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A recent walking tour of the grounds by city officials featured U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal and Mayor Bill Finch.
Residents of the Upper East Side are enthusiastic about the opening of a park on the 3-acre site, which was once consideration to become the home of a youth detention center.
In 2009, Gov. M. Jodi Rell proposed building a detention center at the site, but neighborhood residents and elected officials were nearly unanimously opposed to the idea. The planned detention center would also have been located directly behind a large condominium complex.
Ultimately, the detention center idea was scrapped and the state sold the land to the city for $1.
“The residents of Nob Hill fought very hard to keep a jail out of their neighborhood. Instead of a correctional facility, the neighborhood is getting a beautiful new park,” said Finch. “While Beardsley Park is very close to Nob Hill, it is more of a destination park than a neighborhood park. This new park will serve the people of the neighborhood.”
Beardsley Park, home to the Beardsley Zoo, is a major tourist attraction for the city for people beyond its borders and is near Virginia Avenue. But nearby Nob Hill Park will essentially be used by local residents. Among other amenities, Nob Hill Park will include walking trails, a bocce court, a dog run, horseshoe pits and chess and backgammon tables as well as plenty of playground equipment for kids.
“Myself and a great percentage of my neighbors were attending community meetings and organizing protests,” Priscilla Street resident Tom Lombard said of the efforts to bring a park to the neighborhood. “I think we proved that this type of grassroots community activism can work.”
Finch spokesman Brett Broesder said a ribbon-cutting ceremony is planned for Nob Hill Park.
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