Gunntown to be Passive Park – 9/4/2009

Posted by Bob on September 4, 2009 under Daily Blogs | Be the First to Comment

The Board of Mayor and Burgesses voted 7-3 to authorize the Park Commission to develop a plan for a passive park at the Gunntown Property.  While the vote fell short of placing a conservation easement on the property, the Park Commission plan will create a deed restriction against the property preventing anything but passive recreation at Gunntown in the future.

The vote represents an end to a fourteen-plus (14+) year debate over whether or not use the property for active field space, passive recreation or some other public use.  As neighboring communities installed numerous natural and synthetic grass complexes, Naugatuck focused its attention disproportionately on an environmentally-sensitive property that could have hosted one field with little hope for proper maintenance.  Thankfully this debate has ended and we can move forward to comprehensively address our need for quality field space while providing Naugatuck with its first passive park.

This issue has divided our community for over a decade.  While our opinions may have differed as to what to do with Gunntown, those on all sides of the issue were well-intentioned.  The reality is protecting passive open space and improving and increasing active field space are not mutually exclusive.  We now need to concentrate our efforts to find the most pragmatic and economical locations for better fields.