MARBLEHEAD — A long-awaited restoration of Seaside Park’s baseball field moved another step closer to reality Tuesday after the Recreation and Parks Commission unanimously voted to move forward with the project’s second-lowest bidder.

The commission also took steps to protect the park from future encroachments by neighboring properties.

The commission voted to proceed with an $83,410 bid for the project, pending satisfactory reference checks, after determining the lowest bidder lacked sufficient experience completing athletic field renovations.

Construction is expected to begin in late August or early September, allowing work to be completed before the start of next year’s baseball season.

“If we can get this all squared away with their references, our goal would be at the end of August, beginning of September, for this project to be started,” Superintendent of the Recreation and Parks department Jamie Bloch said. “The sports that use that in the fall already have a relocation spot to go.”

The project comes after years of deteriorating conditions at one of the town’s most heavily used baseball fields.

“I think I stopped counting at about 12 games that were moved off Seaside Park because it just can’t be played on after minimal rain,” Marblehead High School Athletic Director Kent Wheeler said during an earlier Recreation and Parks Commission meeting.

Wheeler said years of wear have created uneven playing surfaces and drainage problems that leave standing water after rainstorms. Soil from the infield has gradually migrated beneath the grass, creating raised edges and low spots that have forced high school and youth teams to relocate games.

“It used to be we’d have to play like one or two varsity games behind the high school,” Wheeler said. “Now, it’s multiple games back. We have probably played more games back there than we have at Seaside.”

The restoration will include rebuilding and laser-leveling the infield, improving drainage, reconstructing the pitcher’s mound and batter’s boxes, installing new loam and infield mix, making irrigation improvements, and laying new Kentucky Bluegrass sod.

Parks, Facilities & Permits Director Brad DeLisle said the work will completely rebuild the playing surface.

“Essentially, they’re going pretty much 10 feet around the whole infield, ripping everything out, ripping all the infield mix up, starting from the mound, rebuilding that, and then working their way out to get their grades right,” DeLisle said. “They’re going to sod it. That’s why we want to get it done by November.”

Funding for the project will come from several sources. The Recreation and Parks Commission has previously committed up to $20,000 from its revolving fund, while $15,000 has been awarded through the Shattuck Fund. Bloch said the remaining costs will be covered through contributions from community partners, including Friends of Marblehead Parks, Marblehead Youth Baseball and the schools.

The commission unanimously approved moving forward with the project if the contractor’s references satisfy the town’s requirements.

In other Seaside Park business, commissioners unanimously approved sending letters to several Boubier Road abutters after a recent survey found encroachments onto town-owned park property.

Bloch said the survey, conducted in coordination with the town engineer and building commissioner, found instances where neighboring properties had extended into parkland. 

While officials are not seeking immediate enforcement action, the letters are intended to notify residents that the property remains town-owned and that no additional encroachments will be allowed.

“We want to make sure that no more encroachment happens,” Bloch said. “We’re not looking to take action right now in terms of making them change any of their property lines. We just don’t want any more cutting or dropping of debris.”

Bloch said the town is not asking homeowners to remove existing landscaping or play equipment that may have encroached on the property at this time, but wants to establish a formal record that the land belongs to the town and preserve its ability to address future encroachments if necessary.

Commissioners said the letters are intended to be educational rather than punitive.

“I think it’s important every once in a while just to remind people,” Commission Chair Karin Ernst said during the discussion.