By Thane Grauel

WESTPORT — Tongues have been wagging about work in a fenced off portion of Winslow Park.

At the north end of the 29-acre park, some earth has been leveled. There’s a chunky gravel driveway to Compo Road North. Heavy machinery is parked like a military depot and pipes are stacked.

But heel people — nothing will be built there and the disruption is temporary.

“It is a staging area for a sewer extension project,” Public Works Director Peter Ratkiewich told the Westport Journal on Friday. “The project is underway currently and will take most of the year to complete.”

Bryan Thompson, Water Pollution Control Authority supervisor for the Public Works Department, discussed the plan to use about a half-acre of Winslow at the Parks and Recreation Commission’s March 15 meeting.

He said the 10,000-foot sewer project was in the area of Evergreen Avenue and Evergreen Parkway, Tamarack Road, Lone Pine Lane, Gorham Avenue, Brookside Drive and Compo Road North.

“Being such a close-knit neighborhood, we’re looking to minimize the amount of material stored along people’s frontages,” he told commission members. “Although there will still be machinery and things of that nature there. We’re looking to store most of the materials — piping, manholes, things that go into building a sewer system — up in this staging area.”

“The area will be restored,” Thompson said of the parkland.

He said he hopes to have the work done by early December, before the asphalt plants close.

There were some questions from commission members, but Thompson said the alternatives would be much more invasive to property owners.

The request passed unanimously.

Final approval of the contract for the sewer line was by the Board of Selectwomen in March.

Thane Grauel, executive editor, grew up in Westport and has been a journalist in Fairfield County and beyond for 35 years. Reach him at editor@westportjournal.com. Learn more about us here.