By Bill Slocum
Contributing Editor
First Selectman Peter Tesei and an ad-hoc panel of civic leaders reviewed new projects for the 2016-17 budget in a public hearing where townspeople came out strongly for a plan to renovate the Eastern Greenwich Civic Center.
Commenters also urged Tesei’s panel to support stormwater drainage upgrades around town and a $200,000 appropriation for upgrading the Greenwich Skatepark, an Arch Street facility for inline skaters and skateboarders.
The capital budget, representing a third of the town’s total budget, is currently at $70 million, in line with a two-percent spending increase. Tesei cautioned that some of the new capital projects will rise in cost over the next few years, calling them “seeds” which need to be weighed in terms of both present and future costs.
The forum became a kind of urging session where different constituencies spoke up for capital items they favored.
The Eastern Greenwich Civic Center upgrade exemplified Tesei’s point about future-cost management. It entails a $520,000 expenditure for 2016-17 in design work, but also anticipates spending $12 million more in two years’ time for rebuilding.
Resident Betsy Underhill noted the center’s importance with a popular sport she helped organize locally, called “Pickleball.” Another resident, Julia Pisani, urged action on improving the facility: “This has been providing services for old people, young people, mostly the people who don’t have access to a posh, private club.”
“We are at that critical juncture,” Tesei noted of the center. “It exists, it’s functioning, but it’s on life support.”
In sheer numbers, more rose in favor of stormwater drainage improvements than anything else, citing growing concerns about flooding and water quality. A former Representative Town Meeting member who serves on the town Harbor Commission, Peter Quigley, congratulated town leaders on their targeting of various areas like Holly Hill and Sound Beach for drainage improvements, but suggested still more funding was in order.
Dawn Papalian, a founding member of the Junior League committee that helped open the Skatepark in 2003, urged approval of their $200,000 appropriation, $100,000 of which would be provided via money already raised by the town, for repairs and improvements to the site. “It brings so much happiness, joy, and a safe environment for the children of our town,” she said.
Not all the major items received equally vocal support. The construction of a fire station on King Street, slated to cost $300,000 this fiscal year and $4.37 million in 2017-18, had just one proponent speak in its favor, though the project itself is widely supported. The forum seemed instead to attract supporters of projects seen as on the bubble of getting the recommendation of Tesei’s committee.
Others spoke against projects, particularly a sidewalk to be built along Summit Road and Oval Avenue in Riverside. “We feel a sidewalk is not necessary,” resident Will Rogers said. “We feel our neighborhood is a safe one already. There have been no pedestrian-car accidents.”
RTM member Joe Solari went further still, saying in light of spending issues at the state and federal level, Greenwich’s best approach would be to fund nothing new and focus instead on ratcheting down town employee costs.
“Why are we spending more money on things that aren’t the town’s responsibility at all?” he said, alluding to recreational items like the Skatepark and the civic center. “When I see others advocate for more spending, higher budgets, it’s a little concerning.”
Tesei and his committee make final recommendations as early as this week. The budget then goes before the Board of Estimate and Taxation’s Budget Committee February 1 for the next round of deliberations.
