French Memorial Park will get long-anticipated improvements this year, in the form of new athletic courts and a new playground.
New tennis courts are slated to be installed using $50,000 in federal stimulus funds.
The playground will be added as a result of construction at Chatfield Elementary School, which required the school’s playground to be removed.
Down the road, the town wants to add a volleyball court and half a basketball court to the park, which is used for several town events each year, including the Seymour Pumpkin Festival and the summer concert series.
Parks and Recreation Chairman William Paecht said French Park is more than a park.
“French Park is like our green,” he said.
The first movement will be the construction of the playground, Paecht said.
A group of volunteers from the Chatfield PTA are expected to start rebuilding the playground at French Memorial Park in the next couple of weeks, Paecht said.
Then, by the fall, the town expects to construct tennis courts at the site.
The project has been delayed because bids for construction came in at higher than the $50,000 alloted for the project, according to First Selectman Paul Roy. The town is looking to scale back the project by putting up less fence or waiting to paint the courts in order to lower the cost, according to Paecht.
A third improvement project to the park will come from students at Emmett O’Brien Technical High School in Ansonia.
The students plan to put up lights shining on the Civil War monument, which includes period cannons and a statute on a pedestal.
“People will be able to see the monument from Route 67 and from Route 8 at night,” Paecht said.
