A new, unused baseball diamond in Brentwood Park that has repeatedly been flooded with rainfall since it was constructed last fall was caused by the contractor’s use of a top layer of impervious blue clay.

At a June 3 committee of the whole meeting of Northwood City Council, Administrator Pat Bacon expressed frustration about the floods at the ball diamond.

“It’s pretty much been drained, the water has been pumped off. This saga has been going on too long. I’m at wits end,” she said.

“Currently, that diamond is unplayable,” she added. “We contacted Ohio Excavating, the contractor, numerous times. For one reason or another that they don’t come out is that it’s too wet, and if they bring their equipment out, they’re going to damage the field. So frustration kind of reached a climax this week. The city checked to see what the problem could be.”

Bacon showed council photos of the diamond, which showed a layer of blue clay as the culprit.

“I think you can clearly see the amount of blue clay on top,” she said.

Construction of a ball diamond starts with a foundation of underdrains, followed by stone, then topped with soil, said Bacon.

The blue clay had been on site as part of the excavation of the adjacent Miracle League baseball diamond when it was constructed, she said.

“They used the dirt on site that was brought in for the Miracle League with the understanding that it would save the city money,” said Bacon. Much of the Miracle League diamond was made with blue clay from the landfill, she said.

“At no time can you put blue clay on top,” she said. “I can take that blue clay, make myself a little bowl, let it dry in the sun and have some soup. It’s terrible.”

Last Wednesday, Bacon said the contractor removed the blue clay from the diamond and that it should not be flooded anymore by rainfall.

“They removed the blue clay, and dug a trench, put in stone and different dirt, so when it rains, it will go through the dirt, the stone, and down to the tile. We should be fine. We just haven’t had substantial rainfall to find out. We should know after today,” said Bacon Wednesday afternoon, hours before a severe storm hit the area.

Bacon said the flooded baseball diamond has not affected nearby homes.

“Those diamonds aren’t close to residential homes. The outfield is, but there’s no water over there by those homes at all,” she said. “All the water was on the diamond.”

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