The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Residents fed up with situation at falls
MIDDLEFIELD — Residents have become increasingly exasperated over recent years with overcrowding, the disregard of posted parking rules, and garbage, including diapers, being left near the water at the town’s portion of Wadsworth Falls State Park.
Last weekend, when temperatures soared into the high 90s and the heat index climbed over 100, the parking area, which has 10 spaces, was overcome by vehicles parking two, even three deep, according to Carol Schilling of the Rockfall section of town.
“It’s a place where people can go and there are no rules. There’s no enforcement. There are no park rangers who care, so I don’t even know why they put signs there, so it’s been left up to the state police to respond when it’s a traffic issue or safety issue,” Schilling said.
She feels her concerns
haven’t been properly addressed by officials at the state Department of Energy Environmental Protection, who have told her and First Selectman Ed Bailey that understaffing due to budget constraints prevents them from adequately patrolling the area.
The Press reached out to Director of State Parks Tom Tyler, who was in meetings Friday, as well as Haddam-based Alex Sokolow, who manages the Cockaponset State Forest recreation areas, which include Wadsworth, Chatfield Hollow in Killingworth and Haddam Meadows.
Emails and phone messages weren’t returned by late Friday afternoon.
Schilling also worries about safety, referencing the time an inebriated Bristol man died after falling and hitting his head, an incident First Selectman Ed Bailey also recalled.
Wadsworth Falls State Park straddles Middlefield and Middletown, with the permitted swimming, hiking and grilling/picnicking areas located in the Middletown portion off Wadsworth Street.
During summer 2013, Schilling circulated a petition seeking supporters for closing the park, because incidents of vandalism, garbage being left throughout the area, and the disregard of parking signs had reached intolerable levels.
At the time, she witnessed a chartered bus from New York City dropping off about 60 people on Cherry Hill Road, where the entrance is to the falls.
This weekend, cars were parked on both sides of the street, half on the curb and road. Pedestrians are endangered, as well, because their line of sight is blocked by the cars, Schilling said.
Bailey, who received about seven complaints in a single week, the most he’s ever gotten about the situation, called the DEEP. “It’s a place that you go, maybe enjoy the scenery, enjoy the falls to look at and there are trails if you like that sort of thing,” he said.
The town has addressed the situation many times in the last six or so years.
Many of the license plates are from New York, in particular the Bronx and Queens, he said. The park closes at sunset, and the first selectman did see a majority of visitors leaving by 7:30 or 8 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.
It’s not uncommon for there to be 100 people at that portion of the park at any given time, and much more over the course of a day.
In response, the town has placed noparking signs along Cherry Hill and Main Street, and has given orange cones with noparking signs on top to the adjoining St. Coleman’s Church, as its lot has five entrances. The church has also been forced to cope with illegal parking over the years.
“That helped tremendously. It wasn’t perfect, but it was good and much better,” Bailey said.
He has authorized overtime for the resident troopers to address these issues. One Sunday, state police handed out 38 parking tickets, he said.
Bailey said he visited both days last weekend.
His opinion is the DEEP should have parks employees staffing the falls both days so things don’t “spiral out of control” — or even close the falls if they can’t handle the situation.
“There were two troopers out there Sunday, and they could just cope with the car situation, let along go in the park and start dealing with that issue,” Bailey said. “I saw one ranger out there who looked like he was totally frazzled.”
In 2013, in response to complaints, the DEEP removed picnic tables, added “no picnicking” and “no swimming” signs around the falls, bolstered patrols of the area , and began aggressively ticketed violators.
“The sign isn’t really going to do something without something behind it,” said Shilling, a justice of the peace who has officiated weddings at the falls over the years.
“They came in, they tried to clean things up to make it more manageable, they took the grills out, took the PortaPotty away — they tried to make it more of a shortterm: You could have lunch and move on. I don’t want to turn it into a ‘they’ and ‘them,’ but … ”
The state parks website delineates the falls from the park proper, along with what’s permitted at each location.
Schilling has seen people bringing in their hibachis and even playpens and bottles left near the water. Granted, she’s seen state workers clean up the area on Mondays, but thinks they should be there on the weekend, as well, during the busiest usage period.
She feels state authorities have stopped monitoring the situation.
Howard Randlett, who lives in the area, sees both sides of the coin.
“Many don’t have the luxury of a pool in their background or a beach at their doorstep,” said. His issue is with people who disregard the laws of the park and leave their cars on the road, in particular outofstaters who come from New York and Massachusetts, who may not know the park is for passive recreation only.
He only wants people to be as respectful to the residents as local officials ask townsfolk to be.
“There’s no problem if they bring their kids or they want to cool off, but when they leave a mess, it’s thrown back on the community and civic leaders to be tolerant,” Randlett said.