[Updated to include the number of times per week and the hours during which Football practice took place at Brodie Park South; Thursday, March 1]
The Rec Commission met on Wednesday, February 1, with members of the Friends Of Brodie Park South (FOBPS) in attendance. Rec Commission Chairman John Maschi began the meeting by inviting the members of FOBPS to address the Commission, which they did.
The Friends of the town park began by showing a short video shot by members of their group during the Fall of 2011 when Football was practicing in the field area at the park. The video included all the elements that went beyond the normal use of a town park by an organized group and that had spurred the formation of the FOBPS group whose members then brought the situation at the park to the attention of the town’s selectmen and various commissions to ask for their intervention. The video showed the field area after dark being lit up by construction lights and the lights of vehicles parked inside the park while groups of young football players practiced. The sounds recorded were those of the generator which powered the construction lights and of the whistles and shouts and cheers that could be heard by residents as far away from the field area as West Hill Road. The practices took place four to five evenings a week plus some Saturdays, with football players arriving at the park from 4:30 p.m. on and continuing their practices well after dark and not leaving the field area until sometimes 9 p.m. The Friends of Brodie Park South reminded the Rec Commission members that the use of the field area by Football until well after dark had been allowed to continue unhindered through the end of their season despite the FOBPS’ appeals to the town’s selectmen, the Rec Commission, the Planning & Zoning Commission, the Brodie Park South Study Group/Committee and the town’s police. Having shown the Rec Commission members the recording of the situation at the park last summer and fall, the FOBPS members asked the Rec Commission to take the steps necessary to prevent the same situation occurring this coming summer.
Following is the video of the FOBPS presentation to the Rec Commission as well as the discussion of other items dealt with by commission members at that meeting.
Click on the image above to watch the video on the NewHartfordPlus channel on YouTube
