By Ken Valenti
WESTPORT–Plans for new, expanded and updated services and amenities at Longshore Golf Course, Compo Beach and the Levitt Pavilion can move forward after receiving approvals from the Board of Selectmen this week.
With the changes, golfers will make reservations more easily with new tee-time software, and drive brand new golf carts with the capability of sending an advance order to the concession stand, which may also serve beer, wine and other similar hard beverages.
At the South Beach section of Compo Beach, two firepits that were tried out last year proved so popular that they will return this summer – with a third added. They also will be available in the daytime in addition to late afternoon-evening. And drystall storage for boats and watercraft will open a month earlier than last year.
Parks and Recreation Director Erik Barbieri told the board that the drystalls are so popular, that 30 new units added this year still didn’t entirely meet the demand.
“They’re already sold out, but the wait list is much smaller,” Barbieri said.
Some of the measures were approved earlier by the town Parks and Recreation Commission or the Representative Town Meeting, but needed final approval from the Board of Selectmen.
Alcoholic beverages could be sold at concession stands at Longshore Golf Club. The DPW made the change to match services found at other golf courses, Barbieri said. He hopes the change will entice more vendors to apply for the concession after the town agreed to buy out the remainder of a contract with a previous vendor, Hook’d On the Sound, because of complaints about the service.
A new tee-time reservation system by Golf Compete as foreUP intended to streamline scheduling, will be installed, Barbieri said. The system will retain credit card information to charge a fee to those who fail to show for a reserved tee time, allow golfers to reserve tee-times from their phones and will block bots from scooping up reservations instantaneously.
Golf cart rental will cost $1 more for nine holes and $2 more for 18 holes. Barbieri said the new leased carts are equipped with GPS and programmed to avoid areas where they are not permitted and to slow down in the parking lot for safety. In addition, golfers will be able to send an advance order to Cliff’s Place, the “halfway house” concession stand near the 10th tee, from the carts, Barbieri said.
The Board also approved a plan to open the drystall storage on April 1 instead of May 1. Compo Beach now offers 258 drystalls, including the 30 that have been added. Another 25 are available at Longshore Club Park.
The wait time is expected to be under a year, drastically less than the previous three-year wait, said Michael Giunta, operations superintendent with the Parks and Recreation Department.
Two summer camps that the department runs will increase their fees under another change the board approved. The fees:
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
At Levitt Pavilion, American Harlequin Corporation was hired to replace the 12-year-old outdoor stage – a project for which the RTM approved $124,000. The venue offers more than 50 free shows plus paid events during the warmer months. The company is a division of the international firm Harlequin Floors. Public Works Director Peter Ratkiewich said the national firm specializes in floors, and will install a cascading vinyl, welded-seam coating.
“That’s pretty tough stuff that can handle performances on it,” Ratkiewich said. “So, there won’t be any penetrations of the vinyl once it’s done.”
The plan is to complete the new stage in time for the opening of the season at the end of May, Ratkiewich said.
The current stage coating has ripped, allowing water to damage the plywood beneath.
A second project approved near the venue will be the construction of an accessible ramp from the Imperial Parking Lot up to the Library parking lot at Levitt Pavilion. The ramp, meeting the requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act, will be built near the existing staircase. The Board approved the contract with G. Pic and Sons Construction Company for $184,349.
“This is fabulous,” said Harris Falk, a former RTM member, speaking at the meeting. “It has been requested by numerous people for years.”
Ken Valenti
A career journalist and lifelong resident of the New York City region, Ken Valenti has enjoyed decades of reporting local, regional and national news in New York and Connecticut. Topics of special interest are development, the environment, Long Island Sound and transportation. When not reporting, he’s always on the lookout for the perfect coffee shop or used book sale.
Oof again. Or better yet, why?
Liquor sales at Westport’s Longshore Park? Because drinking while golfing is a Westport value? I just cannot get onboard with this.
Under the new policy, you will be able to consume only the RIGHT kind of inebriating concoction such as beer, vodka, tequila or whiskey; the Parks and Rec Director will decide what those choices will be. (I consider THC products less inebriating, but those won’t be allowed because Westport’s moral construct has yet to accept the Devil’s Weed. But I digress).
Back to the point: There is no shortage of venues to purchase and consume alcoholic beverages in Westport. Thirty seven Westport restaurants have a liquor license. The state also allows about 10 package liquor stores in our town, with all 10 permits in use as far as I can tell in the CT Department of Consumer Protection database, which keeps such records. (There are other types of liquor licenses available but I did not pull all that data).
I also did not pull the number of DUIs in Westport, but that could be another part of the analysis for determining how many liquor venues a town really needs. And how many AA meetings.
The Park’s and Rec Director bragged that the Park’s and Rec Commission voted unanimously in favor of the new rule. All three of them.
He also argued that every golf course around has booze. Pretty much every other town has adult use cannabis as well. And smoke shops. Some towns have adult bookstores and strip clubs.
Remember when your mom used to say: “Just because all the other kids are doing it doesn’t make it right.”
There is already an establishment at Longshore that serves alcoholic beverages and would probably like to be considered the so-called 19th hole.
Will there be a time restriction on liquor sales while golfing, or will you be able to take a shot of whiskey in your morning coffee? A drink cart will bring it to you, since that is part of the proposal.
The aim is to create as much revenue for the concessionaire as possible, which means they want you to be drinking at every hole. The profit margin on a gin and tonic is a lot bigger compared to a tuna fish sandwich.
Will other patrons of Longshore Park such as swimmers, tennis players, sailors, walkers, and bikers be able to congregate and consume?
The First Selectman was rightly concerned about liability and insurance issues. The P&R director admits he has yet to sort out liability and insurance, but is hoping to lay the liability onto the concessionaire who will hold the permit.
He further says P&R staff will monitor and manage any over-served patrons and will make sure booze is not consumed in other areas of the park. Except for when he told the P&R Commission that town staff “would not be the Gestapo” and would not monitor or enforce consumption and behavior.
No alcohol has been legally served on the Longshore golf course in its very long and happy history. A lack of alcohol sales have never slowed down the sold-out tee times for decades.
There was no mentioned of Police Depart comments on the new policy, although they did weigh in on the use of fire pits. Why no police review of alcohol sales at the park?
Our new P&R director has been in the job a year, and I would say he has done an excellent job in identifying and navigating many course corrections in a department that has been mismanaged for years. This is not one of his better ideas.
I would like him to spend a minute on siting a community garden. I’m about to start my seeds and looking forward to the start of the growing season. Last frost date is April 23. I bet you’ll be buying beer at Longshore by then. Tick tock.