New State Park In Greater Hartford Area Pitched By CT House Speaker

HARTFORD/FARMINGTON, CT — What do you call a proposed recreational property owned by one city, but located in two others?

In Connecticut, you call it Batterson Park or, at least, what used to be called Batterson Park and what many in three neighboring communities want to soon be called "Batterson State Park."

Owned by the City of Hartford and operated by the city as a public park, the 600-acre site is, actually, within the borders of two, nearby municipalities — New Britain and Farmington.

Now, however, there is a plan afoot in the state legislature, spearheaded by Connecticut Speaker of the House Matt Ritter, D-Hartford, to make the site state property and create a state park at the location.

The park was shuttered in 2015 due to financial concerns by the City of Hartford and it has been vacant since.

It immediatelly left a gap in the local recreational scene, especially as far as swimming, picnicking and passive recreation is concerned.

In recent years, there have been pushes to rehabilitate and reopen the park, with the State of Connecticut, even, pitching in $10 million for the effort.

But who will operate the facility has always been an issue in recent years, Ritter said at a press conference on the park Thursday.

"It's been a place that, for a long time, a lot of us wanted to see re-opened," Ritter said, adding the $10 million is critical to the effort. "That $10 million is going to go a long way to get that park re-opened."

In March 2021, Ritter hosted a press conference at Batterson Park to push for the funding.

At the time, Ritter said, the hope was the three municipalities — Farmington, New Britain and Hartford — would work together to open the park and operate it jointly.

But notions of that arragement eventually gave way to a new one.

"What became abundantly clear was this is not just a municipal asset, this is not just a Farmington, Hartford and New Britain asset, this is a state treasure," Ritter said.

Hence the new push to, simply, make Batterson a state park.

"So it can be a crown jewel of the state park system in the greater Hartford area," Ritter said.

He said costs to maintain the state facility, if it is approved by lawmakers, would come from funding created by the "Passport for Parks Program."

This is the $5 annual fee people pay the state when they register their vehicles.

While the Passport for Parks has eliminated the need for state residents to pay for parking at the sites, it has also created a $17 million balance that the state uses to maintain state parks.

Ritter said the program should be able to accommodate the state's acquisition and operation of Batterson to be a new state park, with swimming, picnicking and other recreational opportunities.

"Adding one state park in the middle of central Connecticut is not going to blow through that budget," Ritter said.

He said a new state park would immediately provide summer swimming opportunities to central Connecticut families.

The Batterson site was a Hartford city reservoir until 1928, when it then became a city park. It was named after the mayor of Hartford at the time, Walter Batterson.

The last time, Ritter said, the state acquired a site to be a state park providing swimming, was 15 years ago in Columbia when Mono Pond State park was born.

"This is not going to cost a lot of money. This is the right thing to do," Ritter said. "It's a state asset and we're going to make it a state asset."

Leaders from the three municipalities were on hand for the announcement, saying they supported the measure.

"Batterson Park… it’s time to kick this into high gear and make this a STATE PARK!" wrote New Britain Mayor Erin Stewart, a Republican, via Facebook.

"I was proud to be at the Capitol today standing beside the Speaker of the House Matt Ritter, Farmington's mayor, C.J. Thomas, and Hartford mayor Luke Bronin as we all advocate collectively for the state to take over the operations of Batterson Park, making it free for all state residents to enjoy!"

Also on hand for the announcement was Democratic Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin and Farmington Town Council Chairman C.J. Thomas, a Republican.

For more information on Batterson Park's site, click on this link.

For more information on Connecticut's Passport to the Parks program, click on this link.