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Westerly recreation board highlights new beach/transfer-station sticker link, summer camp and playground planning
Summary
Recreation Board chair Josh Arnold updated the council on facility moves, camp registration, facility improvements (Similori Field repave, new lights), a $9,410 grant for learn-to-swim programming, and plans for pickleball/paddleboard courts and Bradford Playground design work.
Josh Arnold, chair of the Westerly Recreation Board, told the Town Council on March 17 that the Recreation Department has moved into the Orleans Center and is operating from that location while other facilities are evaluated.
Arnold outlined recent and planned improvements: a repaved Similori Field, new lighting for the boys’ baseball field (and planned lighting for girls’ fields in the fall), the recreation department’s first year running the ice-skating rink, and plans to add paddleboard courts and two pickleball courts to increase year-round use of central recreation space. He said camp registration is open online for a six-week session that charges $500 and caps enrollment at 75 children.
Arnold said the town’s beach-sticker system will again be available online beginning April 1 and that, for the first time, an annual town beach sticker will also provide access to the transfer station at Larkin Road. He said transfer-station stickers will also grant access if residents choose that option instead of a beach sticker.
The rec board reported a $9,410 grant to support learn-to-swim instruction that Arnold said will be integrated into summer programming with an emphasis on lifeguard recruitment. Arnold encouraged volunteers for youth sports and for seasonal jobs such as lifeguarding.
Several councilors and residents pressed the board about daily operations and amenities at the Orleans Center site: Councilor Van Dover and a resident suggested providing a refrigerator and water cooler for staff and volunteers; Arnold said staff and board members would appreciate those additions. Residents also raised questions about future Bradford Playground timing; Arnold said surveying is complete and that Beta is working on design, with the project moving forward but at a measured pace.
No formal council action was taken on recreation department items at the meeting.
