By Brandon T. Bisceglia
The Orange Board of Selectmen approved a request to spend $137,000 to develop a new master plan for Fred Wolfe Park during their June 12 meeting in the lower level of Town Hall.
The request came from the Fred Wolfe Park Ad Hoc Committee, which since 2023 has been responsible for managing much of the park’s development. The committee had agreed in May to recommend that Meriden-based civil engineering firm BL Companies take on the project. BL has been intimately involved in some of the work already done at the park, including most recently a plan to redesign traffic flow within the park.
“The committee as a whole has very much enjoyed their experience with BL,” said selectman John Carangelo, who also sits on the ad hoc committee. “They’ve been very attentive and upfront about providing various scenarios that may work at the park.”
Dominick Celtruda, a landscape architect with BL, said the project would involve an iterative process of in-depth analysis, community engagement and recommendations.
Celtruda said his company wants to “make sure that the uses of the park are going to serve the whole of the community.”
“The cost of this work is fairly substantial,” said BL Vice President Derek Kohl. “But this is the roadmap for the future of the park. With our work with other Connecticut municipalities on similar projects, this becomes the roadmap to go get additional funding beyond the town’s contributions. There are state and federal grants out there, and having a plan that outlines and getting community input and buy-in, and having graphics ready to go puts you at the front of the line.”
Kohl said the plan would likely be implemented in phases over several years, rather than all at once. It would be created with a view toward the park’s next decade or two. Developing the master plan would probably take between a year and 18 months.
“I was impressed with the amount of contact you expect to have with the public and stakeholders. I’m also encouraged by the fact that you’re planning on developing a website that would dovetail onto our website,” said selectman Mitch Goldblatt.
Tom Pisano, head of the Orange Soccer Association and sometimes a critic of the way the park has been handled by the town, said he was “100 percent” in favor of a new master plan.
“Pardon me for being skeptical. It’s been 23 years at Fred Wolfe Park and we can only get new outhouses next year,” he said. “We had one (master plan), but it apparently fell apart. But we like to see the development, and glad to work with whoever.”
Pisano also offered to put some of the money that he’s been saving through Orange Soccer for years toward some of the eventual improvements.
“I know that’s part of the problem,” he said. “Where does this money come from, and where is the development.”
The Board of Selectmen’s approval was not the last stop for the agreement; they forwarded it to the Board of Finance, which on June 17 acceded to use surplus money from other line items to pay for it.