Two resign in Old Lyme over battle over chemical vs. organic treatment of playing fields

Old Lyme – The chairman and vice chairman of the Town Woods Park Operating Committee resigned Tuesday following a presentation to the Board of Selectmen recommending that the towns of Lyme and Old Lyme bring back the use of pesticides to maintain the municipal playing fields.

Old Lyme did not use pesticides on the grass at Town Woods last year, and committee Chairman Bob Dunn and Vice Chairman Phil Neaton said Tuesday that the lack of treatment was ruining the fields.

In a joint resignation letter that Dunn read aloud at the meeting, he said: “We feel the recent actions by the Old Lyme Selectmen, including the decision to ban the use of herbicides and insecticides at Town Woods Park, prevent us from being able to fulfill our responsibilities to successfully maintain high quality athletic fields.”

The town has been divided for some time now on how best to maintain the fields. First Selectman Bonnie Reemsnyder said Tuesday that the selectmen planned to stick to their December vote to continue with organic treatment of Town Woods fields through 2012, at which point they would revisit the issue.

Members of the Pesticides Awareness Committee began advocating organic treatment of the fields, used jointly by residents of Lyme and Old Lyme, after the state passed a law in 2010 banning the use of pesticides on playing fields at elementary and middle schools.

But school districts throughout Connecticut are having a hard time maintaining their fields without the use of pesticides, according to the Connecticut Council of Small Towns.

The legislature’s Planning and Development Committee will on Wednesday hold a public hearing on a proposal to amend the existing law and “allow the application of certain pesticides on school grounds,” according to H.B. 5155.

The hearing is scheduled for 10 a.m. in Room 1B of the Legislative Office Building.