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Guilford Reopens Dog Park and School Fields with Monitoring

First Selectman Matt Hoey issued a new executive order re-opening several town properties last week, including the dog park and the school fields with Parks & Recreation staff tasked with monitoring these locations, as the town begins planning for a gradual re-opening.

Facilities like the Community Center are likely to remain closed, and the town will be relying heavily on state mandates and new guidance out of Hartford, but Hoey said he hopes that these steps are leading slowly toward a return to normalcy in Guilford.

“We’re happy to be able to do [this], the weather is getting nicer,” Hoey told the Courier. “More people are going to be outside...so these activities will only help folks.”

Basketball courts will remain closed due to the difficulty in ensuring the kind of safe practices with that sport, according to Parks & Recreation Director Rick Maynard.

Maynard also said his staff will be watching all these locations carefully seven days a week, and will warn residents who are in violation of any public gathering or social distancing directives, and will involve the police if residents are not compliant.

Hoey cautioned that while all of these are positive steps, the town will have to wait until new guidelines and rules are issued by the governor before it begins re-opening many other facilities—notably the Community Center, which will remain closed until at least Wednesday, May 20 when the state’s current emergency declaration is set to expire.

The town is monitoring both the overall progression of COVID-19, which reached its peak locally late in April according to health officials, along with how well residents adhere to guidelines as local officials put together a re-opening plan, Hoey said.

“The reality is, we’re probably not going to be back to full normal for a little bit of time,” Hoey said.

Some of these newly opened areas—the dog park and the fields—were closed due to “flagrant” violations of social distancing and public gathering restrictions, Hoey said. Others, like the tennis courts, were closed based on recommendations from national organizations or agencies, and are re-opening at least partially based on new guidelines.

While Hoey did mention “a possibility for library services” as something that Guilford might be able to offer in the not-so distant future, he again emphasized that everything was dependent on what was allowed by the state.

Libraries are not essential, according to the most recent state guidelines, which Hoey pointed out. Likely, there will not be any other big changes or other town properties re-opening between now and May 20, according to Hoey.

Programs—things like senior lunches at the community center—will not necessarily restart immediately after new guidelines or other re-opening, Hoey said, as officials continue to weigh public safety in each specific instance.

To view the executive order including a list of all properties re-opened and specific guidelines, visit the town’s website at www.ci.guilford.ct.us.