The Community around Vets’ Park spoke at the hearing

 9 January 2008. The demands were very clear:

There must be an end to unlimited ear-splitting concert-festivals, with provisions made for the impact of traffic and congestion on the adjoining commercial and residential communities. Whatever plan is developed for the Park must respect the right of the community to residential tranquility and easy access to homes and businesses.

While a Master Plan is a definite first step in the development of the Park, money is severely limited. Before we appropriate significant funds to an outside agency to develop a plan, the City must:

• Sample the opinions of the existing and proposed commercial/residential developments that are the economic/cultural support of the city. Perhaps with their input, private sources of funding might become available to develop the Park according to the adjoining community’s commercial and cultural interests.  

• Fully survey the Park to determine its physical boundaries.

• Sample the soil for the possible contamination of the underlying dump site.

• Investigate all of the environmental consequences of disturbing this ecologically sensitive waterfront site that readily floods.

• Solicit the input of the Maritime Center and their role in using a portion of the Park for educational and environmental studies.

• Develop alternate sources of Park funding, such as a parking sticker program for all of Norwalk’s parks and beaches (as is common throughout CT). The Park need not be starved for adequate security and upkeep in its current state.

• Develop interim uses of the Park, such as a Farmers Market and similar low impact uses to augment rather than compete with the adjoining community’s economic development.