Government

Town Pursues Mandatory $20 Per-Player ‘Fields Usage’ Fee from Private Youth Sports Groups

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Seeking insight into the true membership numbers and financials of private organizations that run youth sports in New Canaan, town officials plan next year to make mandatory a $20 per-player “fields usage” fee. Led by Park & Recreation Commission Chair Sally Campbell and Selectman Nick Williams and launched through the Youth Sports Committee, the move is designed, in part, to usher New Canaan toward a system where basic upkeep of playing fields is accounted for through above-the-line payments rather than private contributions. In the past, the town had no oversight of the financials of groups that oversee sports such as youth football, lacrosse, baseball, soccer and field hockey, Campbell said during the committee’s Jan. 29 meeting. As a result, she said, “we had groups that ended up having big cash reserves because they were collecting fees way in excess of what they needed to use.”

“So our point to them was, look, you know parents aren’t going to question the fee—because they want their kid to participate, they want them to make the A team and nobody would question it,” Campbell said at the meeting, held in the Art Room at Lapham Community Center.

News

Re-Started: Plan for Second Artificial Turf Practice Field at New Canaan High School Underway

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A widely anticipated, long-postponed plan to install a second artificial turf field by the water tower at Waveny inched forward Tuesday, as town officials approved $75,000 in privately donated funds to allow engineers to design the project. Known as ‘Water Tower Field Phase II,” the field—to run from the tennis courts at the high school, along the southernmost parking lot and to the edge of the Waveny (about 600 feet long), abutting the artificial turf field already in place—had been approved by Park & Recreation, Town Council and Planning & Zoning last summer. It would be used primarily by football, lacrosse, soccer and field hockey teams, officials say, with new striping possible for those different sports. The Board of Selectmen at its regular meeting approved 2-1 the allocation of $75,000, plus $2,000 in reimbursable expenses, for Avon-based Richter & Cegan to design the project. Officials say costs could approach $2 million, with planned new light towers to go with them (pegged at around $300,000 alone).

Around Town

Did You Hear … ?

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The all-volunteer Youth Sports Committee—a Board of Selectmen-appointed group formed to help with the important work of overseeing the private organizations that run youth sports in New Canaan—is getting better at filing meeting minutes. A look at records at the Town Clerk’s office shows that minutes from the Sept. 15 meeting were received on Oct. 3—though that’s not within the legally required seven days, it’s a significant improvement for the committee, which filed its Feb. 6 meeting minutes on Aug.

News

Expanding, Popular Youth Sports Programs Vie for Time on Lighted Fields

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So many sports teams in New Canaan use the town’s playing fields—including increasingly diversified and popular rec, private and multi-town travel programs—that it’s hard to accommodate every group seeking time under the lights in the evening, officials say. The difficulty is exacerbated with shorter days in the fall, according to members of a Board of Selectmen-appointed panel responsible for oversight of youth sports in town. For example, the dads who coach in the youth football and flag football programs often can’t get to New Canaan High School’s fields until after work, about 6 p.m., less than one hour before sunset, Recreation Director Steve Benko said during Monday’s meeting of the Youth Sports Committee. That its coaches are dads gives a football program less flexibility than, say, the New Canaan Soccer Association teams, which are coached by professionals with more availability earlier in the day, Benko said. “We cannot accommodate their [the NCSA’s] whole program” after dark, Benko said during the meeting, held in the Training Room at the New Canaan Police Department.

News

Town Officials Want More Consistency in Fees, Fields Use among Youth Sports Programs

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Saying youth sports in New Canaan must be treated equally—in terms of field access and use, for example—town officials on Monday night talked about setting uniform standards for all programs and making mandatory a newly calculated, across-the-board per-player fee for fields upkeep and upgrades. New Canaan in divvying up coveted—and, with youth sports themselves expanding, increasingly scarce—access to playing fields at public parks, is “at the mercy” of groups that may stake a claim by funding capital improvements, Selectman Nick Williams said at the Youth Sports Committee meeting. “That’s got to stop,” Williams said at the meeting, held in the Training Room at the New Canaan Police Department. “As a town we need to start telling the sports, ‘First of all, you’ll all be treated equally at the outset, and you’ll all be charged the same fee and by the way, girls and boys, same fee. And then we’ll move on from that.