NEW BERLIN – The Village is searching for a new area to designate as a public park to replace recreational area lost after the municipality sold a parcel of land to Milford Academy.

According to New York State Law, the village must create another park equal in size – but the initial replacement location has now been deemed unusable and the board is searching for another area.

“The initial proposal from the (Town of New Berlin) to put fields along the left hand side of the roadway down to Millbrook came to a halt when the town’s highway superintendent stated that they can not level the area due to a strong shale base in that area,” said New Berlin Mayor Wade Schrag.

Schrag said the Town of New Berlin offered another site at Millbrook, near the communications tower, but he didn’t think the area offered enough room to accommodate the two little league baseball fields the village is keen on re-establishing.

Schrag said the current alternative locations may require a high degree of landscaping and the village was hoping to find a more suitable area.

The Town of New Berlin passed a resolution May 11, 2009 approving the development of several new sporting fields at the town park by the village.

The move created an alternate location for the Unadilla Valley Youth Baseball and Softball Association to hold future games. Previously the league played at Fish Field in the village and shared the site with Milford Academy, which bought the property.

The village sold the property of Fish Field to Milford Academy in a final resolution May 12 for $4,600 an acre for roughly 10 acres of land where the two little league fields were located.

The specific accommodations for the league originally caused some obstacles in the preparatory school’s plans to purchase the site from the village. Milford is hoping build a high school football stadium on the site.