To the Editor:

I would like to encourage voters to approve the pickleball court project planned for the Fairfield Hills campus. Having served on the Parks & Recreation Commission for close to 20 years, on very few occasions have so many members of the community contacted Parks & Recreation to voice the need for a new facility.

Back in 2015, in response to numerous requests, Parks & Recreation repurposed a tennis court at Treadwell Park and retrofitted two additional tennis courts with pickleball lines. However, soon thereafter tennis and pickleball players expressed frustration over heightened competition for shared space at Treadwell Park. As a result, by 2016, Parks & Recreation had installed portable pickleball nets and painted lines at an old parking lot on the FFH campus. Considered to be a temporary, less than ideal solution (imagine the hazards of curbs and storm drains to players), the pickleball project became part of the Parks & Recreation Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) in 2017.

Fast forward to 2019, and the pickleball project is now Parks & Recreations’ most urgent priority, scheduled for the first year of the CIP approved by the Legislative Council earlier this year. In fact, it’s the only Parks & Recreation CIP project to be funded through bonding over the next five years. Some additional facts about the project: Plan is to construct four courts on FFH campus in area between existing baseball fields and the community center. Preconstruction site work will be done in‐house by P&R staff. A contractor specializing in post tension concrete construction will be selected to complete the installation of courts. Courts will be warrantied for 20 years, with expected useful life of up to 30 years.

Thanks to a $25,000 gift pledged by a private donor, the original project cost of $290,000 has been trimmed by almost nine percent. Additional savings of up to seven percent are possible as a result of recent changes in prevailing wage laws. At the current cost of $265,000, this project comprises only .5 percent of the $50 million in total bonding for CIP projects in Newtown’s current plan through fiscal year 2023-24.

On Tuesday, I would encourage voters to consider this project in the context of the other spending projects on the ballot. I think most will agree that, based both on the need for the facility and the cost in comparison to other CIP projects, the pickleball court project will bring exponential benefits to Newtown and the Fairfield Hills campus.

I am chairman of Newtown Parks & Recreation Commission, but these are my personal views.

Thank you for your consideration.

Edward J. Marks

3 Sweet Meadow Road, Newtown         April 16, 2019