Open letter to Hamill Rink Task Force from Jim O’Brien, Greenwich, dated Oct 5, 2025
Dear Task Force:
In looking at photos and maps from the early 1900s of Greenwich Harbor, it is apparent that half the Island Beach parking lot and all of the Horseneck parking lots are on landfill.
The Horseneck lot is on landfill in the old Bush’s Harbor, which started at the railroad tracks next to the Boys and Girls Club. The Island Beach lot is mostly on land fill in the old Rocky Neck Creek which started at the railroad tracks adjacent to Steamboat Road. Between these two bodies of water was a stubby peninsula that ended just beyond the Teen Center. The peninsula was surrounded by mudflats in the above Harbor and Creek that the Town filled in.
It’s about an eight minute truck drive from the old Cos Cob power plant to these once vibrant marshes now covered with asphalt. Those toxins from the ash were most certainly used. First place it went, so close.
Now the Rink Task Force is considering constructing the new rink on one of these landfills.
That construction will require pilings driven to bedrock with concrete caps dug 3’-6”deep, placed over the pilings to support the columns for a raised rink. Once the Town puts a shovel in that fill, it is likely to find contamination which will have to be removed.
The Town spent $19 million to clean up Western Middle School fields and another $38 million to clean up the Greenwich High School fields.
How much will it cost to clean up the Island Beach and Horseneck parking?