With heavy excavating equipment working on town property adjacent to Bunnell High School, and with no formal plan for altering the land in the files of the Planning and Zoning Department, Stratford Director of Public Works Maurice McCarthy told the Planning Commission on Tuesday that the town’s intention is to level the land and plant grass so the land can be used as a playing field by the school and by other town sports groups.
McCarthy spoke in response to Commission Chairman Chris Silhavey’s invitation to answer questions in public at the Planning Commission meeting July 15.
The land being worked on is on the north side of Connors Lane. It was acquired by the town from the Pirhala family in 2002, along with land on the south side of Connors Lane, which is being used for a community garden and other farm-like purposes.
McCarthy said that, while Public Works was in the area to replace an earthen berm to protect neighbors from water runoff, the town chose also to “clean the area up.” He told The Star that the town administration asked him to do the work to prepare the land for athletic field use.
McCarthy described the field work as providing fill and topsoil for a field, leveling it and planting grass. He told the Planning Commission that there would be no permanent fixtures — no irrigation, no lights, no bleachers.
Planning and Zoning Administrator Gary Lorentson told the meeting that the memorandum in the file suggesting that the town wishes to make a soccer playing field came with no explanation from the Recreation Department or from any schools athletic director about the demand for playing space and how this field use might precisely address the issue.
“This whole project has seen very little information, and that is troublesome to me,” Lorentson said.
The need
Bunnell High School Principal Dudley Orr told The Star that his view is that the best use for the fields — both north and south of Connors Lane — is for community purposes, and that he has “never had designs on that area.”
It was unclear at press time if recommendations to use the Connors Lane land for multi-purpose, student-community agricultural purposes included the space that is now intended for a sports field.
Sixth District Councilman Ken Poisson addressed questions from Lorentson and Commissioner Ann-Alice Baker during the meeting about the need for a playing field on Connors Lane.
Poisson said that “Bunnell would get first dibs” on the use of a new playing field on Connors Land, but then other town organizations, such as youth soccer, would be allowed to use the field just as all school fields are usable by non-school groups.
“There is a lack of practice area in this town,” Poisson said. “What is really missing in this town is rectangular grass fields” for soccer, football, lacrosse and rugby.
He said that in his role on the Town Council’s Park and Recreation Committee he frequently hears requests for fields for practice. “More room to spread these teams out would be great,” said Poisson.
Baker said it is her impression that Bunnell and Stratford high schools have enough field space, and that she has heard complaints from Connors Lane neighbors about the recent removal of trees around the proposed playing field.
Lorentson and Silhavey asked Poisson to help the process by obtaining formal information from athletics and recreation people in town describing supply and demand for field space.
Silhavey asked the town attorney to advise the commission on whether or not the property, now proposed for a playing field, has any use restrictions tied to it, since the Town Council approved the acquisition 12 years ago.
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Soil work is underway at town land on the north side of Connors Lane, adjacent to Bunnell High School, on July 15, the same day that the Department of Public Works explained to the Planning Commission that it is “the town’s intention” to make the space into a playing field for various organizations to use. Greg Reilly photo.