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Greenwich teens strike out with town over field

A group of Greenwich teens transformed a plot of land, overgrown with weeds, into a wiffle ball stadium, but now town officials say the stadium has to go. The teens say it took them three weeks to convert

News 12 Staff

Jul 4, 2008, 12:36 AM

Updated 5,997 days ago

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A group of Greenwich teens transformed a plot of land, overgrown with weeds, into a wiffle ball stadium, but now town officials say the stadium has to go.
The teens say it took them three weeks to convert a weedy storm drain buffer area on Riverside Lane into a mini-wiffle ball field, 70 feet wide and 90 feet deep, which looks like Fenway Park, complete with a Green Monster.
"We all play wiffle ball on our street," says Brett Atkinson, of Greenwich, "and we found this property and decided no one used it, no one ever came here, so we came here and started building it."
But Town Administrator John Crary says the lot is not zoned as a playground, and the kids have to find a new place to play wiffle ball.
Some local residents, like 61-year-old Phil Domiziano, are upset that the town?s officials are pushing the teens out of their makeshift stadium. He says he used to play in this exact spot when he was a kid- before the lot was overgrown with weeds and bushes.
"I'm angry," Domiziano says. "This was always our field."
Crary says that if the teen wiffle ball players want to continue using the field, they have to follow the proper channels. He warns, however, that it can be a lengthy process. In the meantime, he suggests parents and teens meet with the Department of Parks and Recreation to help find another playing field.