Girls' Little League Field Sidelined

The way Kirk Manley sees it, the town shouldn't build a $400,000 girls' Little League field on Hoyden's Lane for a lot of reasons.

Manley said Wednesday night that the town's Conservation Commission has jurisdiction over the property and hadn't approved the project; now wasn't the right time to spend $400,000 on an athletic field; and leaving the 9.42 acres as open space would ensure it was accessible to everyone.

But Ellery Plotkin, chairman of the town's Parks and Recreation Commission, said the boys' Little League program had two dedicated fields in town - at Mill Hill School and in Tunxis Hill - while the girls' Little League program didn't have any. Plotkin said the girls' Little League program also may lose two high school fields next spring because the pitcher's mound will be moved back.

"There aren't any dedicated girls' softball fields in town," Plotkin said as he walked out of tonight's Board of Finance meeting in the Education Center, 501 Kings Highway East. "In order to promote the sport, you have to have a home field."

The girls' Little League field is often referred to as a softball field because girls in Little League play softball instead of baseball.

"When they have a dedicated field, they would have outfield fencing, a scoreboard and a bathroom installed. They'll get all the amenities," Plotkin said. "Most of the bells and whistles will be paid by Little League. The town will only be building the field. Basically, the girls want what the boys have."

The Board of Finance had been scheduled Wednesday night to vote on a $400,000 funding request to build the girls' Little League field on the back section of a 9.42-acre property at 520 Hoyden's Lane that the town bought for $1.8 million in December 2007.

But Tom Flynn, the board's chairman, announced that Plotkin and Gerald Lombardo, director of the town's Parks and Recreation Department, had asked the board to postpone its vote for a couple of months.

Plotkin told the board that residents want to have an organic teaching farm on the property and that town officials want to develop a comprehensive plan for the 9.42 acres before the Board of Finance votes on the funding request.

The girls' Little League field would be on the back section of the 9.42 acres and the organic teaching farm proposed by Pamela Jones and Jody Eisemann would be on the front section, so the two wouldn't be in conflict with each other.

But there is a dispute over who has jurisdiction over the 9.42 acres and what can be done with it.

The Representative Town Meeting, when it approved $1.8 million to buy the land, designated it to be used for town purposes, including active and passive recreation. The RTM's designation was so vague that jurisdiction would up by default with the Conservation Commission.

Manley said the Board of Finance shouldn't vote on a $400,000 funding request from the Parks and Recreation Commission when the RTM hasn't given jurisdiction over that property to the rec commission.

First Selectman Ken Flatto, though, questioned whether the Conservation Commission has jurisdiction over the property or is just the agency responsible for maintaining it. Town Conservation Director Thomas Steinke said about two weeks ago that the Conservation Commission has jurisdiction over it.

Further muddying the waters is the bond resolution that the Board of Finance approved when it voted to buy the land.

Mary LeClerc, the finance board's vice chairman, said she believes the bond resolution said the land was to be used for active recreation. She said she wouldn't have voted to buy the land if it were going to be used for passive recreation.

But the RTM is the body that decides how town land is used, and Flatto said farming, under state statutes, can be designated as either active or passive recreation.

"There's a lot going on here. There's a lot of moving pieces," Board of Finance member Kevin Kiley said.

Board of Finance members voted 8-1 to postpone their vote on the $400,000 funding request to July 6. LeClerc voted in opposition.

After the meeting, Beth Bradley, an environmentalist who objects to the town cutting down trees for the girls' Little League field, said she's contacted the Connecticut Audubon Society to find out if a long-eared owl, an endangered species, is on the property.