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State, New Fairfield square off over safety at Squantz Pond

The state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection is acknowledging that it makes sense to turn walkers away when the parking lot is full at Squantz Pond State Park.  New Fairfield officials raised concerns last week over pedestrian safety and swim safety. 

 

DEEP spokesman Dennis Schain says right now they don't have any legal authority to stop people from walking in.  The agency would have to go to the standing Committee on Regulations and Review to get that approved. But he says it would be physically difficult to police the whole border area of the park to prevent people from walking in. 

 

There's a history of drownings at the park, 14 people in the last two decades, and First Selectman Susan Chapman says the previous administration worked hard to reverse that.  DEEP implemented a 250 car limit.  She believes that allowing unlimited walk-ins undermines the safety of the park.  She wants to keep the swim area safe.

 

Schain acknowledged that the parking was limited in order to have a manageable crowd, and walk-ins means there will be more people than planned for.

 

Another concern is pedestrian safety.  Route 39 is narrow, and there are no real shoulders on either side of the road.  People have been parking in local business lots and neighborhoods along the way, even walking about two miles from the Town Park to Squantz Pond.  In an effort to prevent that, New Fairfield has raised the parking fee at the Town Park for non-residents from $25 to $40.

 

Chapman was told that DEEP would be putting a new fulltime ranger in place this fall, but she notes that that doesn't help during the busiest season of the year.  Chapman says the person she spoke to at DEEP, whom she did not name, told her they cause this type of problem in other towns too, which she sees as the agency being out of touch with the problems they create.

 

Chapman has reached out to the state's legislative delegation.  They are in the process of setting up a meeting between officials to hash out the problems and potential solutions.  There was some help offered after the July 4th weekend, but Chapman says she hasn't seen the support back from DEEP like she did that weekend.

 

Another reason DEEP might want to try to prevent people parking elsewhere is that the fee charged at the park is only for vehicles, not walk-ins.  It's $13 for state residents on weekends and $9 on weekdays, plus tax.  Out of the state residents parking at the park pay $22 on weekends and $15 on weekdays, plus tax.

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Markley van Camp Robbins

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