Parks and Rec votes to move garden for fields at Long Lots in Westport

With how the schedule is currently set, according to Roda, every field is almost completely booked this season. About 92 hours of playing time are used in the Long Lots field each week, alone.

There are more than 11,000 participants who use the camps in Westport, excluding physical education classes who use them during school, Fava said.

Fava said there aren’t many other places in Westport that could hold these camps. Two proposed locations were for Winslow Park. However, both options are barely large enough to fit a 90-foot baseball field.

Each would need to be rezoned, a road should be added to the property to access the fields, nets should be installed to prevent balls from flying into traffic. For the northern proposal, the wooded area would also have to be deforested and flattened, which would be expensive.

Another place that could possibly fit the fields is the Lillian Wadsworth Arboretum, but it would have to be rezoned, utilities would have to be installed, parking lots would have to be paved and there are wetlands on the property.

Fava also discussed expanding the ballparks at Doubleday and PJ Romano. One is already a 90-foot field. However, if the other were to be enlarged, it would not help with the planning because only one field could be in use at the time because of how it overlaps the others.

Fava said if the fields had not been moved in the plan, they could have been lost forever, as available field space in Westport has only dwindled over time.

John Suggs, a resident and member of the Westport Preservation Alliance, expressed dismay at moving the gardens to Baron’s South where Traces of arsenic were found in a pile of soil in 2019.

The arsenic-containing soil has been on the property since 2018, when it was moved there following a building expansion at the Westport Senior Center.

Suggs said the city has discussed a five-year plan to remove the temporary landfill located there. Even if it comes close, the earth is still there.

Public works director Pete Ratkiewich did not respond to an email asking about the status of the landfill.

Resident Doug Enslin spoke on behalf of the community gardens, saying it may be that students go to other cities to play sports.

“There’s a multitude of sports fields, and there’s a set of gardens,” he said.

Westport Soccer Association president Jim Wolf said the quality of the soccer fields has deteriorated over time because of how much they are used. At the end of spring, the fields become full of mud and almost unsafe to use, so it is important to create Long Lots fields.

Resident Andrew Coleman suggested building the fields where the current school is located, after it was demolished when the new school was built. He said it would be a way for the gardens and people who participate in sports to be satisfied.

No one at the meeting said if it was possible or if it was discussed. Keenan did not respond to an email to provide details on this tip.

Before the vote, commission member Chrissy O’Keefe said she believes the Long Lots campus is not the right space for the gardens, as it is limited and gardeners cannot access it during school time