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01/21/2020 11:00 PMOn Jan. 17, Saybrook Parks & Recreation Director Ray Allen presented to the Board of Finance the department’s—and Park & Recreation Commission’s—list of proposed capital projects. The goal is not only to add new or expand existing programming, but to ensure current facilities get full usage.
“One is to take our existing signs at our parks and unify them,” Allen said. “They’re all different styles, different colors, different [materials]. I want to unify our park signs so they’re one brand, if you will. We’re trying to brand our parks.”
Allen gave the example of the Harvey’s Beach sign.
“There’s a blue sign, a new sign I put up last year,” he said. “I want all our signs to be that color. You’ll see that particular blue sign you’ll know it’s [a] Parks & Recreation” facility.
Two of the projects involve replacement of carpets due to wear and tear. There’s the one at the Vicki G. Duffy Pavilion, and seven of those at the mini-golf course, as part of a regular maintenance plan that replaces one-third of the carpets at the 19 holes each year.
The fourth proposed project would install an irrigation system at the Maple Avenue Field.
“It’s the only field where we do not have irrigation,” Allen said. “To properly work on the field and get the field up to a good standard, irrigation is very important for growing grass and [repairing] the little holes in the field.”
New Sport in Town?
Last, after a resident made some presentations, the commission agreed last year that the town would benefit from a disc golf course and voted to seek funding.
“There’s a big calling for it,” Allen said. “What we found out is that [disc golf is] a growing sport. It’s a way for our community to connect and to provide recreation for the community.
“That’s our job,” he continued, “to be as eclectic as possible with what recreational opportunities we can provide to the town. Disc golf is a sport that all ages can play.”
The Saybrook course would be installed in a wooded area, rather than in an open field, Allen said.
Wouldn’t trees would get in the way of throwing a disc in the woods?
“Disc golfers enjoy trees,” Allen explained. “They see them as obstacles...There are courses set on a regular golf course, but a lot of courses are set through the woods, utilizing existing trail systems.”
Creating a course in Saybrook would entail clearing some underbrush, he said, as well as installing some equipment. Players would use the trail to get from one tee box to the next.
Hikers, he explained, wouldn’t be in danger of being hit by a disc because players would throw them in the wooded areas, not on the trails.
“People don’t throw [the disc] wildly,” he said.
Players toss a ring-like disc at a target that resembles a chain-link torch with a basket. The rules are similar to golf, with 9 or 18 targets.
“These are things we’d like to get done,” Allen said of the five proposed capital projects. “It doesn’t mean they will. You put your dreams and aspirations out there and if it doesn’t work, you look for alternative sources” of funding.
Beach Pass Sharing
Also discussed at the commission’s Jan. 8 meeting was a plan to address possible misuse of beach passes in the summer of 2020.
“We’ve noticed in the past two years that people have not been affixing their stickers to the window” of their cars, he explained.
One part of addressing this is by communicating to residents that using a beach pass with multiple cars is not allowed, Allen said.
Parking attendants will be asked to keep a log of pass numbers and the cars that are using them when the pass is not affixed to the window. If the pass is then used with a different car, the issue department will have to take action, according to meeting minutes.
“Every year we talk about issues at the beach with the beach passes,” Allen said, emphasizing that the problem is only with a few passes; the beach pass policy, he said, is unchanged.