At Waveny, Plans for New Accessway to Softball/Soccer Lot

New Canaan public works officials this summer are expected to create a new entrance to a parking area at Waveny that’s designed to help traffic flow in the popular town park.

Many of the motorists coming into Waveny from the South Avenue side are making for the 80-space, asphalt millings parking area located between the main softball and soccer fields. To get there, cars pass by other heavily used roads within Waveny, including the main lot in front of the mansion, which feeds the Carriage Barn and other areas below.

According to Tiger Mann, assistant director of public works and senior engineer for New Canaan, there’s a lot of pedestrian traffic up by the castle and people often cross over to the other side of the main road through Waveny.

“The thought is that if you can get people as they come up from South Avenue and bleed them into that lot, before they get up there, that would be better,” Mann said. “If they’re driving up and around through that intersection and make right-hand turn into parking lot before the main intersections up ahead, that would be better.”

The plan received support from the Park Commission last week, and Mann said the two or three days’ of work to create the new entryway to the millings lot would be done in-house by public works once the ground there has firmed up this summer, and at a time when it won’t disrupt programs such as girls’ softball.

Specifically, the roadway would be about 15 feet wide and would run about 100 feet from the main road, creating a break in the wood rail that’s there now, to connect with the lot itself. The roadway would go on top of what now is a grassy are and it's possible one pine tree would come out to create a safe entryway.

The new stretch wouldn’t be paved (it’d also have asphalt millings) nor would it be an “exit” for motorists seeking to leave the lot—for one reason, sightlines may be difficult with the curve in the road there—but would only be a way into the lot for vehicles.

The lot itself—which fills up quickly on weekends and through the summer as soccer, softball, baseball and other programs operate in the fields that flank it—also is expected this summer to get striping to designate parking spots. The Park Commission had asked at its meeting about whether it would be better to pave that lot, but it’s cost-prohibitive at $145,000 (striping is in the $750-$800 range, Mann said).