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MINUTES
WATERTOWN TOWN COUNCIL
PUBLIC HEARING
POLK SCHOOL LIBRARY
MONDAY, JANUARY 7, 2002, 7:00 P.M.
PRESENT: Elaine Adams
Lee Archer, Chairman (arrived at 7:05 p.m.)
Raymond Hebert, Vice Chairman
Robert Kane
Jean King
Raymond Primini
Paul Rinaldi
Richard Wick
ABSENT: Paul Valenti
OTHERS PRESENT: Charles Frigon, Interim Town Manager
1. Convene Public Hearing - 7:00 P.M.
Mr. Hebert, Vice Chairman, called the Public Hearing to order at 7:02 p.m.
Mr. Hebert, Vice Chairman, read aloud the following Notice of the Public Hearing for the record:
NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING
Watertown, Connecticut
The Watertown Town Council will hold a Public Hearing on Monday, January 7, 2002 at 7:00 p.m. in the Polk School Library, 435 Buckingham Street, in Oakville, Connecticut to hear comments from the public concerning recreational open space needs for the Town.
Dated at Watertown, Connecticut this 21st day of December, 2001.
Charles T. OConnor, Jr.
Town Manager
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Watertown Town Council
Public Hearing
January 7, 2002
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RETURN OF NOTICE
TOWN OF WATERTOWN
NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING
I HEREBY CERTIFY that on December 21, 2001 I left a duplicate copy of the attached Notice of Public Hearing, Town of Watertown, Connecticut with Dolores LaRosa its Town Clerk.
I further certify that on December 27, 2001, I caused a copy of said Notice of Public Hearing to be published in the Town Times, which newspaper has a substantial circulation in said Town.
I further certify that on December 21, 2001, I caused to be set upon the signpost or other exterior places nearest the Office of the Town Clerk and all other places and signposts designated by the Town, a written copy of said Notice of Public Hearing signed by the Town Manager of the Town of Watertown.
I further certify that all of the above acts were done at least five (5) days before the holding of the Public Hearing on January 7, 2002.
Dated at Watertown, Connecticut this 21st day of December, 2001.
Charles T. OConnor, Jr.
Town Manager
TOWN CLERKS CERTIFICATION AS TO
NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING AND RETURN OF NOTICE
I hereby certify that the attached Notice of Public Hearing and Notice of the foregoing Return of Notice of Public Hearing are duly recorded in the records of the Town of Watertown, Connecticut, and that Charles T. OConnor, Jr. was Town Manager on the date the Notice and Return of Notice were signed.
Dated at Watertown, Connecticut this 27th day of December, 2001.
Dolores LaRosa, Town Clerk
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Watertown Town Council
Public Hearing
January 7, 2002
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2. Public Participation
Mr. Hebert: With that being said, Ill open up the Public Hearing to Public Participation.
Jim Zawadzki, 1191 Bassett Road, Watertown, CT 06795
Mr. Zawadzki read aloud a letter, attached as Addendum A1 through A3.
Judy Wick, 1051 Northfield Road, Watertown, CT 06795
Ms. Wick: I think that the New York Times, this Sunday in the Real Estate Section, Id like to bring to the Councils attention, Small Town Feeling Attracts Growth; "Development is accelerating along the Interstate 84 corridor in the semi-rural towns of Southbury and Middlebury, but the burys are worried about attracting too many newcomers" (attached as Addendum B). Just to summarize, the article basically talks about the growth, the pressures from Fairfield County, the fact that new industry, new commercial ventures coming into the communities bring with them more housing development, as Jim has already said, and that leads to other pressures. I think the fact is, you cant buy your way out of the kind of economic growth that we have been facing, and the only way that you can protect the community and protect what you may consider important for your way of life is through the purchase of open spaceto be used for either passive or active recreation. I think in the past, I know that money has been put in the budget every year, and it seems to be the first thing to go, and I would like to request that it be set at the bottom of the list for things to go, because in the long run it is what will save this Town, will save us money, and will save our community. Thank you.
Kai Leszkowicz, 53 Cutler Knoll, Watertown, CT 06795
Mr. Leszkowicz: Since were talking about recreation and land, the skateboarders are still looking for an area. So far all we have is a parking lot, and were still looking for you, the Town Council, to help us find land. We already came to you about looking into the insurance and how we would handle that, and thats still a problem. You guys have been recommended by the old Town Manager not to continue looking into it, and we feel that now that its time youre looking for open land and thinking about recreation along with it, that if its a possibility that youre going to put a park in, you might as well look at the skateboarding too. Were still are looking for a place where we can practice our ability, and like bring our levels up, instead of just still being stuck and told we cant skateboard anywhere.
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Watertown Town Council
Public Hearing
January 7, 2002
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Cliff Jones, 22 bower Street, Oakville, CT 067779
Mr. Jones: I just thought I would take a few moment to give you a slant on what its like to be involved with Baseball in this Town. For the last 9 years Ive been coaching Baseball with the Water Athletic Club. We try to be very competitive. The Park and Rec Department, they do a terrific job of dividing the fields up evenly, but to give you an idea of what were up against, I coached 11 & 12 year olds, we had 3 games a week, and we had the field for three 3 hour time slots. Koufax Team, 13 and 14 year olds, we play 4 games a week, and we only had the field for 3 time slots. My Mickey Mantle Team last year, for 15 and 16 year olds, we played 5 games a week and we had no field because of Deland, which was no ones fault at this time, but its just that theres not enough fields. We would get the kids in our cars, and drive around Waterbury looking for an open field to practice. And these kids are very dedicated. They won three league championships in threedifferent age groups and I think its a shame that you have to get the parents together, meet in a parking lot, hop in a few cars, and drive to a neighboring town to get a field to play on, and sometimes we wouldnt find a field, we would just give up about 7:30, and go home.
Now I know Deland is ready to get started this year. To give you an idea of what were up against down there, the Legion Team will pay 4 or 5 games a week. Youve got to figure thats 2 to 3 home games. The Mantle Team will play 4 games a week, thats 2 home games. The Little League people have 2 Senior Babe Ruth teams, I dont know their schedule, but you have to assume theyre going to be playing 2 to 4 home games a week. There are 7 Babe Ruth teams, and I dont know how many games theyre going to play. Now I dont know where all this field time is going to come form. Theres only 7 days a week and theres no practice times.
To give you an idea of what were up against with the fields, to the casual observer to drive by our fields, youd think, well theyre in good shape, whats the problem? If you get out of your car and walk across Swift field, its unsafe. The same trough has been around third base now for 6 years. Theres always a hole at home plate. The grass is always too tall. My daughter played Softball the last couple of years, we had teams from Stratford drive all the way up here on a Sunday night and look at us and say, what is this? We came all the way up here to play on this field? Theyre unsafe. We look at Veterans. Our guys do a terrific job keeping Veterans as best they can, but theres no water up there. In the middle of July theres an inch of dust, and underneath that is concrete. The kids cant play. You cant even drive a peg for a base into Veterans Field inJuly to hold the base down. The backstops are too close, theyre too small. I just think its a shame. Thank you.
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Watertown Town Council
Public Hearing
January 7, 2002
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George Palomba, 37 Norway Street, Oakville, CT 06779
Mr. Palomba: I represent Groves Girls Softball. Im in the same scenario that Cliff is in. We have a permit at Swift for Tuesday nights, and those fields havent been maintained in 4 years, and every time we go down there and try to maintain it, well get thrown off or someone calls the cops on us and stuff like that, and thats our problem. We dont have any fields to play on, and they dont maintain the fields that we have. Thank you.
Gary Lafferty, 191 Tucker Avenue, Oakville, CT 06779
Mr. Lafferty: Ive been in this Town for a long time. Its more than doubled in size, in population, since Ive been here, and all we ever got was Veterans Park. We lost the use of one of the fields behind Judson School and lost the use of Mosgrove at night time for the girls, or they took away the lights and all that, for insurance purposes, and I just think that you know, the way its grown, we definitely need more open space for recreation. Thanks.
June Legge, 161 Oak Drive, Watertown, CT 06795
Ms. Legge read aloud a letter, attached as Addendum C1.
Bill Donston, 105 Dunrobin Lane, Watertown, CT 06795
Mr. Donston: Thank you for the opportunity to speak. Although open space in the future is certainly something we need to discuss, the present is more foreboding. If we continue to put things together, maintain fields like we do now, then any future open space is a waste of your time, money, and energy. We dont properly maintain the things, and they go downhill. And I agree with the troughs over on Swift field. Simple fix there is a drain right there at the bottom of the concrete stairs. It doesnt effectively work because of years of dirt being pushed out by runners on third base, create that mound where the water is now dammed and it is aimed at home plate, and it continually erodes until it goes down the driveway and out towards the V.F.W. Club. Its an easy fix. Could have been fixed by the people of the Town, until they were chased away. Two years ago studentsfor a Freshman game were chased off the field. Certainly I dont want to take any work away from a Union member in Town, but obviously the Union members cant handle the insides and the outsides adequately with their staffing levels. We have to be honest about it. We cut back, people arent replaced, theres military leaves, theres leaves of absence, and everything else that goes along with running a business. Do we also have in our contract, when a Union cant fulfill its obligations, that this Board and the Board of Education has the right to go to the outside and complete those tasks, yet we dont.
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We hassle back and forth; the Board of Ed wants to turn it over to the Town, the Town is thinking about it, and another year will go by and nothing will be done cause were going to go back and forth. Its about time to get our Town Attorney to flip through some pages to find out just what the contractual obligations are. Again, I dont want to hurt a Union man, but if theyre not able to fulfill their tasks and do it, then we need to get them help. Parents will not let the kids of this Town suffer.
I was able to coach Fall baseball this year, in the Babe Ruth League, the 16 to 18 year olds, which for the first time in many years is anything that weve done for that age group, 16 to 18, so were expanding and trying to cover not only the groups that exist, adding ones for our kids. And I saw the collective parents giving kids rides, cause we travel down to Hamden several times and we had some long hauls, and not a kid was left at a field cause he didnt have a ride, and I saw some beat up fields. Watertown is not the only ones. Hamden, down at the High School, left something to be desired. I also saw some good complexes, B.F.C. in Beacon Falls, and I talked to these coaches, and how do they maintain them, a lot of it is left up to them. They get there early with rakes. Ill tell you right now, I havent been threatened at Swift, I havent been thrown off the field, but I have raked that fieldbecause I will not let a player on any one of my teams step on a field that I dont feel, as the quote was "unsafe", and I agree with that quote; with the trenches. Earlier this year the Babe Ruth organization went down early on a Saturday when we didnt have a game, and most of the coaching staffs got together and tried to weed Swifts field, to help it out. We raked around the mounds. It didnt benefit just Babe Ruth, it benefited everybody else. We saw George Palomba and the Softball crowd, maintained the two fields down there, benefited them and anybody else that wants to use them.
My proposal tonight is let the parents and the organizations in this Town pick up the slack. I can guarantee I speak for every single one of them, would be more than willing to help maintain the fields and get them back into shape so we can use them all, and consequently we dont have a legal field in the Babe Ruth organization where we can sponsor tournaments, which brings money into Watertown; people using our stores, people using our eating facilities. We cant host anything cause we dont have a legal field, which goes back to the last point I want to make. With the open space, what engineers and what planners are going to control what goes on? Deland Field, if anybody takes a good look, has a beautiful brand new backstop, it was put exactly where the old one was The only problem was, that backstop was specifically designed to catch foul balls from home plate. I want to see how many balls thatbackstop is going to catch being 50 feet behind home plate. Those are the types of wasteful things that we need to look ahead of time, because in the long run the Town, the Board of Education and the Town Council has to come up with other funds.
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The aluminum fences that were put up down at Swift, up at Judson, I mean, lets be honest, maybe aluminum is okay for your back yards wheres theres not a lot of kids hanging around, where youre there to watch your yards. It was probably the cheapest quote, oh lets go with this, we got the fences up, yea, were happy, and down the road we go. Most of them all have to be replaced; theyre aluminum; theyre falling apart. Theyre a hazard for the kids. Aluminum pole breaks, smacks a kid in the head, now were up for a lawsuit. It should have been originally built out of stainless steel like the backstops are. Those are the types of things we need to look at in the future. Thank you for your time.
Tom Lacaria, 163 Oak Drive, Watertown, CT 06795
Mr. Lacaria: Im speaking on behalf of Water/Oak Pop Warner. Im the Vice President. Ive been involved for the last 4 years and were in dire need of fields. When I got into the program 3 years ago we had about 100 kids; were up to 300. When we begin practice in August, the only facility we have to practice for 300 children is up at the High School. We use that, I guess its the Girls Softball field, and then we had access to the back field, but I guess it was getting dug up from our practices, whatever, but we lost access to that. What weve had to do on our own is actually upgrade the SNET fields, where we go in September, cause as it gets dark earlier, the kids play a pretty competitive schedule so they still need to get their 2 hours in at least 3 days a week, so we go down to the SNET field. Now the City does do a good job as far as mowing, but as far as upgrades,weve had to pay for the lighting down there, weve had to pay to take down trees, cause the trees were overgrown and really pay to push back the brush. We also went to the Knights of Columbus and theyve given us access, for 3 years, to a field there. We had to develop the field and pay for the lighting and we have to pay for the maintenance.
So as that gentleman said earlier, weve been able to do that as an organization. Its just that with the amount of children we have, we just dont have enough fields, and I dont know what were going to do this year. If we explode again, I dont know, were going to have to turn kids away, and thats the worst thing to do when youre dealing with recreation. So Im hoping that if we do go out and buy open land, at least a good portion is given back to the Town, cause I tell you that with all the teams that participate on a competitive level, we dont have enough lighted fields for early Spring or Fall. I mean, weve been able to get it done on our own, but I know Baseball struggles with that and so does Soccer. So those are just things to consider in the future. Thank you.
Peter Tomsheck, 457 Davis Street, Oakville, Ct 06779
Mr. Tomsheck: I am representing a new organization in Town, the Watertown Lacrosse Association. We played our first schedule last year. We had all away games. We picked up all the costs ourselves, insurance, everything else was paid for by the children. We would like to have some home games this year in Town. We play all over the State, from as far away as Fairfield to as close as Southbury and Newtown, but all our games were travel games.
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Watertown Town Council
Public Hearing
January 7, 2002
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I have coached Little League in this Town, I was the coach for the Girls Tennis Team at the High School last year, and what all these people are saying is true. The money that is being spent needs to be looked at, where its being spent, how its being spent. Mrs. Legge brought up the point at the High School level, that the parents are supporting a lot of these teams. The parents are willing to give time energy and money toward their childrens recreation. They should be allowed to, and they would pick up a lot of the slack that apparently nobody, that the ball keeps getting passed back and forth on as to whos accountability and to whos responsibility it is to maintain these fields properly, and they are getting beat up because of overuse. Several people have brought up the fact that theyre used morning, noon, and night, and you have to ride around. We have held practices in the parkinglot back here of this school on blacktop for our team, and well take any little field that we can find for our Lacrosse Boys, and were talking 10 to 14 year olds, and we would like to possibly take the program up to the High School.
Hopefully all of the comments mentioned tonight will be taken under advisement by the Council. I know you cant waive a magic wand and magically have new fields appear and recreational facilities, but I believe the people of the Town would like to see something going in that direction. Thank you.
Pat Regan, 783 Bunker Hill Road, Watertown, CT 06795
Ms. Regan: Both my husband and I are Park and Rec Directors. Im a former right now. We have seen what happens when you dont expand your fields. Its very concerning that were going to hit the wall at some point when we do have to do some renovation work on existing fields, and that indeed is going to push us backwards, because were going to have to shut some down, and kids re not going to have a place to play. If we dont have alternatives and a plan so that we can move people around to maintain our existing fields while adding additional fields, theyre not going to be worth anything in the end, and we are indeed going to have less fields because theyre going to become unplayable. They are overused and they are abused.
Everyone speaks of the same thing. You know, we dont want to spend the money on open space and ball fields, and yet you cant find a facility in Town thats not being used. Ill bet you on a daily basis, if you took rounds of play like they do at golf, youd have upwards of 50,000 people a year on our fields. It may be the same Johnny Jones playing Soccer and Baseball, but the grass doesnt really, it doesnt make a difference to the grass whos on top of it. Somebody is trampling on top of it. We are in support of expanding our ball fields, our recreation facilities, including more facilities besides just active ball fields. Wed also like to see more conservation. We have to be concerned that not only active space, but we do need passive space. We need to hold on to our habitats and we need to plan appropriately. Thank you very much.
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Watertown Town Council
Public Hearing
January 7, 2002
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Mary Sklanka, 981 Bassett Road, Watertown, CT 06795
Ms. Sklanka: As a taxpayer and lifelong resident of Oakville and Watertown, the first thing that I would like to see happen is for the Town to repair the Watertown High School Track. As a parent, it was so discouraging to see so many of our track athletes with injuries these past couple of years. Its a shame that our kids give their all to do their best for their team, but are repeatedly injured by the pounding they take during practices and meets on the warn asphalt track. Not helping their teams morale, either, was traveling to away meets to competing schools with beautiful rubberized tracks. Of course these opposing teams do not have as many injuries and are able to give peak performances in league championships and State finals. This is unlike the Watertown High team, who have to heal and recover from recurrent shin splints, ankle, knee, and hip injuries. All this in addition tothe fact that hundreds of Town residents, from the elderly to our special citizens, use the track and should have a safe surface to walk and run on. State Representative Brian Flaherty and Senator Lou DeLuca support a new track at Watertown High and I encourage the Town to take advantage of this opportunity (Tape #1, Side A ended missed some).
Im also a parent to a High School Soccer player. I would love for my child to play on and at the High School field in the Mills Athletic Complex. The Girls Varsity Team presently plays their home games at Veterans Park, which is lovely, but unfortunately poorly designed in some respects. Anyone who has been to watch Soccer games at field #2 knows that if you do not sit near the midfield line, you cannot see the action near the south goal, because of how the field slopes downward. Also, if the Town acquires more property to alleviate the shortage of soccer fields, enough land should be obtained so that the fields can be transversed yearly to allow regrowth in areas worn by heavy play. Also, without irrigation systems and fertilization plans, the fields never stay in top condition for long. These maintenance measures should be considered in any future plans.
Some areas that I hope the Town will look into as available space is the old Watertown Drive-In off Route 8. Its relatively flat and riverside, this area could be transformed into an attractive athletic complex. It would be easy for out of towners to locate, and wouldnt interfere with any neighborhoods. I would love to see the needed Soccer fields and Baseball fields there, and then the Town recruit some athletic related business, such as those touristy mini golf courses, indoor tennis and racquetball courts, in this same area. What Straits Turnpike is to car dealerships, Watertowns Section of Route 8 can become an athletic complex extraordinaire, attracting visitors from across the State and bringing revenue to our Town. These may seem far fetched, but not impossible. For instance, a recent newspaper article stated that Quassy wants to build a Water Park in Middlebury, but they are meetingresistance from their Townspeople. Why dont we approach them and let them know that Route 8 in Watertown may be a perfect spot for their Water Park? Who knows what might happen?
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Watertown Town Council
Public Hearing
January 7, 2002
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And one last suggestion. There is a commercial piece of property for sale by Drubner Industrials on Northfield Road, just before the entrance to Crestbrook Park. Its a large domed building that was previously occupied by the Watertown Construction Company, storing their equipment, and although Ive never been inside, I think the building is relatively open inside and would make a great indoor Soccer facility. The building is situated on 4 acres of land, which gives ample room for parking. How nice it would be for our Towns many Soccer athletes to maintain and perfect their skills year long.
Well you asked for my ideas and here they are. They may seem out of reach, but are they really? Nothing worthwhile is every easy. Thank you.
Vin Giannetto, 38 Breezy Knoll Drive, Watertown, Ct 06795
Mr. Giannetto: Im the past President of the W.A.Y.S. Soccer Organization. Unfortunately, the President who is going to probably talk today, the newly elected president got held up, so although I wasnt prepared, I just jotted down a few notes just to inform you of our feelings. I cant agree much more with the people who already got up here and discussed the safety of the field. We all know it. Ill reiterate a couple of things that they said, and add some things to it.
We all know that playing on Vets 2, the Soccer field in the back, as the person prior to me discussed, you have to make sure you stand in the middle of the field to see the kids. Of course, youre running up one end and down the other side when youre playing that field, and thats pretty much true of Vets 1 as well. But another issue of safety down there is the wet area down the far end of the field opposite the parking area. Thats perennially wet and we take care, in fact, on wet weekends we walk the fields to make sure that its not so wet that we dont cancel games or find out that its so unsafe that we have to cancel games. And I understand, I think, some of that is supposed to be repaired this year as part of the funding thats been set aside. I hope it does get taken care of, that whole field.
Judson Field no different than Swift. Nobody mentioned that, but there are enough sink holes in Judson to lose kids sometimes. The Baseball fields, which are also part of that field, have entrenched areas at one end, on both ends, but the end that mates with the field and that certainly also becomes a safety problem, especially where you see the base path from the mound to home plate. I shouldnt say the base path, but the path from the mound to home plate, thats particularly deep. Last year we were able to convince some of the people responsible to help us fix that field and bring some dirt down there to fill in. Maybe I shouldnt say this, but we were allowed to do that with some assistance with some of the Town workers, just to make it fairly safe for the kids to play there.
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Watertown Town Council
Public Hearing
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What we do at Veterans field is, because and especially in the past, since there was no water on Veterans 1, we used to walk up and down, especially in the goal areas because they were bare, and just remove stones, because there was such a danger in that area because its highly played on and thats the area where the goalie goes down and a lot of people go down while trying to score goals, and often times many of these kids, and you can see it more often with the High School kids cause they play more aggressive, would come up bloody from the sharp jagged edges of the stones. Once again we had a lot of our coaches and even kids walk up and down the field, get stones, throw them to the side. Certainly, once again, unsafe. Veterans, somebodys already mentioned that quite a bit before, and wholly agree there as well.
Talk a little bit about growth in our program. Three years ago, before I was elected President, we had about 500 kids who played in the Fall program, and depending on how many travel teams went out, could be 100, 125 kids who played, actually, excuse me, that included the travel program. In the Spring we had just the travel programs going on, and once again, depending on how many travel teams, that could be 100, 125 kids for the Spring season range. In the past 3 years we now have 550 kids who play in the Fall, and roughly 500 kids who played this past Spring. Its tremendous growth, and thats just in the past 3 years, and not counting for the kids who play both seasons, thats about a 70% to 80% growth in the number of kids in 3 years, because part of the reason we instituted a recreation program for the Spring for those kids who want to continue playing Soccer or those kids who didnt want to play Softballor Baseball. It gave them another avenue, something else, another sport to play. A lot of these kids play both sports.
So do we need more fields yea, because last Fall we had, I believe if I can recollect the numbers, we had 32 recreation teams and 6 travel teams just for the Fall. What this did or what it does when you have the High School playing on the same fields were playing on, especially, I should say Veterans Park, is it limits the number of games we can play; one per team, per week essentially, and one practice per team, per week, and we split the fields and sometimes there are 3 teams on a field, where one team would have one half, the other team the other half. Thats the only way we can support it. Before September 1st, and even after September 1st, many of the teams go down to Black Rock to practice, simply to get more practices in, especially for the travel teams because these are the more competitive teams and they want to practice 2 or 3 times per week, just dont have the space. It became such a problem that we actually had to assign somebody on our Board to draft a schedule for practice on fields, so you cannot show up at a time that you werent allowed to be on that field, and it was only, once again, once per week.
Watertown Town Council
Public Hearing
January 7, 2002
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We used to have games during the week, but since, once again, were restricted by field time, we had to let these people or teams practice, and the only time to let them practice is during the week. Of course were not allowed to use Veterans Field or any of the Board of Ed fields until after 5:00 during weekdays, and on weekends were allowed to use the Board of Ed from dawn to dusk on weekends. In the Spring that becomes a particular problem when we have as many kids play, were only allowed to use Veterans Park, of course, and the Board of Ed fields on weekends only because of Baseball naturally. Theyre playing on most of the fields, and Sundays were allowed to use the High School, I think, and thats about it, so it really has restricted the growth or the advancement of kids who really want to play Soccer, and play Soccer well or advance. We call touches on the ball as a primary way or primarydescription to advance. The more touches on the ball, the better youre going to get. Were getting fewer touches on the ball because we have limited field space, and the way were continuing to grow, were going to have fewer touches on the ball, and more problems.
In fact, our 5 year olds, we had so many calls in the past 2 years for 5 year olds to join what we call Little World Cup Program, which we only hold in the Spring because we cant really support it as well in the Fall. 5 year old kids have been going to Middlebury to play in their program, because we only took the 6 and 7 years olds. We now, for the first time last year, took 5 and 6 years olds. Were going to try, if we have field space, to get 5 and 6 year olds to play this Fall too, because weve been asked by so many people to allow them to play, because we generally start Fall programs at 7 years old for the recreation programs. So were going to look closely at whats available to us, and right now the only field, I believe, thats available to us is Unico field, or fields I should say.
Three years ago when we walked across that field we had nothing but, from dirt and grub eaten fields, until we took, we committed as a Board to take money from the registrations, and start pumping it into those fields. I shouldnt say pump because it was a limited amount of money. We spend about 7% of our registration fee right now on Unico Field. That comes directly out of the registration fee, directly out of the pockets of the parents who pay for the registrations. It doesnt come from the Town. In fact, it would probably be more, but we found somebody to cut the grass for us down there for nothing. He donates his time, his machine, and gas and everything else, and were grateful to him. But if anybody who followed Soccer or was down at Unico Field 3 years ago and goes down there today, youll see a remarkable difference in the way its been maintained.
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The way that we maintain it is we only use 2 fields out of the 3 at any one season. We rotate the fields and each season were able to reseed and re-loom and rake a little bit and its probably, for us, its certainly the best fields in this Town for play, at a critical age of kids that play down there, are 7 through, predominantly 7 through 10, and we actually bought some new goals own there to allow some of our younger travel teams to play down there as well, cause were governed by the district, by the State, actually, as to what size goals are required to play travel, so we bought new goals down there too, so we can move our younger travel teams down there to play on that shortened field because we were never able to really rely on Vets 2 all the time where we used to play across the field. We actually used to rotate those fields as well, from the back of Vets 2 to the front of Vets 2 so we wouldnt wear the fieldsdown in any one season. And we tried to stay away from Vets 2 in the rainiest part of the year because of the problem with the drainage down the far end.
The fact that we have so many teams in our program, along with working, or along with sharing those with the High School teams really puts a burden on not only the time or the usage of the field, but the caliber of the field, because you cannot obviously continue to play on this field around the clock, 7 days a week, without taking care of it. There are times when Mrs. Legge would call me and say, oh, by the way, we need to change some field times because at any one time our agreement with Board of Ed is simply that were allowed to use the Board of Ed fields unless the Board of Ed needs them, okay, to play games, so there have been times, Ms. Legge knows, where they have called and we tried to accommodate them as best we can. Actually we have no choice. Shes been very great about this, calling us, she could just say, hey, were taking the fields, thats all there is to it, and that would throw pretty much a wholeday out of our program.
Last Fall we were fortunate; very little rain. We didnt have a lot of games to make up, but any season we could reduce our games each season from about 8 to 6, okay, its not a lot of time. With that said, were certainly very much in favor of expansion, new fields, and the care of the fields that we already have. Thank you.
Larry Chicarello, 1020 Guernseytown Road, Watertown, CT 06795
Mr. Chicarello: I have been in Town about 10, 12 years now and Ive coached in Town for about the last 8 years, been involved with W.A.Y.S., with Vinnie, and the Water/Oak Little League, and everything that has been said up here tonight is absolutely true. You know, I agree with it. The fields are, without a doubt, unsafe. Ive raked rocks with Vinnie, Ive cut grass for my kids Little League games, and I put the mower back in my truck so no one would see it when we played the game, Ive filled holes, and the fields, as far as Im concerned, when I bring my team to these fields, are deplorable. When you go to other towns, on a travel team, and you see some of the nice facilities that they have.
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Watertown Town Council
Public Hearing
January 7, 2002
Page 14
However, Im appreciative that youre listening to us tonight, but the cynic in me, that realizes that were really going through the motions here, unless you, the Town Council, looks at the way this Town has done business over the last few years. We are not managing our fields correctly, were not managing our budget correctly. You have an organization in Town that probably wont speak out against any of this tonight that will ultimately get a budget rejected, and when the time comes to cut, when you stack recreation up against education, against Town Halls, against infrastructure, recreation, you know, is going to take a big hit. We have to change the way we do business in this Town. You need to have a plan in terms of how youre going to fix everything, not just recreation. My fear is that we put a band aid on the system. You know, a few years ago when you started to fix Deland Field, it had aripple effect. Vinnie and I found ourselves begging a farmer to let us use their fields because what was happening was that Veterans was so overused, and Unico was so overused, that we needed other fields so that we wouldnt wear out those fields. Unfortunately, at the last moment, we couldnt get him to commit to us, but you need to have a plan for the whole Town. We put a new school up the road without looking at the K-12 system, so now when we go to ask about remodeling Swift or doing things like that we have problems selling that. Theres no way that youre going to convince people in this Town that open space is something that we need, unless you look at a larger plan and tell them down the road what it is were going to spend money on, and where the priorities are.
Its pretty obvious we have thousands of kids in any season who play in our leagues. Thats why were here tonight for the kids, and unless you keep that in the forefront of your mind, I think this just becomes something that we spin our wheels with, with a new party every two years, and we get very little distance. I worry, because up the road from me 70 acres are for sale; open land, but I fear that probably 30 houses will go on that 70 acres, when what we should be doing is looking at that 70 acres and saying, what can we do in terms of open space? We need a large plan for this Town, otherwise well never move forward.
Robert Pendisha, 92 Carter Street, Oakville, Ct 06779
Mr. Pendisha: I am the Treasurer for the Girls Rapids Oakville/Watertown Softball. Ive been in Town here for about 10 years now, and just to ask a question from the people here in the audience and here in the room, who saw the UConn/Tennessee game this weekend? Did anybody see the UConn/Tennessee game? (Several people raised their hands). Actually I think we all know a lot of girls and women are playing sports now. A lot of women and girls. Vinnie, you could probably attest to that; Little league, people from the little League. We now have an organization in Softball just for girls and women because its growing so much. The girls sports have been growing so much but, since Ive been in this Town, we have not added any fields in Town, at all. Thats a sin. That really is a sin.
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Watertown Town Council
Public Hearing
January 7, 2002
Page 15
Weve been talking about the budget, and listen, I like to have my taxes as low as anybody else here, but Ill tell you, I will, and I think everybody else in this room, Ill spend a couple of dollars to have my kids play on a nice field, to play on a field and not be able to turn away kids. I dont mind my taxes going up a few, but I might be saying something that a lot of people might not want to hear, but I dont mind spending a couple of buck so that my kids can play Softball, play Soccer, or be playing some other sport as opposed to hanging around at the Mall because they have no place to play. You have to help us, you have to help us. These people I see in this room, Ive touched just about everybody in this room at one point in time; Soccer, Softball, Basketball, these people are some of the most dedicated people Ive ever met in my life. These people have done anything from raking fields to mowinggrass, seeing Larry with his lawnmower mowing grass, taking it out of the back of his car.
Ive traveled with Girls Softball. Its almost embarrassing. I have people from other Towns that almost wont come in and play because theyre concerned about the safety of their kids. Thats a shame, it really is. I came to this Town from Wolcott 10 years ago because my wife came from this Town and because we thought it was a good Town, get a good education, and so forth, and yea, our taxes havent gone up that much, but everything else is suffering. I dont think anybody in this room can say that things havent suffered in this Town. Its a shame, it really is. And you people in front of me hold the key. These people here, these people want to help. Theyve been helping for as long as Ive known these people. Now its your chance to help us help. Give us a chance. Give us some help. Let us, get us some space, let us put some fields. Id rather seemy kids out on a Baseball field or a Softball field or a Soccer field, than hanging at the Mall, and until we get those fields are kids are going to be at the Mall. I dont want that to happen. I have 2 girls that I love dearly, and a lot of these other people have children they love dearly. And its important that we do our best to push this through, to at least give us a chance. Lets at least get a piece of land, get it on, get a chance to vote on it, and give us a chance. Thank you.
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Watertown Town Council
Public Hearing
January 7, 2002
Page 16
3. Adjournment
Mr. Hebert: At this time, because were going to be going to a Council meeting at 8:00, Id really like to thank everybody for the input, the ideas, the concerns that have been expressed tonight, especially for coming out on a night like this with the weather. We will take your criticism, we will take your advice, we will take your input, and we will try to come up with something to make it better. Thats all we can do is try, because it does need to be fixed. Again, Id like to thank everyone for coming.
Respectfully submitted,
Raymond Hebert, Vice Chairman
Town Council
Approved: _______________________________
Lynn M. LaForme, Clerk |
| There are no scheduled meetings today. |
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