Submitted by Bill Drake, Chairman, Rink User Committee for Design and Planning
At the meeting of the Planning and Zoning Commission on November 13, the two items related to the town’s project to replace the old skating rink and build a beautiful new improved baseball field deserve full support. This project has had extensive public review over the seven years since the Dorothy Hamill skating rink reconstruction committee had its first meeting in March 2017 and the subsequent Rink User Committee for Design and Planning had its first meeting in 2021 and continuing today.
As Mr. Luigi Romano (Director of Building Construction within the Town’s Department of Public Works) explained to the Commission, this project meets all of the relevant guiding principles of the Plan of Conservation and Development (POCD): preservation of community character and sense of place, sustaining and preserving the natural environment and landscape, maintenance of economic vitality and thriving commercial centers, and providing the best quality infrastructure, and municipal facilities.
This project will provide a simple efficient and high quality skating rink and a beautiful new Strazza ball field of the proper dimensions turned the proper way for safety. The Eugene Morlot Memorial Park and the recreation facilities will finally be of a quality that Greenwich deserves.
The project has been excellently designed by DPW and the architects, SLAM. The
project will result in a slight decrease (not increase) of impervious area. 19 existing trees are being removed (13 of these obstruct the left and center field positions in the new ball field: removing them is imperative), 4 existing trees are noted to potentially be relocated, and 43 new trees are proposed to be planted, a net addition of 24 trees, another objective of the POCD.
Some members of the Byram public have been manipulated by false and misleading information.
The Byram Veterans Memorial Tree Grove is 0.64782-acre within the 13.4 acre Eugene Morlot Park. The Grove has been permanently dedicated and forever protected by action of the Board of Selectmen on November 24, 2021 with a permanent protective covenant in the Town land records. The Tree Grove cannot be modified in any way and the project submitted to Planning and Zoning does not modify the Tree Grove in any manner.
The current Sal Strazza ballfield is not fully sized. Its right field dimension is too short. In the new project the ball field is simply turned around. The center fielder in the future will stand where today’s center fielder stands. But the field will be reoriented to improve safety and avoid players looking into the afternoon sun which is a dangerous condition. The new, turned Strazza field will have full dimensions to all directions and will provide a better experience for baseball players. The field will continue to be called the Sal Strazza field.
This project design has also been approved by the department of Public Works, the Department of Parks and Recreation, the board of Parks and Recreation, and the Rink User Committee for Design and Planning. Further, appropriations for architect’s work for the new rink and park have had the approval of the Office of the First Selectman, BET and RTM. The town also hired professional sports facility advisors to survey Greenwich residents on this topic. 2,980 responses were received. 84% of respondents indicated that they would support the construction of a new skating rink adjacent to the existing. This broad and rigorous survey indicates the true desires of the community whereas today’s tiny and misleading survey by the BNA does not. The Greenwich community overwhelmingly supports the project submitted to Planning and Zoning.
This project will right-size the ball field and the rink and is fully compliant with the POCD. It will create recreation facilities of high quality, while enhancing and slightly increasing the green space in the park. It fully deserves designation as a Municipal Improvement.
Bill Drake, Chairman, Rink User Committee for Design and Planning
11/11/2024