Mayor Harkins: Moving Public Works to Raymark Ballfield Has Merits

One thing became evident when Mayor John Harkins had his turn to speak at the recent Raymark ballfield reuse discussions.

Harkins spoke toward the end of the informal meeting held earlier in April at Birdseye Municipal Complex with members of Save Stratford. There, the findings of consultants from Vita Nuova environmental engineering consultants were reviewed. 

The consultants presented conceptual options for use of the former Raymark ballfield site after its remediation by the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). 

What came through loud and clear was that the mayor liked the idea of relocating Stratford’s public works department off of East Main Street and into the ballfield property.

The mayor noted that the former Contract Plating industrial site, which occupies an adjacent parcel with frontage on Longbrook Road, has not paid taxes in many years and is also blighted and contaminated.

With that in mind, he said, “we looked at the entire area,” and not just the Raymark ballfield parcel when looking at future potential uses. 

Addressing the past choice of the siting of the town’s public works facility and its aesthetics, Harkins said, public works “looks pretty bad” It’s an intensive, industrial and necessary use and “I don’t know how or why it was sited there.” 

Today, “it’s a mish-mash of buildings,” but now “we have an opportunity to make it better.” And the way we looked at it was that if we moved public works, then things would start to fall into place” for the entire block between East Main Street and Longbrook Avenue.

This would include removing public works truck traffic off of Patterson Avenue, a major ongoing issues with area residents.

The mayor noted that the consultant’s report was discussed with Patterson Avenue and other area residents at the meeting held at Wilcoxson School the previous evening. 

What came up with neighbors “was the issue of buffers,” Harkins noted. Several residents were concerned that any development of the former ballfield site would infringe on the privacy of neighbors, with one resident even favoring doing nothing with the sites, the mayor said. 

However, the mayor believes that moving public works and implementing other facets of the consultant’s plan would “increase property values and take away blight.” 

Harkins noted that one neighbor was concerned with ballfield site use on weekends. “Public works would actually be a good weekend neighbor,” except during those rare times like the past winter when operations were 24/7 due to snow removal operations. 

“The long and short of it is this,” the mayor said. “We need to give direction to EPA” and to “avoid an adversarial relationship” with the federal agency that is charged with the actual cleanup of the federal Superfund sites in Stratford. 

“We need to find out what we want” as a town, “what we envision,” Harkins continued, which includes the possible relocation of the YMCA facility, if that option is favored by Y officials down the road.

What is certain is that the site will be capped by the feds, and it will become available for reuse, just as the main Raymark factory site at East Main and Barnum Avenue Cutoff was remediated and today hosts Wal-Mart, Home Depot, ShopRite and others. 

It was then Save Stratford’s turn, with resident Virgil Watson asking the consultants about the range of options between maximizing tax revenues versus satisfying “some of the needs of the town.” 

Consultant Elaine Richardson answered that possible commercial uses of the ballfield site could include building a facility to serve “trades people like plumbers, who need a good location but not the visibility” that a retail owner would desire. 

“I see very light industrial uses as well as possible commercial-professional offices especially along East Main Street,” Richardson said, with light industrial a possible good fit for the Contract Plating site.

Added Vita Nuova President Michael Taylor, “Once you clean out all those buildings [including public works], you have a really nice, deep site. 

“It could be a two-story commercial building, or a nice place for a restaurant,” Taylor said. But with public works in place, even the Frog Pond restaurant could not expand if it wanted to.

“Well, it sounds to me that this plan is made independently of the [EPA’s] remediation plan,” Watson said. 

“That’s correct,” said Town Conservation Administrator Brian Carey, also in attendance. 

Who funded this consultant’s plan being discussed? “Was it town funds?” Watson asked. 

“No,” the mayor said. The funding came of out of EPA’s Raymark special account, although the mayor could not estimate a total cost for implementing either Option A or B as discussed. 

Taylor noted that the study put forth that evening cost between $30-$50,000 “over the last 8-9 months.” 

Taylor emphasized again that “EPA has no jurisdiction over land use. Land use is the key element” for the town to be concentrating on at this moment, he said. “It gives the town a modicum of control” going forward. 

Watson then asked, “When you propose land use, what are the impacts on remediation? 

“An open park is quite another story than putting down a slab” for commercial uses, he noted. 

Taylor noted that most remediation uses of this type are commercial-industrial. In terms of risk, he said, “presumably [toxic] waste will remain on area three.” 

Carey added, “there would be restrictions on its use so that it doesn’t pierce the protective lining” sealing the waste in place, similar to the Home Depot parcel and Short Beach remediation, he said. “Those details would be hashed out during the engineering phase” of any future project. 

What about taking waste out, or leaving it in place? Watson asked. 

Taylor said that would all depend on the designated use and possible siting of future buildings. “This is in control of the town … this is really a program level design decision” that can’t be answered for any specific piece of the parcel until the uses are decided. 

Which brought the discussion back to the moving of public works. 

“If you look for other places to relocate public works,” Carey said, “they don’t exist,” except perhaps for land available off Lordship Boulevard “and you don’t want public works out there when it’s flooded.” 

Public Works Director Maurice McCarthy noted that the way Stratford is situated, with a long north-south orientation, it only makes sense to have the public works department located near the middle of the town. “It makes no sense to come from the south end to the north end,” or vice-versa, he said. 

That would be a 20 minute ride in a snowstorm, he said.

As the meeting was ending, Mayor Harkins said, “The residents made some good points. Nothing is cut in stone. 

“All the comments were taken pretty seriously … we’re trying to make a practical use of the site for the benefit of the residents.” 

Pointing to the study, the mayor said, “This is a very important first step.”