By Ken Valenti

WESTPORT–Fees for golf cart rentals and summer camp programs would rise and popular fire pits would return to Compo Beach under proposals approved last week by the town Parks and Recreation Commission.

Parks and Recreation Director Erik Barbieri recommended the ideas, which also require approval from the Board of Selectmen.

The proposals:

Golf cart rental increases

Golf cart rentals at Longshore Golf Club would increase as the department offers new, more advanced carts. For nine holes, the cart rental would cost $15, an increase of $1. Renting a cart for 18 holes would cost $22, up $2.

Barbieri said the new carts are equipped with GPS. As a safety feature, they will automatically slow down in the parking lot and on hills.

The department projected that the increase would bring in $315,000 in revenue, $45,000 more than under the current rates. The carts cost the town $94,000 to lease, he said.

Summer camp

Fees for two popular summer programs would increase as follows:

Camp Compo (for children who will enter kindergarten through fourth grade in the fall)

• Residents: $325, up from $265
• Non-residents: $350, up from $285

For RECing Crew (for those entering fifth through eighth grades)

• Resident: $400, up from $315
• Non-resident: $425, up from $335

Barbieri said that, after he became the department’s director a year ago, he was surprised to find that the summer programs lost money. The changes are expected to raise another $10,000 to $15,000 per camp, erasing the loss. Unlike the past, the program also will provide indoor activities on rainy days.

The department offers scholarships to families who can’t afford the program.

Registration opens at 9 a.m. on March 10.

South Beach fire pits

Two fire pits that were available on the South Beach section of Compo Beach last season would be available as a permanent feature, and a third pit would be added. The amenities proved to be popular last year, when residents paid $150 to use a pit from 4 p.m. to 10 p.m., department officials said.

Also, the commission supported the request to add daytime availability. Residents would be able to reserve the pits from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. as well as the later shift. Each fire pit must be reserved by a Westport resident who is 21 or older and who agrees to remain at the fire pit while it is in use. 

“We had a lot of sports groups that came down — Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts – that wanted to have a fire pit (during the day) and make s’mores,” said Recreation Superintendent Carmen Roda.

Ellen Lautenberg, chairperson of the RTM Environment Committee, asked that the department keep fire pit use “relatively limited.”

“They do create smoke and air pollution,” she said.

Parking restriction at Canal Beach

Parking in a lot at Canal Beach, a crescent of sand on Long Island Sound where Canal Road bends into Cockenoe Drive, would be restricted to vehicles that display the Parks and Recreation beach parking emblem.

Resident Jennifer Lemberg and her husband William Greenberg supported the idea as a way to protect beachgoers’ enjoyment of the spot. 

“It’s very easily taken over by nuisance behavior,” Lemberg said.  

Drystall storage to begin in April

Drystall wooden racks for kayaks and other vessels at the town marinas would open April 1 rather than May 1.