P&Z To Review Field Proposal

By Jan Howard

The Board of Selectmen recently approved a referral to the Planning and Zoning Commission on behalf of a Parks and Recreation proposal for reconstruction of a playing field on a four-acre site at the intersection of Mile Hill Road and Oak View Road.

State Statute 8-24 requires that municipal improvements, such as to a playing field, be referred to the Planning and Zoning Commission for a report. The commission has 35 days in which to act. The commission is expected to act on the referral at its October 2 meeting, according to the commission’s secretary, Ann Mazur.

According to First Selectman Herb Rosenthal, the property will be conveyed to the town when the contract to purchase the Fairfield Hills campus is signed with the state. In addition to the campus and the playing field, 37.5 acres on Commerce Road and 21 acres at Deep Brook will be conveyed to the town at the time the contract is signed.

Mr Rosenthal said the field has been used for many years by the Parks and Recreation Department and the high school, but has never been constructed as a ball field. “It is not level and not drained well,” he said.

Once the field is reconstructed, it will be easier and less costly to maintain, he noted. The town’s water line runs to the field so it can be properly irrigated.

“It will be heavily used,” Mr Rosenthal said. “This will get the process started.”

He said funding has been allocated in the budget to redo the field.