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Stamford planning board adds three mayor-requested projects to 2025–26 capital book
Summary
The Stamford Planning Board voted Feb. 25 to add three mayor-proposed projects — Hague Avenue Park ($300,000), East Side Library design ($350,000) and the YMCA acquisition/renovation ($5,300,000) — into the city’s capital budget book; the YMCA will be shown as capital nonrecurring and the Hague project was classed as time-sensitive.
The Stamford Planning Board voted Feb. 25 to include three mayor-recommended projects in the 2025–26 capital budget book, putting the items forward for further consideration by the mayor and other budgetary bodies.
Chair Jennifer Gazzano read the three items into the record: Hague Avenue Park (project 001432) for $300,000, an East Side Library architectural design request (001404) for $350,000, and a YMCA acquisition and renovation (001429) for $5,300,000. The board approved motions to add each item in separate votes; the Hague and East Side Library additions passed unanimously, and the YMCA item was recorded as capital nonrecurring and approved unanimously.
Erin McKenna, a planner in the Land Use Bureau, summarized neighborhood outreach on Hague Avenue Park and said the community preferred a playground over pickleball courts. “They were extremely enthusiastic,” McKenna said of the public response, and emphasized safety features including fencing and “a safe crosswalk” because of a nearby bus stop. Operations staff estimated the overall Hague Avenue Park cost at about $600,000 and said the administration expects some of the local share to come from ARPA funds.
Board members debated how the items should appear in the board’s transmittal to the mayor. Several members said including a project in the capital book with a $0 recommendation can look like opposition; the chair proposed the board could add items while noting it had not made a funding recommendation, or place time-sensitive requests in a higher tier. The board ultimately recorded Hague Avenue Park as a Tier 2 item to recognize time-sensitive matching funds associated with the ARPA timeline.
Bridget Fox, chief of staff to Mayor Simmons, presented the East Side Library request and said the item had been before the board and the Board of Finance previously. “Nothing has changed from the last time we were in front of you,” Fox said, adding the present request is for architectural design work and that administration planned to continue answering questions through the capital-budget pipeline.
On the YMCA item, administration described the request as an option to fund an acquisition and initial capital appropriation through the capital nonrecurring account rather than bonds. That item will be shown in the book under capital nonrecurring so it does not count against the city’s safe-debt limit. The board noted the fiscal impact of adding these three items increases the board’s recommended bonded items by about $650,000 but said the total remains small relative to the roughly $45 million recommendation the board has been preparing.
Next steps: the board will incorporate the three additions and any tiering or explanatory notes into its transmittal letter for the mayor before the March submission deadline. The mayor’s office, the Board of Finance and the Board of Representatives will have further opportunities to weigh in through the capital budget process.
