The Board of Selectmen las week approved two contracts worth a total of about $20,000 to seed athletic fields in New Canaan.
The selectmen at their regular meeting June 15 voted 3-0 to approve one contract for the purchase of 4,650 pounds of seed ($15,337) and a separate contract for its application ($4,800).
“We over-seed the fields that we don’t necessarily treat with pesticides—so Saxe, Farm Road, [New Canaan High School] track field and all Mead Park baseball fields,” Public Works Director Tiger Mann told the Board at its meeting, held at Town Hall and accessible via videoconference for presenters.
First Selectman Kevin Moynihan and Selectmen Kathleen Corbet and Nick Williams voted in favor of the purchases.
Corbet asked whether the approved seed represents more than had been obtained last year (the town is purchasing it now as prices are expected to rise), whether the athletic fields that that do not have pesticides get seeded twice per year (yes) and what is the plan to apply pesticides on athletic fields this year (late-June or early-July at Conner Field and Waveny’s athletic fields).
Corbet has advocated in the past that New Canaan disclose its use of pesticides on athletic fields on the town website—a recommendation that Parks & Rec supported. Parks and Public Works officials are drafting the language of that disclosure now, she said.
The company selling the seed to New Canaan is Tom Irwin Inc., and Championship Turf will apply it, according to the meeting agenda.
It wasn’t immediately clear whether Tom Irwin Inc. is the same company as Tom Irwin Advisors. Last fall, the latter produced a $3,000 “Core Performance Quality Standards Assessment” to evaluate two New Canaan playing fields—one that gets the pesticides and one that doesn’t—after Corbet questioned why the chemicals are still used on some fields. That Tom Irwin report was cited by the Parks & Recreation Commission in December when the appointed body voted in favor of continuing to use pesticides on New Canaan athletic fields where it’s legal to do so.
State law prohibits the use of pesticides on school grounds through grade 8. In New Canaan, high school fields also are pesticide-free.