Will Fairfield's Girls Finally Get Their Field?

Scott Walker just wants his girls to have a place of their own to play softball. Kirk Manley just doesn’t want it in his backyard. The summers-long debate over plans by the Fairfield Little League Girls Softball to build a field on Hoydens Lane raged again Tuesday night, this time in a public hearing before the Plan and Zoning Commission.

“We weren’t expecting this much of a challenge,” league president Walker told the board. Currently, the girls softball league uses Little League baseball and adult softball fields when it can get time. But those fields have different dimensions than Little League Softball-regulated fields. With the Plan and Zoning Commission’s final approval, they would finally have the proper space to play.

But neighbors expressed concerns about a range of issues. Some said the space should be left untouched and kept as an open meadow. Others, including Hoydens Lane resident Manley, are worried about the added traffic burdens on the quiet neighborhood. “It’s going to completely change the current rural character of our street,” said Manley.

Fairfield’s Board of Selectmen, Board of Finance and Representative Town Meeting all approved $350,000 in bonding to construct the field on town land on Hoydens Lane. Opponents gathered enough signatures to bring the issue to a voter referendum in August. At the polls, more 2,398 Fairfielders voted against the plan, compared with 1,199 for it. But the referendum needed 8,848 votes against the field to overturn the RTM’s decision.

Now, the zoning board can only base its decision on whether the field would be too intrusive to the surrounding neighborhood to outweigh the benefit to the town. The commission will hear more debate at its next meeting March 22. If his field is approved, Walker hopes it will be ready by the 2012 season. Until then, the girls will continue to squeeze in time on the town’s baseball fields.

Where do you stand on the softball field issue? Join our own “public hearing” in the comments below.

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