I love baseball too, but…
Posted by - Bruce Winn : Category - Conservation Commissions, Pittsfield City Government, Wahconah Park, WetlandsA recent Pittsfield Gazette story highlighted the controversy surrounding flooding in the area around Deming Park in Pittsfield. Local residents are angry over mistakes made by the Pittsfield Parks Commission and the Pittsfield Conservation Commission. A second, seemingly unrelated story has me concerned.
According to the Gazette, “Ontario Street homeowners led by Dan Miraglia have challenged the city’s activities at the park, which they feel have violated the law and contributed to an ever-worsening flood problem impacting their residential properties. ‘There is a constant flooding problem in that particular area,’ he said.” (1)
Part of the controversy centers on a new batting cage that was built for the Babe Ruth baseball league in Deming Park. There was no permit issued for this work by the Conservation Commission even though the work was in the floodplain.
According to the Gazette, “The parks commission approved the batting cage — paid for by the Babe Ruth league — in February, during a meeting when all votes were illegal because a quorum was not present. The cage was then installed and in March, the commission ‘corrected’ the votes by voting as a package to reaffirm all February actions, without any deliberation. (1)
“Since a permit wasn’t pulled, there was no abutter notification,” said Miraglia. “Basically when the batting cage went in, no one knew about it… If a permit was applied for, the abutters would have gotten a notice…that process did not happen.” (1)
You might think that it’s easy for the Chairperson of the Pittsfield Conservation Commission to miss the fact that the Babe Ruth League was building batting cages in a floodplain, or that it’s easy for the President of the Babe Ruth League to not know that a permit is needed when you build in a floodplain. However, the Chairperson of the Pittsfield Conservation Commission, Jim Conant, is the President of Pittsfield’s Babe Ruth League.
Now let’s move across town to another of Pittsfield’s flood-prone areas. I’ve been writing for a long time about how Pittsfield’s Conservation Commission seems to be turning its back on easy ways to aleviate the flooding at Wahconah Park; focusing exclusively on what it calls “improvements” to the parking lot. BEAT believes that the Pittsfield Conservation Commission has been hurrying the construction process at Wahconah Park at the expense of the environment and at the expense of taxpayers.
In February of 2009, the Pittsfield Gazette ran a story explaining that residents in the area of the First Street Common wanted the annual Gillette Carnival to be held somewhere other than in their neighborhood. According to the Gazette, “James Conant, president of the Babe Ruth baseball league, requested that his organization be allowed to host Pittsfield-based Gillette Shows at the park, as has occurred for the past several years. ‘It will be the same operation as in the past,’ said Conant.’ The annual event is a key fundraiser for the baseball program: ‘it provides about one-third our funding mechanism.” Conant further added that he expected this to be the last year the event would be held at the Common.
Two members of the Parks Commission then voted 2-0 to allow the Carnival to use the site again. According to the Gazette, Commissioner Cliff Nilan, “… did acknowledge the need to find a new site for the carnival. ‘Last summer was supposed to be the last summer we were going to hold this event at the Common,’ he said. ‘Let’s hope this will be the last year.’… Nilan added that renovations of the Wahconah Park parking lot may allow the relocation of the event to that site in future years. ‘You hope to hold this event next year at Wahconah Park,’ he said.”
June 27th, 2010 at 2:59 pm
[...] about the city’s repeated violations of environmental law at Wahconah Park in Pittsfield (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8). The violations continue. To minimize flooding in the parking lot, which [...]