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09/18/2015 04:21 PMOn Sept. 21, North Branford's Parks and Recreation Commission will review a draft proposal from Connecticut Sportsplex, including costs and other estimates, to determine if a town-private partnership to upgrade and share as many as seven town playing fields is a good idea.
As a separate agenda item, the commission is also expected to discuss the next steps to be taken towards bringing North Branford the town's first Dog Park.
Town Manager Mike Paulhus submitted the Sportsplex draft proposal to the Town Council this week and said the commission's job will be to come back with a recommendation for the council.
"It's going back to the commission for committee oversight and review and discussion, and to potentially come up with a recommendation," Paulhus told The Sound.
The costs involved were not available at press time but Paulhus said the proposal, delivered by Sportsplex principal Sal Candelora, included a "top tier" and "lower tier" approach.
"Of the seven fields included, the emphasis is on the top four and the bottom three and the numbers associated with what those build-out costs would be and how much he's going to put in," said Paulhus.
The seven playing fields include several currently used by North Branford Little League, which is not a town-run program. The group takes out a permit for field use annually and as an interested stakeholder will be invited to attend the Sept. 21 meeting.
"The commission is publicly inviting Little League as, a league could be impacted and could benefit," said Paulhus.
CT Sportsplex would give the town money to assist with field upgrades, with fixes to include artificial turf infields, in order to meet CT Sportsplex's standard of use. As described by Candelora when originally discussing the idea with the Town Council on Aug. 11, the arrangement with CT Sportsplex and the town would be for a period of 10 years, which matches the turf infield warrantee length. While CT Sportsplex originally wanted to offer to upgrade four town fields, (at the high school and near Public Works), Candelora said on Aug. 11 the group is willing to upgrade three more fields (Memorial, Coulter and the new Wall Field – changing out clay and grass for a turf infield), for a total of seven. That would create more flexibility for field use between CT Sportsplex and Little League scheduling, he said. See The Sound's story on his discussion with the Town Council at http://bit.ly/1inYN2M
"The commission is publicly inviting Little League as, a league could be impacted and could benefit," said Paulhus.
DOG PARK UPDATE: Paulhus said the commission will also be discussing the next step in the process of bringing a dog park to the Swajchuk property. Last year, the non-profit group, "North Branford Unleashed" met a Town Council goal of raising $10,000 toward park installation. The commission is expected determine best location for the park and other factors to get the project moving ahead.
"They're going to look at the location or identify and potentially evaluate where that might go," said Paulhus. "The group is re-energized and looking forward to moving this along, so we hope to have more answers."
North Branford Unleashed has been working with the since 2012 to help bring about the park.
North Branford Parks and Recreation Commission meets Mon. Sept. 21, 7:30 p.m. at STW Community Center, 1332 Middletown Avenue, Northford.