New Splash Pad, $900K For Fields Approved By Fairfield Officials

FAIRFIELD, CT — As summer draws near, work is underway to put in a new splash pad at Lake Mohegan and maintain the town’s athletic fields.

Fairfield officials voted last week to approve contracts for the splash pad and field maintenance.

The Board of Selectmen signed off on a $211,125 agreement for Aqua Turf Irrigation LLC to design and install the splash pad after it was destroyed when the remnants of Hurricane Ida blew through Connecticut in September. The splash pad replacement is separate from a roughly $500,000 dredging and restoration project at Lake Mohegan brought about by Ida, although the town is rushing to complete both in time for the start of swimming season on Memorial Day.

Supply chain issues have hindered the progress of the splash pad installation.

“We are just now getting back to our second time of going out to bid,” Director of Parks and Recreation Anthony Calabrese said at the meeting Monday. “It’s just been a headache, to say the least.”

The contractor believes the replacement should be finished in time for Memorial Day, but if problems with the supply chain interfere, the latest the splash pad would open would be July 1, according to Calabrese.

Also last week, the board approved $890,050 for Greenway Property Services to maintain the town’s athletic fields. Selectman Tom Flynn raised concerns about the state of the fields.

“It’s become a hot button around town and understandably so, based on some of the conditions of some of the fields that I’ve seen in the past,” he said.

Greenway handled the fields last year and the town was happy with the contractor’s work, and received a better price this year, according to Angelus Papageorge, executive director of operations for Fairfield Public Schools.

“I think we had some growing pains at the beginning of the contract, but we worked through them,” he said.

Field complaints are somewhat inevitable in Fairfield, according to Calabrese.

“As far as the quality of the fields, we live in New England, our fields are on school property, we use only organics, so we’re very limited in the quality of grass that we can grow,” he said.

“Am I going to get complaints over the next month? Absolutely. The best I can do is hope the weather holds out and the grass grows in and these fields don’t get beat up too bad in the mud.”

Selectwoman Nancy Lefkowitz was not present at the meeting, but Flynn and First Selectwoman Brenda Kupchick voted in favor of both contracts.