Neighbors Voice Concerns About Old Farm Hill Ball Fields

By Steve Bigham

Terry LaCroce has nothing against baseball. In fact, her husband, Joe, a longtime Newtown resident, was a member of Newtown’s 14-15-year-old Babe Ruth baseball team that won the state title, back in 1980. But she is dead set against allowing the construction of three baseball diamonds in her neighborhood.

She and nearly 50 other residents of the Old Farm Hill Road area turned up at Tuesday night’s Parks & Recreation Commission meeting to voice their concerns. The Babe Ruth Association of Newtown is interested in building the fields on a 12-acre parcel of town-owned open space along this subdivision located between Echo Valley Road and Old Green Road.

“We needed fields. We found out this area had some designs for baseball fields in the past and we stepped up to the plate,” noted Babe Ruth vice president Bob Elias.

Residents, many of whom own $500,000 homes, fear the creation of ball fields in their neighborhood would bring in added traffic, create safety issues and change the character of the road. On Tuesday, several residents pointed out that the open space might not be suitable for fields. Their own findings indicate the presence of ground water and the area has a history of poor drainage with at least five homes having to install new septic systems. In addition, the residents claim the area was originally deeded “open space only” and was not intended for active usage.

Babe Ruth, which had several spokespersons on hand to answer questions, including President Dennis LaPak, plans to lease the land from the town, then fund all construction and maintenance costs. The organization was unable to dispute the residents’ environmental concerns. However, it does plan to hire professionals to test the soil.

“The town will not go forward with any lease agreement without a plan by people who are professionals in the field,” Parks & Recreation Commission Chairman Larry Haskell assured the crowd.

The residents of the Old Farm Hill Road area – people like Mike Rizzo, Bob Hughes and Bob Geambazi – have done their homework and have held several neighborhood meetings. As of this week, the group had collected some 500 signatures as part of its petition drive to protest the Babe Ruth proposal.

The neighborhood’s statement above the petition called for a better master plan and reads, “Random, inappropriate development of town facilities in remote neighborhoods creates a haphazard recreational systems, which fits town needs poorly, negatively impacts immediate residents, creates dense hazardous traffic on secondary roadways, and inconveniences users.”

Many of those who signed the petition do not even live in the area. They are people who fear their subdivision will be the next candidate for ball fields. Developers are responsible for setting aside 10 percent open space for town use.

“Any new subdivision that comes in runs the risk of having ball fields,” noted Dori Carolan of 22 Horseshoe Ridge Road.

This particular area had been earmarked as a possible site for ball fields as far back as 1990, and maybe even as far back as 21 years ago when developer Hank O’Neil first proposed the project.

“The master plan contained ball fields. It was always going to be ball fields,” noted First Selectman Herb Rosenthal. “There was talk of a swimming pool, tennis courts and soccer fields up there.”

In 1990, the Board of Selectmen turned the property over to the Parks & Recreation Department for active recreation.

“Everybody agrees we need more playing fields and here’s a plan that for 21 years has always had the potential of having ball fields there,” Mr Rosenthal said. “We may find that once we do testing, it’s not suitable.”

According to the first selectman, a former Planning & Zoning Commission chairman, the late Art Spector, insisted that the subdivision include ball fields when the development was proposed.

“I’m now hearing that Hank O’Neil has said the land is not suitable for ball fields. If that’s the case, he misled the town,” Mr Rosenthal said. “We’re not trying to force this on anybody, but certainly there have been other ball fields built in residential areas, and they’ve been fine.”

Babe Ruth representatives admitted the Old Farm Hill Road site is not their first choice, but it may be the only choice. Leaders from several local sports groups have proposed a 40-acre complex at Fairfield Hills, the former state mental health institution currently for sale by the state. The town is now laying the groundwork for the purchase the 186-acre campus, but Mr Rosenthal has indicated that 40 acres is far too much land for sports fields there.

“If you think we should have centralized fields at Fairfield Hills go to the meetings and let your voice be heard,” Mr Elias said.

Tuesday’s meeting was held in the Newtown Middle School auditorium.