BETTER THAN HEARSAY - Beginning and Ending

WINDHAM - An appeal for the formation of a special committee focused on the future of the Mountaintop Little League continues to be denied.

Town council members, last Thursday night, were again visited by a group of residents voicing their opposition to the creation of two little league baseball fields at the Windham Path.

Over the past several months, controversy has swirled around the possible project which was initially announced this past winter.

Officials say nothing is written in stone about moving to the Windham Path, emphasizing that engineers have merely provided sketches showing the fields could feasibly be situated there, in a northeastern corner.

Some resistance was quickly expressed, however, by business owners Drew Shuster and Nick Bove who requested the fields be elsewhere.

Which is where the wrangling began and remains - with tensions rising at virtually every council session since the late spring.

Police officers are no longer being asked to attend, in case frictions boil over, but the gatherings can be characterized as becoming tensely redundant and going nowhere fast.

Shuster and Bove have been joined by others such as resident Jonathan Gross who is one of many asking for the formation of the committee.

That committee would apparently include representatives from the town council, the group “Preserve the Windham Path” (of which Gross is a member) and the Little League.

Gross has frequently spoken and spoke again, last week, saying, “this may be a recurring theme but there are those of us looking for alternatives.

“We are having a hard time understanding why you would not engage with us where our voices could really be heard,” as part of the committee.

“You have forced us to work outside of the system. We don’t want to work outside of you. We want to work with you [on finding a different site]. Will you help form a committee?” Gross said.

“We will not form a committee,” Hoyt said, noting he was responding for the entire 5-member town council. “We have had an open dialogue at these meetings over the last three or four months.”

Council members, as part of their normal practice, have opened the floor to public comment, extending the length of their bi-monthly sessions from the normal forty minutes or less to sometimes two hours and longer.

“If you find us 10 acres of land with $100,000 of infrastructure [suitable for a little league field] we will look at it. This isn’t just Tom Hoyt talking. This is the whole board,” Hoyt said.

Which is where the wrangling began and remains. Government leaders have insisted they are considering any and all options, none of which measure up to the town already owning the Windham Path lands.

“Preserve the Windham Path” members and others are equally adamant they want to be and ought to be more directly involved in decisions.

Windham resident and former Greene County legislator Lori Torgersen has spoken at several meetings, and presented a memorandum to the town council at the most recent session.

“Please find attached 46 additional pages with 327 new signatures (totaling 1.371 people including nearly 350 Windham residents) all urging all of you, the elected leaders of the town of Windham, not to site a ballfield complex on the Windham Path…” the memorandum states.

The memorandum follows an earlier petition given to the council and further requests that the town board instead…”work with the Mountaintop Little League to find another alternative to address their needs.”

Government leaders say they are giving attention to the project due to a loss of available parking at the current field, located along South Street.

Generations of kids have used the ballpark but parking has been reduced after the adjoining landowners pursued business opportunities including construction of residential housing.

Little league president John Garzone has termed the current field “unsafe,” and the town is not obliged to be involved, legally or otherwise, although government officials have opted to help.

Opponents to the placement of the fields at the Path say they will do irreparable harm to the natural vista and irreplaceable quiet.

Torgersen’s memorandum continued, “you have said publicly, on more than one occasion, In essence, that you will not be reviewing these documents, and that only voters in the town of Windham have a legal right to express their opinions.

“I implore you, Mr. Hoyt and each of the town board members, to think very differently,” the memorandum states.

“The movement to preserve the Windham Path is growing organically and exponentially and I anticipate that you will continue to hear a clear and resounding message that you must value and preserve this beloved resource,” the memorandum stated.

It is expected council members will make a decision on whether to move forward or not, this fall, largely based on funding and if a presently unknown alternative site somehow emerges.

“We should know more by then,” Hoyt said, noting he has reached out to a number of possible outside funding sources, receiving positive feedback.