Teams from New Canaan High School and youth sports groups will be affected by a $5 million construction project now underway and that will begin in full-force in mid-August, parks officials said last week.
The project, which will bring turf to what are now grass fields at NCHS, will restrict or prevent access to athletes, mostly football and field hockey teams, through the first week of October, members of the Parks & Recreation Commission said during a special meeting on Thursday.
While addressing the commission, Recreation Director Steve Benko said, “We are looking at how to accommodate this issue with some of our fields at Waveny.”
“[Sports teams] have to understand that, through the end of September, there are going to be times when fields have to be shared,” he said at the meeting, held at Lapham Community Center. “They might not have all the space that they had… it’s not staged, it’s all going to happen at once.”
Benko warned residents to take heed of signs announcing field closings.
“Please be careful if you see that a field is closed,” he said. “There’s no more field beams in the ground, I don’t want you to fall in a hole and twist your ankle.”
When asked by commissioner Francesca Segalas whether the construction or closings had been announced on the town website, officials responded that they had not yet been posted, but to expect an announcement with more details to go up soon.
Chairman Sally Campbell suggested that lights could be put up temporarily in Irwin Park to accommodate teams displaced by the construction—a prospect which, according to Benko, would require a special permit from Planning & Zoning.