Town officials on Tuesday approved two contracts worth a total of approximately $152,000 for grass treatment at New Canaan’s parks and school athletic fields.
The Board of Selectmen voted 3-0 in favor of contracts that will see grass treatments including the application of pesticides and fertilizers in some cases, according to John Howe, superintendent of parks with the New Canaan Department of Public Works.
Exactly how chemicals are applied depends on factors such as how much use a field gets (for instance, Irwin Park has “very little use”), and whether it’s a school field, Howe told the selectmen at their regular meeting, held in Town Hall.
“We don’t apply any pesticides to the school athletic fields, but we do have one application on park fields for grubs, broad-leaf weeds and crabgrass,” Howe said.
First Selectman Kevin Moynihan, and Selectmen Kit Devereaux and Nick Williams voted in favor of a $131,200 contract with Burlington, Mass.-based Tom Irwin Inc. for the purchase of grass treatment products and a $21,016 contract with Harwinton-based Championship Turf for the application of the products.
Asked by Williams whether the Board of Education prohibits the use of pesticides on school fields, Howe said that there is a state law banning the use of “turf grass pesticides” in schools serving children through eighth grade. The DPW chooses not to use any pesticides at the high school either, Howe said.
Some town fields, on the other hand, do receive a pesticide application—for example, Conner Field on Farm Road.
“And nobody’s died?” Williams said.
Howe said that since 2013, the department has hired two separate companies to acquire and also apply the grass treatment products.
“What it’s done for us is: We know exactly how much we’re putting down, we know exactly what we’re putting down, so we control that,” he said.
Howe said that the DPW has moved away from using turf sod on some of the town’s athletic fields, instead moving toward “aggressively overseeding throughout the year.”
Overseeding is the process of spreading grass seed over existing grass to thicken and improve coverage.
“We’re better off spending the money on the seed instead of the sod,” Howe said.
“Sod’s expensive and it also doesn’t hold up well. It gives you instant green but it’s really tough to keep it going,” he added.
Let us hope that included in this plan is treatment of the Flexi-Pave walkway in Irwin Park to kill the wire and crab grass that has permeated the walkway—not to mention the dangerously slick areas, amounting to hundreds and hundreds of square feet along the walkway — most particularly (but surely not only) on the lower path through the woods on the western side of the park — where for years moss has been allowed to grow so thick you can barely tell there is pavement beneath. This is a danger, not merely an eyesore.
My family have been regular users of these paths since they were first installed and to my knowledge the Flexi-Pave pathway has never been treated with anything to control this problem. New Canaan has demonstrated a renewed commitment over the past several years to invest in maintaining the infrastructure we have, but this small but prized asset has been overlooked. This is not a matter of esthetics, like peeling paint. The current condition of key sections of the path present a significant “slip and fall” liability to the town. The problem did not crop up overnight — and it surely could not have gone unnoticed all these years by the people who maintain the park — whether as their job or their avocation . But neither has it been appreciated for the serious problem it is. This liability must be remediated and the path returned to first-rate condition. Promptly.
Any notion of extending the Flexi-Pave walkway without prior demonstration of a commitment to maintain the pathway we already have is a non-starter from my perspective. There are pros and cons to the idea that has been put forward to extend the path in the front of the house and it is a debate worth having. But not until we demonstrate a commitment to restoring and maintaining the wonderful Flexi-Pave pathway we already have. We might disagree about esthetics but the town’s liability should not be take so lightly.
Hi, NewCanaanite,
I am wondering about the ‘grass treatment chemicals’ which are to be used in New Canaan’s parks as described in your article.
Is Monsanto’s ‘Roundup’ among them?
Lucian, the pesticide was not specifically named. The only product mentioned by name was K-Mag, which appears to be a potassium, magnesium and sulfur supplement. The parks chief said that independent soil testing has shown grass to be lacking in those elements.
Thanks for getting back to me so quickly. I grew up in New Canaan and still family there so it’s often on my mind.
Here’s a recent article about it:
https://amp.businessinsider.com/glyphosate-cancer-dangers-roundup-epa-2019-5
All the best. New Canaan is a wonderful town! Thank God I don’t have to call it a ‘city’ yet and I hope it stays that way.