Sports

RTM to Decide Fate of Girls' Little League Field

Board of Finance Approves $350,000 for the field on a 6-1-1 vote Tuesday night

A $350,000 funding request to build a girls' Little League field on Hoyden's Lane was a hit with the Board of Finance Tuesday night.

The board voted 6-1, with one abstention, to approve construction of the girls' Little League field on a 9.42-acre town-owned property at 520 Hoyden's Lane after girls' Little League players arrived in uniform to the meeting and First Selectman Ken Flatto, Selectman Sherri Steeneck and Selectman James Walsh spoke in favor of the project.

No one spoke in opposition to the project during the meeting, and the Little League players left before the finance board opened the meeting to public comment.

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"It's a school night," a parent explained as the girls got up to leave.

Board of Finance Chairman Tom Flynn quipped, "It's a school night for us too."

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But the Little League players' attendance wasn't in vain, as several Board of Finance members said they noticed them in the audience as the players filed out of a second-floor conference room in the Education Center on Kings Highway East.

Opponents earlier Tuesday sent a lengthy letter detailing their objections to the field to the Board of Finance and Representative Town Meeting. The RTM is scheduled to vote on the $350,000 funding request at 8 p.m. June 28 in Osborn Hill School.

The girls' Little League had 27 teams and 337 players last year and now uses a variety of different athletic fields in town. The league lacks a "home field," unlike the boys' Little League, which has home fields at Mill Hill School and in Tunxis Hill, according to Gerald Lombardo, director of the town's Parks and Recreation Department.

"It's a good and important project," Flatto said to the Board of Finance. "When the property was purchased, there was a strong consensus from boards to purchase it for active recreation."

Walsh, who was on the RTM when the town bought the property for a total of $1.8 million in December 2007, agreed. "When this parcel was bought, I wanted it to be for active recreation," Walsh said. "I know I was in support of purchasing it with the thought it could be used for active recreation someday."

Board of Finance member Kevin Kiley, who was on the board when the town bought the land, said he too wanted the Hoyden's Lane property to be used for active recreation when the town bought it.

Flatto said softball was not an intensive use of the property and wouldn't be a heavy burden on the neighborhood. He added that the town had created only three athletic fields in the last 15 years - soccer fields on Burroughs Road, an adult softball field at Dwight School and an artifical turf field at Tomlinson Middle School. "I really think it is imperative that we try every once in a while, even if it's every three or four years, to add a field to our inventory," he said.

Steeneck and Walsh said it didn't seem right that the boys' Little League program had two home fields, while the girls' Little League didn't have one.

"If you vote 'No," you'll see me back here for money to convert a boys' field to a girls' field," Steeneck said.

Walsh said he also was concerned about a lack of equality. "To me, it's all about equality. We've got to give these girls a home, and we have a place to do it," he said.

But the girls' Little League field had a few fastballs thrown its way.

Robert B. Bellitto Jr., a member of the Board of Finance, questioned why the girls' Little League couldn't have Veres Street Park, Osborn Hill School or Dwight School as a home field.

Lombardo said Veres Street Park was too close to odors from the town's sewage treatment plant and Osborn Hill School was used by boys' Little League and was a school property, not a town property, so permanent fencing couldn't be installed. Lombardo said Mill Hill School was closed when a boys' Little League field was created in back of the school.

Lombardo said Dwight School was primarily used by adult softball leagues and that the rec department schedules other programs there, such as soccer, though it would be available on the weekends.

The funding request for the girls' Little League field dropped from $400,000 to $350,000 because the town's Department of Public Works plans to do a lot of work associated with creating the field.

The estimated cost of the field, if a private contractor did all the work, was $459,162, according to a document reviewed by the Board of Finance Tuesday night. The most significant savings in having the DPW do work was estimated at $50,000 and fell under the category of earthwork and excavating, according to the document.

Girls' Little League would pay for a home run fence, irrigation, an ADA drinking fountain, players' benches, a pitching rubber, home plate, bases, bleachers, a press box and a scoreboard, all of which total $102,800.

"The Little League cost would be phased in as they raise the money. It would be done as they raise the funds," Lombardo said.

Work associated with the $350,000 includes demolishing a house on the property, removing trees, installing electricity and a well, building a restroom and creating the field, a new driveway, parking lot, septic tank and septic fields.

Flynn said creating only the Little League field would cost about $70,000. Lombardo said the $350,000 cost includes creating infrastructure for a park.

Lombardo indicated that the town could create more fields on the 9.42-acre property. "We think this is a location that can serve us now and into the future for a few more fields," he said.

After the meeting, Kirk Manley, one of 32 neighbors who signed a letter of opposition to the project, said, "Obviously, we're very disappointed. We feel it's the wrong decision and sends the wrong message to the other elected bodies that have cut monies from the budget, including education and other worthy budgets."

In their letter to the Board of Finance and RTM, opponents also said the town shouldn't spend money on an athletic field during a tough economy, the town-owned property was now available to everyone, instead of only a private organization, and the property was under the jurisdiction of the town's Conservation Commission.

However, the Conservation Commission recently voted to request that the Representative Town Meeting give jurisdiction of the property to the Parks and Recreation Commission.

The RTM is the last town body that votes on funding requests and also is the town body that determines how town-owned land is used.


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