Kent town officials get first look at Emery Park’s proposed master plan

“The goal here is to get the pool open.”
—Timothy Cermola, Cardinal Vice President

KENT — Bringing public swimming back to Kent remains the top priority for planners of a major upgrade to Emery Park, which took a step forward last week with the completion of a highly anticipated master plan.

Meriden-based Cardinal Engineering presented preliminary designs to the Parks and Recreation Commission at a special meeting Sept. 22.

The town commissioned the plan in May to guide improvements to the hillside park and make it more accessible.

Cardinal’s Roy Seeley, who oversaw the master plan, said it quickly became clear that reopening the swimming pond, which has been out of use for six years, would also require broader improvements to the park’s infrastructure.

The engineers recommended addressing accessibility early to avoid problems and added expense later.

Landscape architect Phil Barlow outlined a design featuring a reconfigured parking lot with an adjacent picnic area, an upper level with a redesigned playground built mostly from wood, and a lower level with an oval walkway encircling a lawn and a pavilion with room for 50 people.

The plans also call for two new buildings: one to house a Parks and Recreation Department office and another for pond-related facilities, including restrooms.

Since the site is hilly, the work would require grading to keep walkways at a slope of less than 5% for accessibility.
“Everything would be accessible,” Barlow said.

Cardinal Vice President Timothy Cermola, who also attended the meeting, said the swimming pond remains the focus despite the broad scope of the proposed improvements.

“The goal here is to get the pool open,” he said.

“And to make sure everyone can use it,” added Parks and Recreation Commissioner Heidi Wilson.

Architect Michael Fortuna outlined his proposal for the swimming pond. A natural brook feeds a smaller pond just above the approximately 8,500-square-foot swimming area.

“The more naturalized a filter you have the better,” he said. Fortuna suggested converting approximately 2,500 square feet of the deepest part of the swimming pond into a “regeneration zone,” where native wetland plants would filter the water in place of mechanical filtration or chemical treatment. The swimming area would have a maximum depth of five feet.

“If you can have a couple thousand less feet of swim area, this is your better way forward because it gives you cleaner water,” he said. “Aesthetically it would be very nice too.”

Fortuna said keeping the swimming area a pond rather than turning it into a pool would give the town more flexibility in its design and use. “The goal here is to keep it naturalized … keep it a pond,” he said.

“The idea of losing the entire deep end is disheartening,” Wilson said, “but the concept of natural filtration is a good thing.”

Earlier in the summer, the engineers were concerned that the pond’s entire foundation would have to be replaced. A subsequent investigation found it was sound and would need only resurfacing of the concrete shell.

Still, the overall project carries a substantial price tag: Cardinal estimates it would cost approximately $4 million. Cermola said the work would be phased, with reopening the swimming pond the first priority.
The plans remain general, Cermola said.

The next step is to submit them for review by regulatory agencies, including the Inland Wetlands and Watercourses Commission and the state Department of Public Health. Details will be refined as that process moves forward.

The park remains open while planning continues. Beyond the central area covered by the proposed improvements, Emery Park has fields, other recreational areas and a rugged trail system with views over the village and the Housatonic River Valley.