New Haven Register (Sunday) (New Haven, CT)
Kids once again splashing in New Haven playground
NEW HAVEN — While adults continue the larger fight over the elimination of Kensington Playground, in the meantime, at least the kids in the Dwight neighborhood will get to experience one of the joys of summer missing for the past five years.
The playground now has a working splash pad, just as the area is set to experience 90-degree temperatures this weekend.
The Friends of Kensington Playground thanked Mayor Justin Elicker and the Parks and Recreation Department for fixing the drainage pipe that had long left the splash pad inoperative.
“Now the children in this neighborhood can enjoy themselves in our neighborhood's only public playground,” Pat Wallace, president of the friends group, said in a statement.
“With the splash pad now working again the neighborhood kids will have a chance to cool off during the long hot summer,” Olivia Martson, resident and member of the Dwight Central Management Team, said.
Despite the new recreational option, a lawsuit against the decision of the city to sell the playground site to Community Builders for $1 in exchange for upgraded affordable housing and a small number of additional units continues to advance in the courts.
A Superior Court judge recently kept the 2020 case alive by refusing to dismiss the suit, ruling that the environmental issues it raised merit further investigation, specifically the removal of 25 mature trees.
The city had alleged that the friends group had not proved sufficiently that the city might have violated the Connecticut Environmental Protection Act, but the judge disagreed.
“Construed broadly and realistically and in favor of the non-moving party, the plaintiffs' allegations support an inference that ‘unreasonable pollution, impairment or destruction of a natural resource will probably result from the challenged activities [of the defendant] unless remedial measures are taken,'” Judge James W. Abams' decision states.
City Corporation Counsel Patricia King said the lawsuit was “regarding the repurposing of an underused pocket park for new affordable housing.”
“The city held many public meetings and hearings regarding this affordable housing development, which the public — including the plaintiffs — took advantage of to express their positions on the proposal,” King wrote. “Nevertheless, the plaintiffs claimed that the city violated the Connecticut Environmental Protection Act by failing to hold a particular type of public hearing.
“The city is gratified that the court found that no such hearing was necessary, because the city was repurposing its own property,” King wrote.
“While the court denied the city's motion to strike and has allowed the plaintiffs' claim to proceed under CEPA, the burden of proof remains on the plaintiffs to prove their claims at trial,” she wrote.
“Unfortunately, New Haven residents now need to wait longer for muchneeded affordable housing and for improvements to Day Street Park, which includes a new splash pad for neighborhood children a block away.”
The friends group pointed to serious air quality issues in the Dwight neighborhood and the high rate of asthma and chronic health conditions that affect both children and adults. The trees in the playground help with air quality problems, Wallace said.
“Yale New Haven Hospital is about to begin major parking garage construction to concentrate much more staff parking and traffic in the heart of the Dwight neighborhood,” Wallace said. “This will worsen air pollution. If the hospital won't take care of our health, we need our mature trees to help us.”
The group expects its lawsuit to be heard within the next year, Wallace said. In the meantime, members will conduct a survey of the neighborhood to find out what features and activities the residents would like to have at their park and playground.