Park Commission backs $4.1 million Cal Pond request

Park Commission · Meeting of July 20, 2026

GROTON — The Groton Park Commission voted to support a $4,148,000 out-of-cycle Community Preservation Act application for Cal Pond improvements. The vote was 4-0-1, with CPC Representative Jack Petropoulos abstaining because he also represents the commission before the Community Preservation Committee that must review the request. Chair Mary Jennings said she would support the plan "knowing that this proposal could go down in numbers, but I'm not supporting it for more than this." Member Jeff Ohringer said he was "100 percent against" a $200,000 line item for baseball field lights included in the package.

Commissioners separately weighed, but did not vote on, a roughly $20,000-to-$40,000 temporary access road needed because the Conservation Commission now requires a turtle monitor present for any vehicle use of the existing Cal Pond connector road.

In the full story:

• Public Comment Protocol
• Approval of Minutes and Scheduling
• CPC Liaison Report
• Department of Public Works Report
• Event Permits
• Cal Pond Community Preservation Act Application
• Turtle Monitoring and Temporary Access Road
• Turtle Monitoring Plan and Social Media Plan
• Who Was There
• Organizations And Documents Referenced
• The complete report: 2,225 words

Source: the Park Commission meeting of July 20, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.

Checked against the record: before publication this article was automatically compared with the meeting transcript. It was corrected where it differed.