The Hour is reporting that a informal meeting will be held at city hall regarding the future of Vets Park. The drive? Parks and Recs needs $30k in the budget for a parks master plan. From The Hour:
The informational meeting is set for 6:30 p.m. Wednesday in the Community Room of City Hall, 125 East Ave.
Thomas R. Tavella, vice president and senior associate with BSC Group, which developed a master plan for Oyster Shell Park, has been invited to the meeting to discuss the nature of master planning, according to Michael A. Mocciae, the city’s director of recreation and parks.
Representatives of Friends of Cranbury Park will speak about their experiences working with the city to make improvement to that park. The League of Women Voters of Norwalk will be on hand to facilitate the public portion of the meeting, Mocciae said.“At the end, we’re going to do a question-and-answer (session),” Mocciae said. “We’d like to see a nice representation from the whole community, because this is a larger city park. It’s such a vital park and (with) all the things we’ve been doing. We’ve finished the Little League fields. The new playgrounds are in. There will be a lot more (improvements).”
The informational meeting, originally slated for last fall, comes as Mocciae seeks $30,000 in capital funds to develop a master plan for the 35-acre park off Seaview Avenue, and as some residents continue to fight what they view as commercialization of the park.
Ed Pulice, a Seaview Avenue resident and member of Save Vets Park, which mobilized last year against the city’s plan to build a privately operated miniature golf course at the park, said he has e-mailed residents, encouraging them to come to Wednesday night’s meeting.
“I’d like to see that the city is approaching this in a very rational manner. We’re concerned that the park be developed in a way that is compatible with the residential community. We’re very much concerned about noise and congestion,” Pulice said.
Arthur A. Santella, a Seaview Avenue resident who helped found Save Vets Parks, shares a similar view. He also plans to be at City Hall Wednesday night.
“I’m positively going to be there,” Santella said. “I want to make sure that park isn’t commercialized in any way to any private interest. That is a park of the people and should be the people’s. Not one foot of it should be fenced off for a private business from the public.”
Mayor Richard A. Moccia said he is receptive to a master plan for the park, provided dollars are available and residents, the parks committee and Moccie’s department believe such a plan will help.
Last year, Moccia halted plans for a miniature golf course at the park. He said his feelings about that haven’t changed — “I think it’s too big a project there.”
At the same time, Moccia said the city needs recreational facilities at the park.
“There’s been talk of maybe putting a portable ice-skating rink during the summer, and things of that nature, which I think are fine,” Moccia said. “We’ll get a good balance to keep the neighbors relatively happy, but also recognize it is a park to be used. … usage but not over-commercialization.”
source: The Hour, Public has chance to sound off on future of vets memorial, By ROBERT KOCH, January 7, 2008
