Hey, Jade and Tony.

Yes.

Hey, happy new year to Happy New Year.

Happy New Year to you too, Robbie.

Tony.

I haven't seen you guys in a while.

How you been?

Good.

Oh, it was only last year that we saw us, but you want to give it um maybe one more minute for Jennifer to join before we get started.

Um just to note that um I noticed as an attendee is uh Leda Kagan, which is our uh uh director of administration, our interim director of administration.

I'm not sure if she needs to be a panelist or not, but um just wanted you to be aware.

And forgive me for asking, but um I don't I don't know your name.

No, apologies.

Um sorry, I um I'm Kendall Ritchie.

I just joined the land use bureau last month.

And no Lindsay tonight.

No, unfortunately she's sick with the flu.

Oh, ouch.

Okay.

Yeah.

So um I'm just covering for her, just making sure that everything's running smoothly.

I'm having some trouble with my video.

Um, so let me address that.

But um, yeah, if anybody um in the members of the public that want to speak, um if you are having any any trouble, um you can message me separate, the Stanford Land Use, and I'll try to help you troubleshoot.

That way we don't disrupt the flow of the meeting.

Okay.

Yeah.

The window.

There we go.

Better.

Jeremy, how are you today?

Good chat.

How about you saw?

How was your holiday?

It was very nice, thank you.

Yeah, nice, nice, quiet.

Didn't go any place.

Nice.

It's good.

But it unfortunately it seems like it was such a long time ago now.

Yes.

A few weeks.

Yeah.

Is that what's your doggy's name in the background?

Uh Bodie.

Booty.

Ah, he he recognizes his name when you said it.

He's a puppy.

Yes.

Ah, cute.

Is Ravi in the meeting?

Uh he was a moment ago.

He was a moment ago.

I'm on.

I just I just had to take a call, so I'm on.

Can you hear and see me, guys?

Yeah.

Thanks.

And you're you're if it matters to you, your chin is on the bottom of your um your image as well.

That there.

So Tony, uh, the file that we use is the one in the folder, the version two.

Yes.

Okay.

And the tab is the dashboard tab.

The tab is the well, the worksheet tab is the uh we'll we'll show you each project.

And I have the page number and column A.

Um the dashboard's a summary of the worksheet.

Okay.

Are we going to go through the worksheet or dashboard?

Um it's up to you guys.

I'm gonna follow your lead.

I mean, um, you know, however.

I'm not sure how you're gonna do this public session.

So um okay.

I I personally found the dashboard more convenient, but I leave it to the rest of the rest of the group.

Lindsay, I guess I could get it started here, but I I don't know what Jennifer per se had had planned here.

Um yeah, sorry.

For uh for reference, this is uh Kendall Richie.

I'm covering for Lindsay.

Okay, no problem.

Um yes, I'm beyond making sure that we're respecting time and keeping the meeting flowing.

Um I'm not super aware of how you guys were planning on conducting this either.

So Jennifer is not joining.

She has my understanding is she was.

I emailed her earlier to let her know that I was covering for Lindsay.

I haven't received a response.

Uh well, this is a public hearing.

I'm I'm just looking at the agenda.

I'm not sure if you guys have it up.

Um I'm supposed to read the legal notice to start the meeting.

I guess we need to call the meeting to order first if we're gonna start.

Right.

Oh, so you're gonna read the notice, Ravi.

Yeah, are we open?

Are we open?

Are we starting the meeting now?

Maybe um Jennifer's having some kind of problem getting on.

I see.

Kendall, are you um have you started recording or yes?

We are already recording.

Um I will email Jennifer right now and confirm.

Jeremy, why don't you just um call the meeting to order with uh the time, etc., etc.

Okay.

Good evening, and I will call our uh Stanford Planning Board public hearing uh to order for Tuesday, January 13th at 6 39 p.m.

And Ravi, I guess would you like to uh here with our legal notice?

Yes, I need to start uh read the legal notice into the records uh in accordance with section C 611.3 of the Stanford Charter, the Stanford Planning Board will hold a public hearing on Tuesday, the 13th of January 2026 at 6.30 p.m.

via phone and internet video conferencing to hear public comments on the recommended capital budget for 2026-27 and the capital plan for 2027 to 2033.

Copies of the above documents are available on the planning board website at www.stanford ct.gov slash government slash boards iPhone commission slash planning board.

The meeting is accessible to physically impaired, therefore hearing impaired person persons wishing to participate in the meeting or who requires special assistance may make arrangements by contacting the city of Stanford ADA coordinator at least two business days before the meeting.

Attested by Jennifer Godzino, Stanford Planning Board dated on the 7th of January 2026.

Back to you, Jeremy.

Tony, thanks.

Do you happen to have a um uh access to share the the overall file that we're we all should be looking at?

So yes, I'm prepared to show whatever the board desires.

I have the project sheets.

I have the Excel file I can share.

Um why don't I let me see here?

Let me uh share oh I gotta send a request.

I just sent a request to share a file.

I just allowed it.

Okay.

Thank you.

And uh do we have any members of the public waiting to join?

Not waiting to join, but we have um several waiting to speak.

Um we'll call on you and we get to that portion of the meeting.

Okay.

All right, so I'm currently showing the Excel file that's shared with the planning board, and I am at the dashboard tab.

I can uh I'm not seeing anything, Tony.

Let me stop sharing.

We're calling what uh Lindsay uh I'm sorry, uh share.

One more share.

There we go.

Now we got it.

There we are.

Okay, good.

Okay.

Um so I'm showing the dashboard, which is a summary by agency.

Um, but I I can show the worksheet, I can show the project sheets, uh, you know, whatever you desire.

I'm prepared to uh move forward.

Yeah.

I have a question, Jeremy.

If you don't mind.

Yeah, please.

Um last year, um, we did not take the time to go through project by project.

But if I'm recalling correctly, um we've all had a chance to look this over.

This um this was the last uh version that the uh planning board um put forth uh in at its last meeting in December.

So maybe it makes sense to just ask if anyone has any you know proposed changes to this um you know uh at a um an operating department level, you know, um for example you're saying checked by the the members of the planning board, yes.

Yeah, yeah, Bob or Bill.

Do you guys have any any um comment on any of the amounts uh that are allocated to each uh department here based off their uh requests?

Yeah, I have uh two points, Jeremy, and I think chat you did the heavy lifting this time around.

I think so.

Thank you, but thank you very much for that, you and Jennifer.

Uh but what and I was not there for some of this meeting.

So what is this row number 22?

Uh community development office of the mayor.

Oh, that uh that's the affordable housing.

Oh, the whole thing is affordable housing?

Yep.

Okay, okay.

And then there are a couple of uh new projects, uh, the Stanford Lighthouse Project and the uh I think the Avon Theater as well.

And to me, not giving them anything at all, not allocating allocating zero funds for them seems uh pretty discouraging.

So I would recommend that we may not be able to afford the whole request they asked for, but probably we can fund them a little bit so that they can get started on these two projects.

Other than that, I have uh no other concerns.

Okay.

Tony, I I see that the uh bonded amount um at this stage of the capital budget's development is at 50 million and change.

Um my recollection is that our safe debt limit um is 35 million.

Um but there's been no discussion um by the board since that was announced.

Um we've had no internal discussions about, you know, is the is the expectation that we're going to bring this down further in the in this regard, or or that the planning board can put this forward as its recommendation, and the mayor and the board of finance can um proceed from there.

So if I can add to that, um, if that's okay.

Um we uh the uh administration did go to the board of finance in the on the January 8th meeting and uh Board of Finance elected to hold the safe debt uh limit letter uh till next month.

Uh there they would they're looking to uh get more information from us and uh to make a determination now.

Uh today the uh chair of the uh Board of Finance, Marilou Ronaldo did send a letter to uh Jen.

Um not sure if anyone else received it, um, but she in her letter stated that um that she would uh anticipate that they would be at 35 million dollars at the at the safe debt limit for the uh for the February meeting.

Um the planning board is its own entity.

I mean, that's just a guideline to be 35 million, but you certainly don't have to be at 35 million.

It's it's just what um what the uh city is uh prepared to bond or move forward in bond funds uh to be fiscally responsible.

Is that 35 including the board of education?

No, 35 is is new newish, it would be part of the 27 budget cycle.

Right.

So how does that equate to the 50 million out of the Apple?

Because I think the 50 million includes the Board of Education, right?

Oh, I'm sorry, yeah.

The 35 million does include the Board of Education, but if you were to uh approve this at 50 million dollars, um then um the mayor, board of finance and board of reps would most likely try to get it to the safe debt letter limit of 35 million.

Um that's a guess.

I I would assume they would do that, but again, each each board and the mayor are their own entity, so during the budget cycle.

Understood.

We haven't um received any input yet from the mayor, have we?

No, the the mayor will uh look at this after that done, and then um she if she decides to add new projects that weren't in the request, then that would come back to the planning board.

Um, but she has the ability to increase or decrease a uh a request that has been presented to the planning board uh based on our charter.

Okay, Robbie, if I heard you correctly, um uh your comment was focused on the uh Stanford Harbor Lighthouse and the Avon Theater.

Is that correct?

Yes, I was not aware of this uh debt limit, you know, now that for 35, but that I'll say it for the minute.

Uh I think the other uh allocation seem uh reasonably fair.

Um I think last year we uh this traffic and road maintenance, for example, is where we at the end of the day we manage to save some money, and then that's how we realize if you have to stick to the 35 million, I think that's the biggest chunk, and that will have to probably come down.

But otherwise, I think uh I'm okay with this what I see on the screen.

Um may I if please if if I'm overstepping, please say so.

But um I I believe this is a public session, and I I think it'd be worth that the planning board listen to what the public has to say about these projects.

Sure.

And that could probably help you make decisions after everyone speaks.

Yeah, Tony, what thank you for that.

And I think what I'd like to say is that um you know, I think it is important for us to to hear the the public comments, and um, you know, I also believe it's important that you know we try to achieve the the safe debt limit um in our recommendation that we provide to to the mayor and and the other departments thereafter.

Um but need to to revisit you know some of these amounts once uh we we do get the public input here.

Tony, can you could make the summary just a little bit larger?

Or as large, yeah, as much larger as you can.

Yeah, even that's better.

Great.

Thank you.

Um just so that I understand it.

Today's hearing is just to take input.

We're not make taking any actions today, correct?

That is how I understand it, Bill.

Yes.

Yeah, me too.

Yeah.

So I don't know that today is really the uh day to be talking about what we think should be added or subtracted.

I think we're just here to listen today.

Correct.

Yes, we we are here to listen, but but there will we will need to revisit that uh you know either at our next regular scheduled meeting or or prior to our next regular regularly scheduled meeting.

So with that, um I believe we can start the the public uh hearing portion of the meeting.

And um I believe there is a list of people that have expressed interest in um speaking at this public hearing.

I don't know that we need to defer to the list.

I mean, we need to I I think you guys need to read any written comments into the record.

Um, but otherwise I think we can just go based on the order that people have their hands raised.

Yeah, I guess my only comment was if there was anybody that that was um that did uh you know pre-sign up that that we you know if they are in attendance, we we should probably start with them uh once we read the written testimony into the record.

I'm I'm only aware of one piece of written testimony that was circulated to us, and that was uh today, I believe, or yesterday.

Um I don't have a copy of that.

Um I'm gonna need the on you guys for that.

This this is the one from the um president of the Dolphin Cove Association regarding Bukutsi Park.

Yes.

The rest of you get that as well.

Correct.

Yeah.

Then in the absence of any other written documentation, perhaps we should start there.

I think there was uh one more in that same male uh I think it related to uh the Rose Hartmann Park, Rosa Hartmann Park Trail.

Okay.

And uh that was a uh letter from uh the uh I don't know I think from the park and recreation or I mean I don't know who these people are, but I think it came from the park and recreation commission.

Okay.

So do we need to read the full um letters here into the record?

Yeah, I think that would probably be a good idea.

Okay.

Um is somebody able to read either of those?

I can do that.

So the uh first one uh first letter is from uh open it.

Uh the president of the Dolphin Cool Association, and uh they are requesting that the Bokushi Park, uh, which has been um which was completed in 2027, which was supposed to be completed in 2017, uh has not yet been completed.

So uh they would like us to fund uh subcompletion of this uh development in the current capital budget.

So that is the first feedback on the second document, as I said before, uh relates to the uh Rosa uh Hartman Park and Trail System renovation, and uh they request that the planning board fully support this request.

And uh I don't know which line item it is, but they say CP01281.

So Tony, maybe you can find it later, but uh this is required because uh there is no accessibility to the codes and um this trail has been renovated on the Greenwich side, but not on the Stanford side.

Um Ravi, I I believe um at least in reference to the one of those that I did see, you were summarizing the uh content of the letter as opposed to reading it it in its entirety.

Uh Tony, is what's the protocol in this?

Should we we be reading the entire letter in its word for word, or is the summary okay?

No, you you should.

I mean, in the past you read the letter in its entirety.

Um just for the record.

So Robbie, you want to try again?

So the second letter is two pages, I think.

Okay.

Uh you want me to read the whole two pages again?

Yeah.

Um, yes.

Okay.

If you I can read the first one here from uh the Tony Soupas, the president of Dolphin Cove.

Uh, with the Stanford Planning Board members, as the president of Dolphin Cove, I represent a community of 104 homes, whose community lies within 100 yards of Bucosey Park.

We are urging members of the planning board to secure the necessary funding to achieve what was envisioned over eight years ago for Bukosi Park.

We appreciate the progress that has been made, but we cannot stand by and watch continuous delays leave us with a half-finished project that has failed to deliver what we believed was a committed and funded project.

The master plan for the renovation of Bukosie Park was completed in late 2017.

We understand disruptions caused by COVID in the normal delays that come with infrastructure projects.

However, after eight years, I believe the community should expect and deserve that its community leaders find a way to deliver on their commitments.

Having the park as a perpetual construction site is unacceptable, especially as we have seen funding approved for other park projects.

We believe this investment in Bacosy Park in the associated recreational facilities supports the town's emphasis on improving and enhancing the overall quality of life for its residents.

As you deliberate in review the 2026 to 27 capital budget and subsequent year plan, please find the necessary funding to support the completion of Bukosie Park Development.

Thank you for your consideration.

Tony Supas President Dolphin Cove.

Thank you.

You want me to read the second one?

Yes.

Yeah, if you yes, that would be helpful, Ravi.

You're right.

Yeah, and it's a good thing I'm reading this because I now realize there are three requests in this letter.

Correct.

Yes.

So this letter is dated the 12th of January 2025.

And uh it is uh it reads, dear members of the planning board, according to the Center for Disease Control, drowning deaths are on the rise in the United States, and drowning is the number one death for children one to four years old, and the second leading cause for children 5 to 12.

Groups at a higher risk saw the greatest increase in deaths.

Children 1 to 4 years old and adults 65 years old and older of all races and ethnicities, as well as black people of all ages.

And they quote uh the CDC website uh to support these statistics.

In 2024, the City of Stanford's lifeguards at approximately 20 to 35 to 30 water incidents due to a lifeguard shortage, beaches have swimmer tier owned risk signs on the only public pool at Dorothy Heroi Park is small, outdoors, remote, and in poor condition.

The West Hill High School pool may not be rebuilt.

Stanford is a city on the Long Island Sound with rivers, resident swimming and many private residences that have pools.

Swimming is a life-saving skill.

Accessible basic swimming and water safety training has proven effective in reducing drowning deaths.

For Stanford to provide affordable lessons, the lack of a public indoor pool infrastructure must be addressed.

A centrally rotated indoor pool would allow summer park camp, would allow park summer camps, school students, and a broader demographic of residents to accessibility to a pool with affordable swim lessons.

They go on to show a chat with showing how many swimming lessons, how many adults have had children swimming lessons, etc.

I will skip that, but let me go back into the text.

In addition, the city of Stanford's population continues to increase, and yet the green space for athletic field use is not keeping pace.

The commission would like the planning board to re consider recommending the full capital request submitted by the land use bureau for the overall needs assessment for city fields, CP 001254, which includes a needs assessment of a centrally located public pool.

Current information compiled by the commission indicates a pressing need for more park athletic field space to accommodate sports other than baseball and softball.

Most existing field space that exists now.

With high demand for athletic field space, a study is needed to compile the usage data for both from both the city park and board of education fields, informing the city and commission which sports require additional field spaces and ways to achieve more athletic field space using existing field space and or new fields, which sports to plan to accommodate in the future, game codes and the best use for allocated funds for athletic fields.

It is imperative during the VOE school construction phase that athletic fields as a whole citywide are studied to allocate the field space accordingly.

The commission fully supports and asks the planning board to reconsider and allocate the full funding for CP001281.

Rosa Hartman Park Trail System Renovation.

The quality of life issues at Rosa Hartmann Park would be reduced if the park was activated and maintained and maintained trails would help.

Greenwich Parks department does renovated the trails on their side of the park, but trails on the Stanford side are overgrown and some areas impossible.

Impossible.

As the planning board can see from the attached capital inventory log and adopted funding, Rosa Hartman Park has not had a capital request proposed in the last five fiscal years.

For the parks and recreation department to complete the tennis courts and basketball court at Cow Island Park, the department requires full funding of items CP400006 because of exorbitant cost increases from previous years cost estimated.

Funding that was allocated last year will be used with the additional requests for 2026 and 2027.

The updated plan would also provide full accessibility to the courts.

We understand that the cost is significant.

However, the department has repeatedly requested funding for Covidland Park as seen from the attached capital inventory and adopted funding logs.

But funding has been significantly reduced each fiscal year.

Coverand is one of the most used parts, yet it is receiving the least amount of money out of those parks.

The commission asks the planning board to please reconsider and allocate full funding for the co tennis and basketball courts.

Thank you for your consideration.

If you have any questions, please reach out to us.

Sincerely, Melanie Hola's chair, Michael Tedder Vice Chair, Angela Aditola Commissioner, Benjamin Pomeran's Commissioner, Paul Newman Commissioner.

My apologies if I mispronounced anybody's name.

Thank you, Ravi, for that.

And uh Jennifer, I believe you joined us here.

Yes, apologies for a bit of a schedule mix-up.

Yes.

So we have read into the record um the two um letters that we received in advance of of tonight's public hearing, and we were getting ready now to let any members of the public hear speak.

Okay.

Um so um should I take a moment to give a little bit of an overview of the budget process and timeline before we uh open public comment?

Yep, please.

I will succeed to uh to you, Chairman.

Great, thank you very much.

Um thank you to all the members of the public who have come to um give comment and testimony.

Um this hearing is uh um insert into a month-long process in which uh first in the fall um in September, uh, city agencies and uh many uh nonprofit organizations outside of the city submit specific budget requests.

Um and so that is what um those are the specific items or um kind of budget funds, for example, like a paving fund that consists of the various items within the budget.

Um, and so first, um, with that in mind, I do encourage um in your testimony if you could indicate specific um items that are in the budget where you are um uh indicating um advice to to make a change uh to that line item.

Uh, we're not able to add anything else in without it being uh sent in as a budget request from an agency or organization.

Um the second thing that I would like to note um is that we do have a site a safe debt limit, um which we are to um keep the total capital budget allocation under.

Um, right now, though it is not 100% official from the um board of finance.

We have received um advice uh from uh the uh city that a 35 million dollar uh safe debt limit um is what we ought to be um aiming for as a target.

Um, that 35 million dollar limit is not inclusive of any um grants or uh that come in from outside of the city.

And so you'll see that the budget that is submitted, the total amount is higher than the 35 uh million, includes grants.

advice uh from uh the uh city that a 35 million dollar uh safe debt limit um is what we ought to be um aiming for as a target um that 35 million dollar limit is not inclusive of any um grants or uh that come in from outside of the city and so you'll see that the budget that is submitted the total amount is higher than the 35 uh million includes grants it also includes um there are uh agencies such as uh the WPCA water pollution uh control which raise their own bonds and so again that doesn't count against the 35 million dollar safe debt limit um and then in terms of process just so that you know um the capital uh or the planning board is responsible for creating basically a first draft of the capital budget after this we submit um our recommendations to the mayor uh typically those recommendations will be a bit in excess of the uh safe debt limit knowing that along the way uh the mayor will make revisions and then finally it will go before the board of finance and the board of representatives who after the mayor has submitted uh their recommended budget cannot add any items they can only cut items um I know all of that just again so that you understand where we are in the process what the purview of the planning board is um as well as other opportunities down the road which will offer which will also offer opportunities for public comment um and then the last thing I will just say is that um we get far in excess of that um safe debt limit in requests we have about a hundred million dollars in requests um and 35 million dollars to allocate it's very difficult um and so um to the extent that um you're able to um I know many of you are likely here to ask for us to increase an allocation um if you're able to make any sort of indication of what we might deprioritize in order to make room for that um not required but really deeply appreciated as we continue to um juggle all these very important priorities for the city um so with all of that context um if you would like to uh speak um at the hearing um you can use the raise hand function um and we will uh uh identify you as a speaker and uh bring you into the queue um and if we I do encourage if we could keep uh comments to a limit of three minutes so that um each uh person has enough time um in the course of our hearing to speak okay Jennifer would you like me to go ahead and um manage the queue for you yes please um so if you can just um it can be helpful to call out um who is up and then uh the next uh person who is uh on deck okay um based on my order Jonathan Gottlin and then Tyra Wallace will be next thank you uh very much um I'm John Gottlieb from Ripleam Corporation which is the development arm of the of Charter Oak Communities which is in turn the housing authority of the city of Stanford I'm sorry that uh my screen tonight doesn't appear to have something where I can show you my face I'm not hiding um I'm speaking tonight briefly regarding the mayor's request for community development which is the three million dollars for affordable housing which um the planning board reduced to 2.5 million um last time when you had your first hearing I made um our sort of standard presentation about the technical side what we were planning to do to the building and and the cost etc and the various funding sources so I won't repeat any of that I mostly wanted to introduce who it turns out is the next speaker which is Tyra Wallace who is a wonderful property manager of our Stamford Manor development she can describe the project and she has with her I believe two of our residents of Stanford Manor and they can give you a much less technical reading on the importance of some of the changes that and improvements we're hoping to make and the impact that those changes will have and also Tyra I think is going to describe a little bit about our population at that development and who is living there and therefore who would benefit from the funding and again just to note that the mayor's recommendation from that three million was two million for Stamford matter.

So thank you very much and I'll turn it over to Tyra.

I'll note that the intention in the 2.5 recommendation was to allocate the full two million for um for this project and then a half million for the other requests again.

After it leaves us, you know, whether it shakes out that way.

It's not necessarily up to us, but um specifically that was the intention of that amount.

You can go ahead and proceed with your um with your testimony.

Hi, can you hear me?

Yes.

Good evening.

My name is Tyra Wallace.

I am the property manager for Stanford Manor here at 26 Main Street in the city of Stanford.

I have with me this evening two of my residents, Maria, Medina, and Wayne Escapille.

Stanford Manor is a 215 uh unit apartment building located here in downtown Stanford.

Um, our population services, 80% of elderly residents and 20% of disabled residents.

So we cater to the lease um to the poorest or um the lowest income uh population here in the city of Stanford.

Um also we have a relationship with the coordinated access network, which is the CAN, where we take one um every fifth applicant we house directly from a shelter or from a homeless situation.

So our building and our housing is very important to the city of Stanford as we cater um to the cities uh with the lowest and population with the lowest income.

Um we are very interested in repairs and improvements to the building.

Um, this building was built very a long time ago.

Um, it's in need of some upgrades.

Um, our residents they see you know other developments that are built around us because we are right here in downtown on Mill River, and they admire you know what's going on in our building is one of the oldest, um, like I said, here um in Stanford.

We're in need of upgrades to our heating system, our fire alarm system.

We can uh use increases in our energy efficiency so that um our utility expenses can be lowered.

Um we need upgrades to our electrical system, we can use repairs to our bricks for our walls and exteriors.

Um, we need to make our units fully accessible uh that can accommodate some of the newer wheelchairs and um other apparatuses that are used for handicapped persons.

Um we're also um we want to improve our safety and our lighting and also security for our most vulnerable population that we service.

We um also require upgrades for our laundry room for mailbox areas, um, and also our community and common rooms, um, common areas because they're important as our residents, some of them um for socialization.

Our community room is very important that they have a place to gather.

You know, uh these are our oldest disabled population.

They don't have, you know, some don't have family, some don't you know associate much with others other than what's in the building.

So it's important that we have a safe space and a um space that can accommodate the needs of our residents to assist them with whatever they need.

Um, next up I have one of my oldest residents here, Maria Medina.

She's been living here at Stanford Manor um for 26 years.

Here you go, Maria.

You could just speak.

This will be fun.

Yeah, please don't care.

This guy.

Gracia.

So I'll just read what she um had said in English.

She said, hi, my name is Maria Medina.

I currently reside at Stanford Manor at 26th Main Street.

I have lived in Stanford Manor for the past 26 years.

We need to upgrade our apartments.

We need new flooring, cabinets, windows, doors, and appliances.

The building could also use better plumbing, lighting, and repairs to our community room and parking lot.

There are a lot of nice new buildings here in downtown Stanford, and we would like our building to be just as nice.

I hope the city will give us the full amount to help make our building a better place to live.

Thank you.

Okay, Wayne is gonna come now.

My name is Wayne Escavelle.

I've been living at Stanford Manor for seven and a half years now.

They're fixing up the neighborhood.

They got a beautiful park here.

They fixed the sidewalks, they fixed the streets.

It's looking nice, but we kind of stand out in the area.

What we need is the parking, the building, the apartments, the parking lot fixed.

We need better lighting out there, we need better plumbing, electrical, and overall upgrades to our apartments.

That would include new apartment new appliances, owner tops, window frames, toilets.

It would be nice to have a laundry and a community room.

It'd also be nice to have the exterior of the building so it looks kind of nice.

Anyway, um anything you could do to help us achieve this would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

Thank you very much for your time.

We appreciate you.

Thank you very much.

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Hi, this is Virgil de la Cruz.

Can you hear me?

Yes.

Yes.

Oh, thank you so much.

Uh, my name is Virgil de la Cruz, member of the Board of Representatives for District 2, Waterside and Environmental Justice Community.

Thank you for the opportunity to cut to comment on the capital budget for 2026-27 and the Capital Plan for following years.

I see on line 27 operations maintenance parks, no funding for any park improvement projects.

I am here tonight advocating on behalf of the over 6,000 waterside residents for funding to finally complete renovation of Belkusi Park as envisioned in the master plan eight long years ago.

Earlier this afternoon, I sent via email a copy of the master plan.

My latest attempt, a letter recently sent to Mayor Simmons, summarizing the long history of the renovation and advocating for funding to complete.

A copy of that letter was emailed also this afternoon.

While renovation of Belkusi Park lingers for lack of sufficient funding, mobilization and demobilization of crews and equipment and inflation take their toll on costs to complete.14 million to other park projects.

My constituents are entitled to equal treatment and to a park consistent with the recently completed aspirations of the citywide park strategic plan.

I think we can all agree that eight years is simply too long, and that proper funding should be provided to finally deliver what the master plan established so long ago.

Many thanks for your consideration to this plea.

Respectfully yours, Virgil De la Cruz.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Okay, um got huge and then Alice Knapp.

Hello.

Yes.

Okay, this is Greg Huge.

Can everyone hear me?

If you could just identify for the record where you uh reside or uh what organization you're representing.

I'm a resident of Warner site.

And um I like to say didto on Mr.

De La Cruz statement.

I feel the same way.

And also I'm very upset about the fact that in the original plan for Bakuzi Park, it was stated that the basketball and the uh tennis courts would be dismantled and replaced.

And at that time it's been eight years, and only the basketball court has been dismantled.

And the tennis court has still been accessible for the past six years, and then not replaced the basketball court.

So I want to move that they dismantled the tennis court and not replace that until after the basketball courts replaced.

For 15 years, I use that part for my cardiovascular and basketball court.

And for the past eight years, I've been denied that opportunity.

Therefore, that's why I'm making my statement now.

Thank you very much.

Okay, Alice.

Thank you.

And Melanie will be after that.

Alice, did you have your hand up?

Okay.

Let's go ahead and move on to Melanie.

And Alice, I'll add you back after.

Hi, can you hear me?

Yes.

Okay.

So thank you for having me.

My name is Melanie Hollis.

Um I'm representing the Parks and Recreation Commission this evening, and the letter was uh written or read into the record, which typically it hasn't happened before.

So I just wanted to state um that the Hatchfield Capital request that I think the planning board had recommended funding for $2 million,000 has received a grant.

So that most likely will be coming off of the capital requests.

So when considering funding and allocating more money to the um overall needs assessment, or well, that the overall needs assessment is Lynn Land use, but for the um Cove Island Park project and the Rosa Hartman project projects, um, that those those money would be uh there would be more money in those in that account because of the grant coming off.

Um I also just wanted to um state that if you had any questions um regarding um any of the comments that were made, you know, the commission is open to answering the questions.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

All right, thanks, Melanie.

Um, Alice Knapp, I'm gonna open the floor up to you now.

Alice, are you able to speak?

Okay.

Um let's go ahead and move on.

Um, Christy Carroll, you can now have the floor.

Jean Moore, you'll be right after.

Hi, thank you.

Um I live next to Bakuzie Park, and um when we first moved in to our house um in Davenport Point Association, we were so excited seeing all of the renderings posted.

Um we moved here in 2020.

Um and since then the renderings have come down in the park, and um well, they did complete phase one, which we are so happy about.

Um we'd really like to see phase two get going and completed this year, um, if possible.

And um, yeah, we just really would like to.

And as you guys have read the Dolphin Cove letter as well.

We'd really like to prioritize the funding there.

Thank you.

Thank you, Christine.

Um moving on to Gene Moore.

Can you hear me?

Yes.

Oh, good.

I was having trouble figuring out how to unmute here.

Um I actually asked to speak about two projects.

One was the Bakusi Park project.

I also live near Bakuzi Park.

And it has gone on for an incredibly long time.

And while I understand that, you know, like all complicated projects, things come up and extend the time involved.

It does seem like it has been uh it's time maybe for the city to commit to finishing the project so that this neighborhood can benefit from uh you know the park that was planned for this neighborhood and approved by the city.

Um the other thing I wanted to raise was a request to reconsider the allocation to the Stanford White House project.

Um the White House is not only a you know historic landmark for the city, but um it's it's also very visible um from you know all over the sound.

And um it has you know, it was for years the previous owners allowed it to fall into complete disrepair, which certainly didn't reflect well um on any of the neighbors around it, um, or the city, to be honest, although it wasn't the city's, I mean the city didn't own it, so it wasn't the city's problem in a way.

Um at any rate, it was recently um acquired by uh 501c3.

There has been a lot of planning and effort put into raising money and um starting renovations and getting the permits needed to have those renovations.

Um and this the restoration now is beginning.

Um the goal is to restore the lighthouse as a symbol of this vibrant community in which we live, and also our commitment to Long Island Sound.

Um the lighthouse, as you probably all know, sits on 10 acres of land that um will be used in part for um projects and um in coordination with Soundwooders for educational purposes and um also to establish oyster beds to help clean the sound.

Um the amount that's requested in this grant is a small portion of the total amount that's needed, but it would be very meaningful in the fundraising for the lighthouse at this stage, and also would be a meaningful commitment from the city to supporting this project from which we all will benefit.

So I want to thank you all very much for the work you do on these things and wish you a good evening.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

And I think I have Zach Bradley.

Hello, can you hear me?

Yes.

Yes, it's Bradley Zach.

Sorry, I have two first names.

Um I moved here in 2018.

I'm in the Davenport Point Association.

Uh moved here 2018 uh from neighboring Greenwich.

Very excited about the initial plans, raising a family, um having one and letting them enjoy the park.

Uh pretty much there's been zero process uh progress, excuse me, made uh in the park.

Um I'm not sure if my figures are correct, but I believe there's been about four million dollars spent so far you've paved a uh an entrance.

Um so to that point, I also think uh a probe should be funded if these financials aren't transparent to the public.

Um love love to know where the money's going.

I know there was a soil contamination.

Uh nothing as of now could be justified.

And I think that's really the underlying issue here.

Um so you know, the the park is really turned into uh, for lack of better terms, a complete dump.

Uh it's devaluing the neighborhood.

There's been homicides, there's an active drug use in it, it's run down, and it's uh somewhere where we can't bring our children.

Um, you know, this needs to be addressed this year.

So you know the the park is really turned into uh for lack of better terms a complete dump uh it's devaluing the neighborhood there's been homicides there's an active drug use in it it's run down and it's uh somewhere where we can't bring our children um you know this needs to be addressed this year um or I think uh everyone needs to find a um an attorney to uh get the process going but uh we'll love to know where the funds uh and the financials could be seen we'll love to know where the money's going um I can't justify what's been done for the price that's been spent so uh I I think that needs to be addressed and uh addressed quickly and maybe that will get the project going uh once the uh fire lit under everyone's ass.

Thank you thank you very much and I will note that it would be um the responsibility of the parks department alongside our finance staff to um provide uh more detailed information in your question I I don't have anyone else with their hands read would anyone else like to speak Jennifer Alice Knapp is having mic problems um I asked her to send you an email and maybe you can distribute it to the to the planning board afterwards and we can include it in the public record as well.

Jennifer I do have one question um just reviewing the um operations maintenance parks requests I don't see any CP or request for Bukosi Park.

Yes I do not see a specific one for Bakusi Park in this year's book either.

I just didn't want to just identify that for the record it's it's actually um um a project that's uh included in the engineering department oh thank you page 62 if that helps leaping through the the binder the CP3159 yes correct um so that was the um eighth of 10 requests from the engineering Tony just uh could you um speak to uh I'm not really recalling very clearly why it's in engineering as opposed to uh park maintenance um they're they're uh they're in charge of this project that's why it's under the engineering department um it's simple as that now okay all right thank you um and I will just um now that I have found the correct CP I have some notes from the prior presentation from the department um that they are in design phase um that the funding would allow the project plans to go to fid um which would put them on track for a groundbreaking in 2027 um and that there is a um a grant a matching grant from the National Park Service um well um if there are no other um people in queue to testify or any other questions um or comments from board members I just had one thing this is uh Christy Carroll about Bakuzi Park so from what I can understand they do have a grant but it is for um 50% of what's left to complete the project so we would need the city to allocate fifty you know 50% of the total budget to complete um it's not for the whole um thing so we do have a grant and they are locked in for 50% so if the city would give us the other 50% then it could be done and that's all okay thank you thank you um well if there are no other uh comments um we will go ahead and adjourn the public meeting um can these comments and letters that we received will be included um in the uh public record uh for the budget process um so the uh board members our our next step will be um based on uh this testimony and other information that we've received um since uh november december which is when we um we're putting together the initial uh draft budget we will um come together at our next uh regular meeting uh in order to review um revisions um yeah as noted by right our parks and rec um

Um so the uh board members are our next step will be um based on uh this testimony and other information that we've received um since uh November December, which is when we um we're putting together the initial uh draft budget, we will um come together at our next uh regular meeting uh in order to review um revisions um as noted by our parks and recent representative.

Uh there's a significant change to their budget requests that we'll have to uh take into consideration if uh a grant instead will cover the cost of that project.

Um there's some uh additional uh clarifying information that we may receive as well.

Um I I have a question.

Sure.

Um given that most of today's testimony was about this one park and if we were to add funding to it, can we ask the parks department to recommend which parts we should reduce funding on or uh yeah I do I do think that would be appropriate um to um to talk to the parks department about that.

Um again just for the general public, um, as part of the process, each department not only submits specific project requests, but they also put them in a rank order, and we try our best um as the planning board to honor um that rank order as well as to take into consideration um time sensitivity of uh matching grants and and such things.

So we'll definitely confer with the parks department to see how uh they are adjusting their requests.

Um all right, well, thank you very much um all of you for your time and uh board members, we will um convene again uh on.

My apologies, I don't have the January on the 27th.

Um so between now and then, please, if you have um, especially if you have specific clarifying questions that we can send to departments, uh please feel free to do so um so that we can receive any other inputs before the 27th.

Um and then after that, we will draft uh the transmit a letter uh to the 10th.

All right, thanks everybody.

Thank you.

Thanks, everybody.

Good night.