With a new location, plan, and recorded public support, the project to put an 18-hole disc golf course at Bittner Park now has the green light to move forward. Both the Planning & Zoning Commission (PZC) and Inland Wetlands Commission recently approved the project.

Disc golf is a game that combines Frisbee and golf. A golfer is given a disc and has a certain number of throws to reach the “hole,” which is a stand with a chain basket sitting on top. Parks & Recreation Director Rick Maynard previously said disc golf is “growing like crazy” across the state. In August, the Parks & Recreation Commission (PRC) formally approved the plan for the 18-hole disc golf course at Bittner Park.

A course was laid out and one fairway was established to give residents a feel for what the course might be like and a chance to ask questions. The commission also put out a survey, which received more than 500 responses with about 75 percent of all respondents saying they support a disc golf course.

At the PZC meeting on Sept. 19, Maynard presented the site plan. He reviewed the history of the project, pointing out that no large trees will be taken down to make the course, all fairways are out of the wetlands, and none of the fairways cross any hiking trails in the area.

“This is not clear-cut course,” he said. “That is part of the challenge for the trees to become obstacles…The brush would be piled along the edges of the fairway so they would become wildlife habitats and also they would be barriers.”

The course requires little maintenance and would be maintained by volunteers. In addition, Maynard said local businesses and organizations have stepped up to fundraise for course construction. To date, Maynard said he already has $11,500 of the $12,000 needed to construct the course.

“We have no other recreational amenity that costs so little,” he said. “If I want to put up just a swing set and slide in a park, it is $8,000. This is an 18-hole disc golf course that we can provide for people in the community at almost no cost.”

The only detail of the plan that generated a little bit of discussion was the Natural Diversity Data Base study from the Department of Energy & Environmental Protection (DEEP). The town conducted a study in 2002 when the plan was to clear a larger section of Bittner to add eight more athletic fields; that study showed no endangered or protected species in the park.

The town finally received an updated study from DEEP in late August, which confirmed no endangered species or protected species in the park. The response noted that eastern box turtles, which are a species of concern, are in the area, but the response from the state also showed it thought the project was going to involve clear-cutting the forest for something like a typical golf course.

Once the difference was explained to the state, several “construction” requirements recommended by the state were eliminated. However, Maynard said he has hired a local herpetologist to go out and check the area every day for turtles during the assembly of the course and all volunteers will be educated on what the turtles look like.

“I think its about as un-invasive a use as we can have,” said PZC Chair Philip Johnson.

PZC member Allyn Brown said Maynard is working with the environment to build this course, not against it.

“[Maynard] is doing everything he can to keep the environment the way it is so people out on that course will feel like they are actually out in the woods and they will enjoy themselves,” he said. “I think it’s a great thing and its not going to cost the town a lot of money…and anything that can get the kids outdoors I am for it.”

The commission unanimously approved the course plan and Maynard and the PRC are now clear to begin work on the course.