| 4.0 MASTER PLAN
This plan has been changed in conjunction with the School Building Committee's plans for a new high school. The new plan is quite different than this one and saves $1,000,000 in costs because of state reimbursements available for the school building project. Click here to see the new plan. Ryan Complex Witek Park Bradley School (Amendola Complex) Summary A graphic plan has been prepared that conceptually illustrates the scope of improvements proposed for the outdoor athletic facilities at Derby High School. The conceptual master plan includes a conceptual program for expanding the existing school buildings as prepared by the architectural firm of Fletcher Thompson Associates. The issue of how school expansion requirements are to be ultimately resolved has remained an open question throughout the length of the master plan study. The following is a summary of plan elements proposed and the design and use implications that the master plan creates. 4.1.1 DeFilippo Field The master plan calls for an all weather track, and a synthetic surface athletic field to be constructed on the site of the current football field. This would accommodate a high school track facility to support a track program that has been unable to conduct home meets for many years. In addition, the track facility will be available to the general community for public use, including senior citizens and possibly new recreation programming. The facility is to retain lights to allow for night as well as day usage. The construction of this facility would accommodate both the heavy use demands of football as well as the increases occurring in the soccer program. To accomplish the construction, it will be necessary to remove a portion of the field house and/or relocate a portion of the home field bleachers. In addition, the existing baseball field will be removed and relocated to Witek Park. Related improvements include visitor bleacher relocation, renovations to site access off of Chatfield Street and new pedestrian sidewalks and pathways linking the field to the adjacent fields and property. 4.1.2 Picnic Grove An expanded multi-use field is designed to accommodate soccer or football practice. In order to develop a full sized sports field, it will be necessary to relocate the pavilion structure off site and excavate into the steep embankments. It is anticipated that Witek Park will be a future pavilion site. Paved parking for approximately 25 new spaces is depicted and the existing basketball and tennis courts are to remain. New pedestrian walkways are to link up the picnic grove field to adjacent fields and facilities. The field area to be expanded should receive new topsoil and lawn and should be irrigated. 4.1.3 Upper Sports (Uluski) Field This field area requires significant renovation efforts to allow for safe and efficient sports activities. A combination of rock removal and topsoil installation in conjunction with provisions for new lawn and field irrigation will provide for a significant upgrade in field quality. The master plan proposes that the little league baseball field be relocated to allow for expanded flexibility and accommodation for sports practices and soccer usage. The relocation of little league baseball to a new complex at Bradley Elementary School will allow for the high school to further develop a campus style character for the facilities. Field events for track will be able to take place on this upper field and there is room to accommodate a high school girl's softball field to complement the lower softball field. Currently, school softball games and practices are divided by fields being across town from one another. 4.1.4 Softball Field Currently used for girl's softball and boy's soccer practice, this field is to be retained as the main softball field for the high school girl's teams. With relatively minor renovations such as fencing, topdressing, irrigation and some site drainage work, this facility can be updated and improved for softball. Pedestrian circulation from the school to the field needs to be improved with provisions for steps and railings. Current walkways do not provide safe access to the field. In general, the master plan calls for improved sidewalks and pedestrian circulation around the property. This system of sidewalk updates should be incorporated into the field improvements as various phases move forward. 4.1.5 Indoor Facilities Although it was beyond the scope of this study to provide for the planning needs of the school system's indoor athletic facilities, discussions were held concerning basic needs for the high school and middle school. The Derby High School principal and athletic director explained the pressing need for a new high school gymnasium to create an adequate facility for the winter sports programs. This is considered an important element of any school expansion program, both to separate middle school and high school programs as well as to provide basic program services and functions that cannot be handled within the single existing gymnasium. Indoor recreation facilities provided by the school system are used extensively by the Parks and Recreation programs as they are made available. Currently, the indoor facilities have severe limitations for scheduling recreation programming. The issue of indoor facility expansion has been viewed throughout this study as a separate project, directed by the School Building Committee. 4.1.6 Additional Plan Elements The Outdoor Recreation Committee requested that as part of the master plan provision for a skate park be sited at the high school. The space anticipated for this use is to be paved and is shown in an area of existing parking below Uluski Field. The skate park can be constructed as a community effort or can be assembled on a contract basis. In either case, a gated 10' high chain link fence enclosure is recommended with adequate area to support the half pipes, jumps, rails and apparatus that comprise the park. The skate park will require supervision when in use and the City will need to explore the insurance requirements that control the operation of this kind of facility. Sidewalks are shown linking this element to other areas of the Derby High School site. In general, improvements to pedestrian circulation are shown on the master plan. New sidewalks will aid ease of access for the public and many inadequate walkways are to be replaced with new walks. 4.2 Witek Park The 143-acre park that includes an ±8.5-acre lower pond and ±35-acre upper pond has been incorporated into the outdoor recreation master plan with a conceptual design that depicts three large multipurpose athletic fields, two baseball fields, two tennis courts, a maintenance, storage and bathroom facility, a picnic pavilion, and a sand volley ball court all located on a proposed gravel, looped road layout with gravel parking areas. The property is a large site that currently is an undeveloped open space. The portion of the property proposed for ballfields and active recreation lies on the east side of the ponds, on the moderately sloped meadow hillside that rises above the ponds. There is a network of wetland soils that feed into the ponds and the conceptual design includes plans for the wetlands to remain in a natural condition with minimal road crossings and impacts on the wetlands. The majority of the site is also planned to remain in an undisturbed condition, with approximately 26 to 28 acres dedicated to new site access and active recreation. This equates to approximately 20% of the site being made available for new activities. Witek Park is viewed as integral to any effort the City of Derby puts forth to provide adequate ballfields for the community. It has the potential for giving the City a long range solution for meeting the outdoor active recreation needs for Derby when combined with other elements proposed in the master plan for Bradley School and Derby High School. There is no comparable site available to the City that can accommodate the need for soccer fields and baseball fields that are capable of being sited at Witek Park. In fact, should the City opt to construct a standard all weather track at the high school, Witek Park has been identified as the only property available in which to relocate the high school baseball field. Should Derby move forward with elements of the master plan for Witek Park, phasing of construction can easily be programmed. Given the attached cost projections for developing the site, this concept of phased construction may be desirable for Derby. During the course of the Study, two public hearings were held to discuss the master plan and both times Witek Park and the future of the property were focuses of interest. Abutting neighbors along the southerly property line with Kings Court, Bradley Terrace, and David Humphreys Road expressed concern over possible development of ballfields adjacent to their properties. The master plan presentation to neighborhood groups detailed the plans as providing ballfields that are to be built on the more moderate grades of the property with access to the site opposite Laurel Avenue. The park can easily be gated for controlled access and no night play or ballfield lighting is proposed as part of the master plan. The ballfields are capable of being graded into the existing slopes and can be constructed as attractive open lawn areas that complement the overall character of the property. In conjunction with the ballfield concepts, it is proposed that the hiking trails, fishing access, picnic areas, and wildlife enjoyment opportunities are to remain integral elements of the overall park property and opportunities for the public to enjoy these functions will be enhanced by increased access to the site as well as any improvements the City may wish to provide for these passive recreation activities. The master plan envisions that the picnic grove pavilion at Derby High School is relocated as a functional element to Witek Park. This is a logical goal given the wide range of recreation opportunities available at Witek Park and the attractive pondside setting available for a picnic pavilion. This outdoor space is shown on the conceptual master plan as a three field little league complex with a centrally located fieldhouse/concession stand/bathroom facility and one softball field. The three little league fields are sited with the most desirable solar orientation and two of the fields are capable of being fenced for tournament play. In addition, new parking is proposed at the school to help accommodate a currently unsatisfactory vehicular circulation system. The development of this concept requires several significant modifications to the current field layout. Lighting for an existing baseball field is to be removed, as is the soccer field currently used for school and recreation programming. This field and formal soccer use is designed on the master plan to take place on new fields planned for Witek Park. In a similar situation, existing tennis courts are to be removed and new tennis courts are to be constructed at Witek Park. It will be necessary to provide for field expansion at Bradley by bringing in fill material for new embankments in the southeast portion of the site. The development of a new softball field at Bradley, in combination with the two proposed baseball fields at Witek Park, will provide a third large baseball field for public use. It is anticipated that these new fields will be irrigated and that the existing pavilion will be painted and the playground is to remain. 4.4 Summary Development of a new active sports recreation area at Witek Park, the reconstruction of Bradley School to serve primarily little league baseball and softball, and the provisions for new all weather track and field surfaces at Derby High School in combination with renovated and expanded fields are the foundation elements of the Derby Outdoor Recreation Master Plan Study. Should the improvements be looked upon favorably from a funding point of view and construction move forward to accomplish the general outline of planned improvements, then the City of Derby will be well positioned to serve the public needs now and in the long term future for active sports field recreation. The City will need to account for the increased maintenance requirements that come with expanded facilities but with provisions for well designed equipment in combination with irrigation systems for new and existing turf areas, the maintenance requirements can be managed at a more efficient level than is now the case. The construction of an all weather track and field will dramatically reduce annual costs of field maintenance, and should this facility be constructed, great flexibility will be achieved for field programs and use. Relative to the phasing of the improvements, field construction at Witek Park is viewed as the logical first step to implementing the master plan design. Providing new multi-use fields for soccer, football, and recreation programming will give an immediate positive impact to the outdoor recreation needs for Derby. In addition, the construction of two new baseball fields at Witek Park will set the stage for the eventual reconstruction of fields at Bradley Elementary School and Derby High School. Once a track is built at the high school, then baseball will move to Witek Park. Improvements at Bradley Elementary School will enable the upper field at Derby High School to be renovated for high school and middle school use. |