December 8 Update:  The plans have changed since they were published on the blog.  Gail spoke to Art Harris at Public Facilities, who is in charge of the Ellsworth Field project and he said the final plans will be available for viewing along with the drawings at the North End Library at 6 PM.  This will provide the public with half an hour to review the plans prior to the beginning of the meeting at 6:30 PM.

The Black Rock Little League states that they have not met with the Parks Department regarding the plans for Ellsworth Field since the time of the forum at St. Ann's and therefore that the information we posted yesterday regarding that is incorrect. I trust that the BRLL is correct, so I've made the change to this post.  We have also been informed that the final version of the building is substantially different in the way it looks, so we have made that change as well in the post that follows.  Stuart Sachs believes that the dimensions of the buildings in the plans posted on this blog may be incorrect as they might include the roof overhang.  He had not seen the final plans yet. 

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Our sources say that the following changes have been made: the lighting has been removed and the footprint of the building has been reduced.  There are no substantial changes to the location of the building.  We have been told that the old concession stand will stay even after the new one is built.  This raises the question of why the concession stand and storage unit can't be combined and located where the old concession stand is.  This would allow the restroom building to be further reduced in size.  Some residents plan to raise the issue of why all of the $500,000 is being spent on Little League activities when the park is for everyone.  The tennis courts are cracked and the fence surrounding it is in disrepair. 

The most recent plans for Ellsworth Field will be presented to the Parks Commission on Tuesday, December 8th at the North End Library (upper Madison Ave.).  The meeting begins at 6:30 PM and there will be an opportunity for the public to speak if they sign up by 6:30 PM.  There will also be opportunities for public input should the project move forward to additional board reviews (Historic Commission, ZBA, P&Z).  The BRCC was been told that the building footprint was reduced in size by about 30% in response to the public forum held at St. Ann's. We have just received copies of the revised plans and have posted them above.  You can see that the size was reduced from 27x42 to 27x35.  A breezeway and hallway were removed, but the building still contains a concession stand, storage, and rest rooms. 

The Little League had input into these changes, but the public has not had input.  Residents are asking if there will be an opportunity for public input at the Parks Commission meeting as the process does not seem fair.  The process shows favoritism towards the Little League as the redesign did not involve the rest of the community.  Please plan to attend the meeting to voice your approval of the plans or your concerns.

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Ted Grabarz, Deputy Director of Public Facilities, has provided us with his notes from the November 12^th community meeting on Ellsworth Park which was co-sponsored by the BRCC and Black Rock NRZ.  These notes are attached in PDF format and can be printed out.  We have also included them in this post for easier access.  There were approximately 180 people at the meeting which was held on November 12 at the St. Ann's School Auditorium.  The Parks Department reports in to the Public Facilities Department.  Mr. Grabarz was present at the meeting and took notes so that the City of Bridgeport can address concerns about the proposed improvements to Ellsworth Field.  The major concerns focused on the lack of parking for users of Ellsworth Field, accompanying safety issues for kids and residents, and that the planned improvements don't address this issue and may, in fact, increase the usage of the park and the size, location, and look of the concession/storage/rest room building, which will be approximately 30' long and located across the street from the end of Seabright Avenue.

There were few changes to the plan first presented at the special BRCC meeting on Ellsworth Field.  The look of the building was changed to conform to Historic District requirements, but otherwise the plan was pretty much as presented in the first meeting.on September 24.

Ted Grabarz's notes are provided below...

Parking issues

Parking wasn't part of Phase I program.  Will get meeting with Police Chief

Number of fields has increased over the years leading to over-use

We recognized that in the Master Plan and are attempting to make people aware of all the other parks in City

Suggestion of bleachers and solar panels We can look at both

Too much noise

Police enforcement

Signage that prohibited dogs, alcohol and gold (sic) has been removed

It will be replaced

Splash park concerns It will at least be an add alternate so that it may be removed

We will have City Engineer re-visit

Suggestion of One Way street with diagonal parking Previous studies indicated that it wouldn't noticibly increase

We will have City Engineer re-visit

Why does building have to be so big?  Reduce size. Toilet rooms, handicap accessible.  Storage close to work thus increasing city personnel productivity.

Need to look at plan to reduce

Why doesn't building fit more into historic character? Needs to be durable to last a long time.

We will look at further detailing, size reduction

Why can't use other areas to share parking, i.e. St. Ann's Many communitys are trying to do that to reduce impermeable surface

We will explore

Need to decrease police response time Will arrange meeting with Police Chief

I will contact Auden Grogins

Need to meet the needs of the community as a whole as opposed to just the Little League That's why we used the NRZ program

Verify NRZ program

Why is there security lighting?  Get rid of it. Only shown at entrances

Set on timers and will relook on removing

Is there a way to block off the street during Little League times? It's a public road.  Doubt we can do that

More police enforcement

Create a "non-building" i.e. with berms, etc. and depress building footprint to hide Issues with grade changes make it difficult to do

Move storage to the back of the site, closer to boat yard

Can look at

Have lighting go off at 11 PM We can look at that

Boat yard is beginning to intrude onto park space

We will look at

Planning and Zoning issue

Building is ugly, make it more appropriate to the Historic area

We can look at changes and perhaps reduce bulk

Why can''t building be moved? Sewer connections and setbacks necessitate general location

Can we use waterless toilets, etc. and hide building more with foliage

Why is there only one toilet per bathroom?

To reduce maintenance cost

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