Much ado and plenty to decide
Panel members work to determine what’s needed
STRATFORD — Make questions, and by them answer.
The line in “Othello” relates to the whereabouts of specific character, but the Bard’s words could easily apply to the members of the latest subcommittee charged with overseeing the next steps in the process of determining what will happen with the former Shakespeare Theatre property.
This week some of them took literal first steps in that process, walking the grounds for an hour to come up with questions to ask as they explore potential uses of the property.
They came up with plenty. To name just a few:
» What kind of environmental testing needs to be done after a fire allegedly set by three teens burned the American Festival Shakespeare Theatre to the ground a year ago?
» Do the wetlands on the property count toward the 20 percent open space set-aside mandated in the deed restrictions when the state transferred the property to the town?
» Regardless of what uses are eventually decided for the property, what are good ways to maximize another deed restriction, mandating the entire property remain accessible to the general public?
» What exactly does “general public” mean — Stratford residents? Connecticut residents? Anyone?
» How best to connect the greenway with the property?
» Is some sort of access to the
property from Ferry Boulevard possible?
Does the town have any past agreements with respect to the parking lots there that could restrict potential uses?
What’s the status of the former costume house — the run-down, onestory concrete building near the parking lot now adorned with a mural by Bridgeport native John Paul O’Grodnick — and could it be salvaged?
Town Planner Susmitha Attota left with plenty of homework to do and delegate to other town professionals.
Plenty more lies ahead, said Greg Reilly, the subcommittee’s chairman.
“This is really the start of our work,” he said Thursday. “I want to know what questions we need to ask in order to determine what the uses can be.”
Tom Dillon, another member of the subcommittee who also served on a task force last year to survey residents about what should happen at the property, echoed the sentiment.
“Our commitments are to help guide the process, not decide what’s happening,” he said.
One question that pretty much everyone agreed on an answer to already: the property is a gem, and one the town can’t afford to let opportunity pass by again, as it did by dithering while the iconic theater was still standing.
As the group — Attota, Reilly, Dillon
and Tom Evans, another member of the subcommittee — walked past the gate to the property off Shore Road near the “Mac’s Harbor” marker where Stratford’s first settlers arrived in 1639, Dillon paused.
“Just look at this view,” he said while gazing southeast toward the mouth of the Housatonic River, glinting in the mid-day sun. “It’s beautiful.”
“This is gorgeous,” Reilly agreed. Thursday’s tour — technically a meeting of the subcommittee’s open space working group — follows the subcommittee’s first organization meeting Jan. 16.
Last year’s task force held a series of workshops to brainstorm ideas for the site and presented those ideas to the town’s redevelopment agency in July.
The most frequent answers were a multipurpose facility, an outdoor venue theater and open space/recreation.
The Town Council will have the ultimate say about what happens with the property — within the deed restrictions put in place when the town acquired it from the state.
The subcommittee is scheduled to