Community Corner
Sears Park Construction Underway
The work will include a new driveway that will link the boat launch road with the park road.
Work has begun on a drainage and driveway project in Sears Park and will continue through May 20.Â
The project, which is part of a larger, multi-phase plan for improving the park on Lake Pocotopaug, is intended to improve traffic flow in the park, limit storm water runoff into the lake and make it easier for park workers to check boats that are being brought into the park and launched into the lake at a boat ramp there.Â
Ruth Checko, director of the town's Parks and Recreation Department, said the first phase of the implementation of the town's Sears Park Master Plan, adopted several years ago by the town, will include the construction of a new driveway that will connect the two separate driveways that exist right now at the park.Â
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The other part of the work will include installing drainage systems to limit runoff into the lake during storms, Checko said.Â
Overall, the work is costing $158,000 and is being paid for out of the town's capital improvement budget and the Sears Park Improvement Fund, Checko said. Some of the money in the fund, she said, are raised from the $50 boat stickers the town sells. Â
Until the work is completed, she added, the park's pavilion will not be available for rentals and the bath houses will not be operating.Â
Other plans for the park, Checko added, includes a new playscape and, ultimately, moving the boat launch to the far northern corner of the property.
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