.”

Renovations to Northern Lehigh School District’s athletic field complex were completed as part of the $2 million improvement project.