Meridian baseball’s season began like no other. Instead of stepping on to their home turf, the team packed up early and traveled to Tysons for practice, facing an unexpected challenge that reshaped their season before it even began.
Due to limited funding, the baseball field remained unchanged when the school was built in 2021. The rundown field had many issues due to the wear and tear accumulated over the years. It was uneven, with the outfield much lower than the infield, creating water pools in multiple areas.
Falls Church City public documents indicate that in Oct. 2023, the School Board approved funding of $2 million to install a turf field, replace the backstop, and add netting along the third baseline.
More recently, following approval of the project on Nov. 12, 2024 at a Capital Improvements Program (CIP) Quarterly Update Meeting, the city reported that the field was awaiting permits, but still on target with an estimated completion of Feb. 2025.
In a Jan. 14 School Board Meeting, Superintendent Dr. Peter Noonan alluded to issues with the construction process and possible delays to the project.
“The first we learned of this issue not being on time, really, was the first of last week, and then we went into three snow days, but we really thought that with an eight week install we could get there. Unfortunately, it does not look as though that’s going to happen,” he explained.
However, the site plan wasn’t approved by City Deputy Director of Planning Gary Fuller until Jan. 30th, and further was not fully approved by the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (VA DEQ) until Feb. 21.
Possible complications with the construction delay included the departure of former Athletic Director, Mr. Brian Parke and former Facilities Director, Mr. Brian Fowler. Parke left in October and Fowler in December. Fowler’s replacement just recently began working on March 17.
Another complicating factor was the fact that FCCPS Chief Operating Supervisor, Ms. Kristen Michael, left in February. This left a small number of city and school officials to oversee the project.
“Part of the problem with the baseball field is that it has lacked a project manager,” Principal Peter Laub commented.
Baseball parent Mr. William Ackerman, who has advocated for the construction of the baseball field, mentioned that there may have been issues with the permit process.
“The permit process kind of got screwy, and I don’t know the timeline of that. Sounds like that stuff was supposed to happen in August, and things just keep getting delayed. But I don’t have a lot of strong information on that,” he indicated.
Ms. Laura Downs, who was on the School Board during early discussions of the baseball field, mentioned that the process could have been completed sooner.
“I don’t want to place blame anywhere, but my understanding is that both the General Government and FCCPS, at times, could have turned things around more quickly,” Ms. Downs said.
In January, following the departure of Mr. Fowler and Mr. Parke, FCCPS contracted the private advisory and project management company Brailsford & Dunlavey, LLC to manage the project.
Around this time, communications with the baseball community began. On Jan. 15, Dr. Noonan sent out the first of many letters to baseball parents about the delays of the construction.
However, Mr. Ackerman expressed that communication prior to January had not been sufficient.
“Now that people have made their complaints, communication has been a lot better about the progression of the baseball field,” he explained. “But from January of last year to January of this year, it wasn’t really communicated well at all.”
Likewise, baseball parent and coach Mr. Joe Greiner expressed his frustration with a lack of clear communication and accountability.
“We didn’t find out we had no home field until an unrelated Parks & Rec meeting. That’s unacceptable,” he said. “Since the project was approved, and until very recently, there’s been no ownership, no accountability, and no clear communication.”
Similarly, it was not until January that Varsity Baseball Coach Adam Amerine was informed that construction was scheduled to occur during the spring season.
“We’re getting the news secondhand, our timeline secondhand, so we’re not actually involved with the planning process and the construction, so we’re kind of on the outside,” he explained.
In contrast to these challenges, the process of finding new fields has been relatively seamless and easy.
“Varsity has been fortunate enough to get a really nice field,” Amerine said, “We’re playing at Georgetown’s home field, by the Wegman’s at Tysons, which is really nice.”
In an early March School Board Work Session, Dr. Noonan explained that the construction was on schedule, but they had identified issues with the height of the safety net, which would further delay construction.
“One of the things that we discovered was that during the pre-planning process of the precon time of construction, the field was spec’d with a 40-foot-high netting system in the design and budgeting process,” Dr. Noonan explained. “While there were good justifications for that…the 40-foot-height is completely inadequate and insufficient for our needs.”
This is attributed to the location of the field, as it is adjacent to Interstate 66. The current height of the net would pose safety issues, as there is the possibility of foul balls striking cars. To determine the adequate size of the netting, FCCPS recently partnered with Tanner Consulting Group, a company specialized in field design.
The group will conduct a trajectory study to determine how high the netting system must be to prevent balls from flying onto the highway. This study was not done when the field was initially built, because the 40-foot-height is standard for baseball fields.
Dr. Noonan outlined how this higher netting system will incur additional costs, and the rebuilding of the stadium field concession stand may be put on hold for six months.
In a statement made to The Lasso, the Superintendent also noted his disappointment with the delays and challenges.
“This whole process is such a bummer, and no one is more disappointed than I am. I am glad we are on a path to finish the project and that the weekly communications have been helpful,” said Noonan.
However, Mr. Greiner believes that these problems were present from the beginning.
“Blaming permitting and fencing this late in the game is just a smokescreen—these issues were known from day one,” he emphasized. “Until this project is back on track, we need weekly public updates from the superintendent. Our players now face an entire season on the road, and it didn’t have to be this way.”
