Effort to keep Camp Harkness open in works
State park for disabled targeted in Malloy budget
Waterford — With Memorial Day weekend just days away and families looking to secure summer camp arrangements, a plan to keep Camp Harkness open despite Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s plan to close it is being developed.
Last week, Malloy released a revised biennial budget plan that called for closure of the 104-acre state park for people with physical and mental disabilities and their families. It also would close Camp Quinebaug, a similar facility in Killingly, saving $560,000 in each of the next two fiscal years. Camp Harkness is located next door to Harkness Memorial State Park, which would remain open under the governor’s budget plan, but with reduced funding.
Camp Harkness is visited by more than 1,200 overnight campers each year from June to August. It also hosts families and individuals for day visits and special events, bringing in more than 35,000 people annually, according to Katie Rock-Burns, chief of staff for Department of Developmental Services Commissioner Jordan Scheff. The department runs both Camp Harkness and Camp Quinebaug.
Open year-round for visitors with a gate pass, Camp Harkness is staffed from Memorial Day through Labor Day for day visitors. Overnight camps begin in late June, and a swimming beach is staffed with lifeguards from mid-June through Labor Day, she said.
Rock-Burns said the department is working on a plan to keep Camp Harkness open.
“We have not told families to expect otherwise,” she said.
In a statement, Commissioner Scheff said the situation is under review.
“While nothing is certain or final until a budget is passed by the legislature and signed by the governor, the Department of Developmental Services is in the process of reviewing options that would mitigate the impact to campers and allow access to camp for the summer,” he said.
Chris McClure, spokesman for the state Office of Police and Management, concurred with Scheff’s statement.
Among groups that run summer camps and other programs there is ARC of New London County, United Cerebral Palsy and High Hopes Therapeutic Riding in Old Lyme.
Kitty Stalsburg, executive director of High Hopes, said her facility has brought its horses to the camp for the past five years and provided riding and carriage lessons for campers. High Hopes also has run programs there for bereaved children and for veterans, she added.
“Camp Harkness is such a jewel for all people with disabilities,” she said. “Closing it would punish a population who already have a lot to deal with.”
Stalsburg said she has contacted state legislators to urge them to help keep Camp Harkness open.
State Rep. Kathleen McCarty, R-Waterford, on Friday released a statement saying she is appalled by the plan to close Camp Harkness.
“Camp Harkness is a wonderful and unique place because it offers access and opportunities for veterans and people with disabilities not available in other Connecticut state parks,” she said.
She noted that Malloy in 2013 called Camp Harkness “a jewel of Connecticut.”
“I am very disappointed that his proposal looks to close this unique camp,” she said. “Additionally, the state has spent a significant amount of taxpayer dollars on improvements to the camp’s facilities and user experience, which makes its closing even more frustrating and unacceptable.”
She vowed to do all she could to prevent the closure.
Bequeathed to the state by Mary Harkness in 1952, the camp has offerings that are made possible through public-private partnerships between the developmental services department and organizations such as United Cerebral Palsy, ARC, Oak Hill, High Hopes and the Camp Harkness Foundation, Stan Soby, chairman of the Camp Harkness Advisory Committee, said in the statement released by McCarty.
“The camp provides priceless experiences, respite, playgroups, therapeutic riding and much more to people of all ages with disabilities,” he said. “Many, if not most, of those served would not have the means to find those experiences elsewhere.”
Beverly Jackson, member of the camp’s advisory committee and representative of the United Cerebral Palsy Association, also is quoted in McCarty’s statement. She called the camp a necessity for people with disabilities and their families. More than 600 volunteers work at the camp to make its programs possible, she noted.