CHESTER

The Chester Board of Selectmen (BOS) has decided to pause discussions regarding the long-standing idea of a boardwalk in town for another year.

The boardwalk concept, which would connect North Quarter Park to Downtown Chester, was most recently presented in its most-detailed form at a Chester Parks and Recreation Commission meeting in July 2023, but has also been discussed as an idea “in town for decades,” said First Selectwoman Cindy Lignar at a BOS meeting on Feb. 13.

The plan, as a concept, was on the agenda for the BOS meeting, and its components were elaborated upon by Chester Parks and Recreation Commission Director Aaron Page. He said the concept on the meeting’s agenda is a particular version that the commission has floated since 2008, initially in the town’s previous Plan of Conservation and Development (PCCD). According to slides in the commission’s presentation on the concept, the three objectives of the boardwalk are “to create a safe, natural walking path connecting North Quarter Park to downtown Chester as an alternative to using Main Street sidewalks and multiple road crossings; to expand community recreational enjoyment of North Quarter Park property and wooded areas; to promote residents’ awareness of and appreciation for Chester’s wetland environments.”

Along with these objectives, other ones would include “improved improved facilities for park and recreation programs,” along with the monitoring and identification of potential improvements parks and recreation programs and their facilities, including at Cedar Lake and North Quarter Park and Chester Elementary School, as Page cited from the current POCD.

As part of the concept, none of the plans would see any encroachment upon private property, emphasized Page.

“This is a product of the park and rec commission trying to bring our residents and visitors a chance to enjoy our parks and open spaces,” Page said. “It’s something that I think a lot of people in town want and, if a lot of people in town don’t want it, that’s fine. I’m not emotionally invested in this. I just think it's been around for a long time in all of our Plans of Conservation and Development as a way to connect two parts of our public spaces in a way that would be really special for our town.”

In order to finance part of the project, Page said the commission would have to seek a grant from the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection’s Recreational Trails Program once a cost estimate and preliminary idea of the project is fleshed out. Page said he was also open to fundraising for the project, but added that, “If it's a town project, and the town wants to see it go through, the town should pay for it. And if the town doesn't want it, the town shouldn't pay for it.”

Selectmen Paul Radicchi said that the project would be “a terrible waste of money” and added that the BOS should focus its attention on the situation at John Wintrhop Middle School [JWMS], as well as other financial matters.

Resident Tammy Fletcher agreed with Radicchi’s view. While she likes the concept of the boardwalk, Flecther stated that “we have so much on our plates,” including the remediation of mold at JWMS.

A motion for the commission to seek a cost estimate and state funding for the project was unanimously dismissed by the board’s members. Referring to the situation at JWMS, Lignar made the final vote to not proceed with the boardwalk concept.

“My heart’s broken, but I’m going to say ‘no’, only because of the situation we’re in,” said Lignar.