The ADVOCATE
March 10, 2001

Stamford panel gives green light to opening city park

Mayor, director of operations must OK plan

By Donna Porstner
Staff Writer

A campaign to open an abandoned city park picked up steam Thursday night when it won the support of Stamford's Parks and Recreation Commission.

"It was voted on and accepted and the room was full of smiles," said Ben Velishka, co-chairman of the Friends of Rosa Hartman Park.

In preparation for the public's use, Velishka said his group is working with Keep Stamford Beautiful to organize a cleanup of Rosa Hartman Park on May 5.

The 13.7 acres of woods is in an industrial area off of Brownhouse Road, in the Waterside section of the city. Residents can enter the park's multiple trails on foot, but with access to the driveway blocked there has been nowhere to park vehicles.

Velishka, a Burwood Avenue resident, said he has volunteered to open and close the gates in rotation with city parks employees.

But before residents can drive into the park, Mayor Dannel Malloy and Director of Operations Tim Curtin also must approve the proposal.

"The Parks and Recreation Commission alone cannot make the unilateral decision to have a park open,' said Andrew McDonald the city's director of legal affairs.

Malloy has been critical of opening the park before the city can afford to invest in its rehabilitation for fear that allowing vehicles inside would invite illegal dumpers to return. He has estimated the restoration would take millions of dollars.

"Right now, actually, we don't have the money to open the park," Curtin said. "It's not in any plan or budget. We'd just have to take it under advisement, inspect the park, and see what the possibilities are."

Open space advocates say it wouldn't be an expensive undertaking.

Green light to open park

"We want just the basic needs of the park addressed," said Debra Redfern, co-chairman of the Friends of Rosa Hartman Park.

She wants city employees to "just open and close the gates every day and if there's any dumping or litter, to pick it up."

"The mayor and legal affairs and operations are always saying it can't be maintained because it's a bad spot for a park," Velishka said. "Any property has the potential for illegal activity . . . . If the park is put on the regular patrol and the police and the Office of Operations are monitoring it, there should be less illegal activity. There's never going to be no illegal activity anywhere."

The Friends of Rosa Hartman Park also has the support of Greenwich's Riverside Neighborhood Association.

"We want to see it become a thriving wilderness park that is used by the community at large," said Frank Quinn, the association's president.

Rosa Hartman Park abuts a Greenwich nature preserve called Laddin's Rock Sanctuary, and many trails connect the properties.

There's also a pending lawsuit, filed by the town of Greenwich in April 1999, that is delaying the commercial development of the park. Stamford Golf Centre LLC has plans to build a driving range, miniature golf course, batting cages and a clubhouse with a restaurant in Rosa Hartman Park. Greenwich residents have voiced concerns about the lighting and noise a commercial complex would create.

Velishka said he won't back down until residents have a right to use the city park donated by local developer Jesse Hartman in the 1950s.

If the community and the residents of Stamford have a legal right to be in the park, we're going to pursue it," Velishka said.

In other action, the Parks and Recreation Commission named Cove Island Park, Cummings Park West, Kosciusko Park and Scalzi Park as the parks they want opened and closed at a standard time. The proposed ordinance would open these parks from 5:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. November 1 to March 31 and from 5:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. April 1 through October 31.

Last week city officials decided that all parks should not have the same rules.

"There are 59 parks, but some of them aren't really like a park. They are like a piece of grass," said John Corelli, Parks and Recreation Commission co-chairman.

The city's Board of Representatives' Parks and Recreation Committee is expected to discuss the ordinance next month.