Raymark Ballfield: Making the Case for Public Works

On April 6 and 7, consultants from Vita Nuova environmental engineering consultants met with Raymark ballfield area residents, area businesses and other stakeholders to discuss the future of the Raymark ballfield site, presenting their “Raymark Ballfield Reuse Planning" study, which among other options suggested that the town’s public works complex could be suitable to move to the ballfield site after the site is remediated of contaminants. 

Elaine Richardson stressed that the opinions of key stakeholders were vital factors in the formulation of the Raymark ballfield study. 

“We wanted to hear some of the concerns,” and the opinions of those directly affected, she said, namely residents on Patterson and Clinton, town officials including the director of Public Works in Stratford, and adjacent commercial property owners including the Frog Pond. 

In the past, Richardson said, a number of ballfield reuse options have been discussed, including recreational, commercial, moving public works to the site, even a train station, as the parcel sits alongside the Metro-North tracks just north of the existing train station. 

What the consultants concluded from their interviews with stakeholders was that “town control of the ballfield parcel was important.” In addition, “the second thing we heard this time around and we saw it in past documentation – there needs to be a buffer between the residential area, especially along Patterson Avenue.

Consultants also “heard a lot” about the former contract plating site, another contaminated site “not in good condition” and located adjacent to the Raymark ballfield property. “Many of the stakeholders wanted resolution to that piece” as part of an overall solution, Richardson noted. 

With that in mind, there is some potential, she noted, to re-route truck traffic from public works away from Patterson Avenue and adjoining residential streets by connecting East Main to Longbrook Avenue via the ballfield and contract plating sites. This option “has some potential, as well as benefit for public works, which is landlocked,” she noted. 

Public Works Director Maurice McCarthy was then asked to say a few words about that department’s needs and possible future as it relates to the ballfield site.

McCarthy began by outlining the evolution of the site, specifically that it has been put together piecemeal through the years. “Two buildings were put up in the WPA [Works Projects Administration] era [during the Depression in the 1930s] before World War II,” he noted, “which are not conducive for our use. Those two buildings are used for storage and maintenance, and offices.

The other two buildings, he noted, were constructed in about 1974, the larger of which houses the repair division for about 300 town-owned vehicles, not only for public works, but also administrative, police, fire and education. The other building is utilized by the parks division for their equipment and vehicles. 

“So we’re scattered around,” McCarthy said. “It would be much nicer and a lot more cost effective if the entire department of public works fleet” were to be able to stored indoors. The result of being stored outside, he said, is additional wear and tear. “To have them stored in even an unheated garage would be an improvement” and save the town money over time. 

McCarthy then addressed a topic of major concern to the residential neighbors of public works: traffic. 

Due to the restrictive roadway access options at present, he said, “we continually have to pass through neighborhood streets. That’s the nature of the beast since that [public works] facility went up. 

“I can tell you it’s a major inconvenience to the neighborhood,” he added, noting that “in the winter we could be open around the clock for days at a time” during periods of heavy snow removal, like last January into February. “After a while, it gets irritating to residents in the area.”

Commenting on the possibility of connecting the public works complex to Longbrook Avenue on the west side of the ballfield and contract plating sites, McCarthy said “if we could access a main road to get to other parts of the town then that would help a lot.” 

McCarthy also acknowledged the “economic realities” facing the town of Stratford, with another tax hike looming for fiscal year 2011-2012. “We are looking at the way we do business” and changes that could result in net savings to the town. 

If the department could reorganize its operational site with the addition of one or two new buildings, then “we would be better off,” and not chasing around to give assignments. It would just be a better way of doing business, McCarthy concluded. 

Next: more on creating a neighborhood buffer and marketability of the ballfield site.