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Date Posted: Tuesday, January 18, 05:39:15am
Author: JG
Subject: Study group to look at 150-acre Brodie South. Register Citizen Jan 17

This RC story is drawing a lot of comments. See link at bottom or article.

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Study group to look at 150-acre Brodie South parcel in New Hartford
Published: Monday, January 17, 2011

By LINDSEY BURRILL
Register Citizen Staff

NEW HARTFORD — The town of New Hartford has formed a study group comprised of representatives from several town organizations such as the Recreation Commission, The Open Space Commission, The Senior Citizens, Friends of Brodie, and others to work together to determine the best course of action for the future of the 150 acres of land at Brodie South.

The head of the study group, Dan Eddy, has reached out to all parties of interest in hopes the town can come together and come up with a plan for the land that benefits everyone.

“This isn’t anything that is going to happen tomorrow, we have plenty of time to discuss all our options. The cooperation is there,” Eddy said.

The goal is to have the study group eventually come up with a master plan for the land at Brodie South. Previous reports had stated the Recreation Commission had wanted to develop the land into more sports fields for the town’s growing recreational sports programs, however according to Eddy the goal is to make the vast majority of the land as open space, however, leaving a possible future option open for a youth recreation sports complex that would take up no more than 10 percent of the land.

“It is not the intention of the town or the Recreation Commission to develop all of Brodie South into sports fields. We recognize that the town’s recreation programs are growing, but not just in sports. People love to have open space to walk their dogs, or go on hikes, so we want to preserve as much space as possible,” John Maschi, also in the study group and on the Recreation Commission said.

While the goal is to preserve as much space as possible, the option to use 10 percent for the growing youth sports programs is a valid concern.

“Our recreation department, under the leadership of director Dennis Minor, has grown and expanded significantly over the last 7 or 8 years. It is beginning to incorporate all ages in town and encompasses all groups and we want to be able to provide for all of those programs. We are looking into starting a lacrosse program, as well as field hockey. Both sports require big fields that we don’t have currently. Our long running girls softball team does not even have a legitimate softball field, they try to use the baseball fields, which are currently too small for their needs,” Maschi said.

The town is just in the beginning stages of looking into all of the options for Brodie South, and has made no final recommendations or reports, nor are they in any rush too. When the group does come up with a final recommendation for the land that all parties agree on, it would go to the Recreation Commission, as the Commission is responsible for allocating any un-used, town owned land that is not planned for anything else, however the final plan would also go through the First Selectman before any action is taken in terms of planning, building, or funding.

Lindsey Burrill can be reached by e-mail at lburrill@registercitizen.com. Follow us on Twitter at twitter.com/registercitizen.

http://www.registercitizen.com/articles/2011/01/17/news/doc4d33c9b9e5da8968663636.txt

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