With three temporary Branford Youth Lacrosse (BYL) fields set to share space in a popular field where dogs play at Young's Park this spring, the Young's Park Commission has been been working to allay concerns of dog owners worried about encroachment on their dogs' use of the Pine Orchard park.

In late winter, word began to trickle down among dog owners that the park's lower field, located along Blackstone Avenue and accessed directly off the parking lot, would be parceled out this spring as a practice and playing space for BYL.  From that time until now, Young's Park commission chair Geoff Hotz has been fielding calls and emails, and doing his best to share answers to help clear up "misconceptions" about what's to come this year, and possibly in the future, he told Zip06/The Sound.

Dogs at Young's Park

Hotz, who enjoys using the park and bringing his dog, Jolly, out to play, said he recognizes how much dog owners appreciate the facility. The property offers about 50 acres of passive recreational space, including fields, meadows, Young's Pond and wooded trails. The lower field covers about six acres.

By Hotz's count, during weekdays, as many as 30 to 40 dog owners will come by to make use of the field during the day, with peak use times from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m.  The park's greatest use is on weekends, especially for dog owners, said Hotz.

"On weekends, it's just come and go – there's groups of people that come all day long. We'll have over 100 cars," in and out of the parking lot, said Hotz.

BYL at Young's Park

BYL will set up three temporary fields in the park's lower field, beginning on or around April 1 and running through the month of May.  Players will come in for weekday practice from about 5 – 7:30 p.m. and weekends from about 9 a.m. - 4 p.m. During lacrosse season, temporary sports field fencing with gates will be installed; mainly to keep dogs from running on the fields from the parking lot when the fields are in use, said Hotz. Other parts of the park will be open for use.

"We sectioned off a part of the park so that people can still run their dogs here, and then we have another facility off of Birch Road that they can walk to through the park. Plus we have the trails and other facilities here that they can use. A portion of the field will still be usable to the dog owners; and it will be wide open when there's not lacrosse," said Hotz.

Dog owners can walk dogs on leash around the perimeter of the fields during lacrosse play, too, Hotz said.

BYL players could be back at Young's Park next year; and the Town could also decide, at some point, to convert some of the lower field area to a lacrosse field, Hotz said. The field currently includes a softball field (not in use this season).

"We're going to see how it goes this year, and they're talking about next year already. And possibly, long-term they'll have one field here, because they may have other venues open up," said Hotz. "This is a short-term fix at a minimum; and it may turn into something long term. We'll see how it goes."

BYL's April-May temporary use of the lower field will include a full-size youth playing field (110 yards by 60 yards), a youngsters' field (100 yards by 50 yards) and tikes' field (60 yards by 30 yards). BYL raised $10,000 to purchase the temporary fencing and gates that will be used at Young's Park.

When taken into consideration among the six acres of the lower field, "It's a very small footprint, and it's just for April and May," said BYL Boys Coordinator Vin Giordano.  This season, in addition to practices, some games will be played at Young's, but most have been scheduled off-site, he said.

The playing fields, which are staked out now, will be concurrent to one another and run on angle, from the Blackstone Ave. side of the field off the parking lot, toward the field's large Cottonwood tree, and on to the far treeline.  A portion of the park's lower field softball fencing (near third base) will be removed; and Branford Parks and Recreation will not use the softball field this spring, said Hotz. Some park bench relocation may be needed, as well.

Branford Parks and Recreation Department was first to field BYL's request to find the group some more playing field space in town, and directed BYL to the Youngs' Park Commission, said BYL president Jim May. May is also Branford High School's head varsity boys' lacrosse coach.

Part of the goal for BYL is to be able to allow both boys and girls of all levels of ability to be working on their skills the same location, added Giordano.

"We're trying to give them the best opportunity to be together, as opposed to being segmented all over town.  Because, especially with lacrosse and the type of sport that it is, you learn a lot by watching the older kids. So it's important for the young kids," said Giordano.

At the February 2019 Young's Park commission meeting, BYL made its pitch to use the lower field in the spring. Many other youths sports programs in town are already locked in to practice and play on other town park fields, noted Hotz, and spring is a busy time.

"Park and Rec is maxed out; between soccer and other sports; and the spring Softball league and Little League, etc." said Hotz.

May said work underway at Walsh Intermediate School is also putting a cramp on BYL field use at the middle school, which is one of the locations where BYL practices and plays.

"We have no dedicated space," said May. "We're at the middle school at times, and the middle school fields are basically inadequate for the kids."

BYL currently has a co-ed roster of about 200 kids in grades K- 8, said Giordano.  Youth Lacrosse also asked for the space as way to expand the use of the park to benefit a wider group of citizens, which is part of the charter of the park, noted Hotz.

"Our charter is to have a park for the enjoyment of the citizens of Branford.　This will also expose the park to an entirely new group of people, who may continue to enjoy the park after lacrosse season," said Hotz.

Improvements Underway at Young's Park

Bringing in BYL has spurred the town into bringing in Public Works to help the commission create some improvements (approximately $15,000 in value) that will benefit all users of the park space, Hotz noted.

"Basically we're just trying to improve the park," said Hotz. "Lacrosse gave us an impetus to do it quicker; and we got the town administration to move much more quickly, and got the resources dedicated to it."

More notably perhaps for dog owners, Hotz said, "... as part of this initiative the upper meadow will also be improved," to help provide an "alternate area" for users. The meadow, which can also be accessed from Birch Road, will have overgrowth and brush removed and be subject to more frequent mowing. The park's trails are also going to see improvement with more frequent overgrowth trimming to keep them readily accessible.

Enhancements to the lower field will include improving the grass cover (but not leveling or otherwise developing the field) and clearing overgrowth and invasive plants at the tree line along the lower park, which began last week. Hotz said plans are also in the works to open additional "vistas" and better access to the pond from a point that's closer to the information/doggie waste bag kiosks off the parking lot. In addition, the parking area is scheduled to be dressed with fresh stone.

As Blackstone Avenue is part of state Route 146, the park is also getting attention from CT Dept. of Transportation, which has removed overhanging branches and fence-line invasives along the avenue, said Hotz.

Hotz said, even with improvements, it remains to be seen how much the addition of BYL this April and May will impact park use, parking flow and use by dog owners, especially on weekends.

"We'll see what happens," he said. "We've already trimmed back and modified the upper meadow so there's more room up there, and that will get a spring mowing and that should carry us through to the beginning of the season.  And hopefully people will explore more of the park, too."

Dog Owners Weigh In

Young's Park frequenter Bonnie McKirdy was one of the citizens who reached out to Hotz on behalf of dog owners after word began to spread about BYL coming to the lower field in the spring. Hotz said he's been responding to emails from dog owners and that the commission values their feedback. He said he also planned to share information in a letter posted at the kiosk.

McKirdy brought questions from a group of dog owners including a request for more information on exactly where the fencing will be, and how much room dogs will have in the lower field, why BYL is coming to Young's and when exactly BYL will be engaging the space.

"We have a group of us that go every day, 12 months of the year, unless it's raining," she told Zip06/The Sound, adding the group is very conscientious and mindful of their dogs. "In the summer and in nice weather we bring lawn chairs and sit around under the big tree, and the dogs play. We look forward to that social hour, and the dogs do, too."

She said many dog owners have been reluctant to go into the park's surrounds beyond the lower field because those areas could be prone to ticks.

"We don't even like to go back into the woods because we worry about ticks," she said.

While she understands work is being done to clear more spaces in other areas of the park, the lower field is the attraction for most dog owners, McKirdy said. But, she added, Hotz has done a good job of answering questions from her group, so far.

"Geoff has been very good about answering my questions," she said. "He sent me a diagram, and sent me pictures of the fencing, and basically now I'm very optimistic. In the beginning, I was really nervous, and sort of mad that this group was going to take it over.  Now we're hearing it's for two months; and the hours they're going to be there, and we're much more relaxed."

McKirdy said she and other dog owners do plan to attend the next meeting of the Young's Park Commission to give their input on the impact or other issues that may arise as a result of BYL's use of the lower field.

"There's another meeting in May, and I'm going to go to that meeting," she said.

The next Young's Park Commission meeting is set for Tuesday, May 28, 7:30 p.m. in the Pine Orchard Building, 180 Pine Orchard Road.