WILTON — Village View residents have a chance to keep a playground in the Dryden area by working with the Recreation Committee.

Some residents voiced their concerns to selectmen Tuesday about losing the playground after the board listened to options for developing it into a home site through Community Concepts programs.

Board members agreed that parents, perhaps a neighborhood group, need to step up and turn their interest in keeping the park open into a commitment.

“We should first try to keep it open. Dryden doesn’t have the lake or Kineowatha Park,” Selectman Russell Black said about the opportunities for children in the Village View area. “We’d hate to close it if the neighborhood is willing to step up.”

The playground, started in the early 1980s, came under consideration a few months ago after Recreation Director Frank Donald discussed maintenance issues and sought the board’s direction for the future of the park. Members agreed to consider alternate uses for the property. Selectman Irv Faunce discussed the potential with Michael Burke of Community Concepts and the board invited Burke to Tuesday’s meeting to hear more about options for turning the lot into a single-family home.

After residents questioned the reasons for closing the playground, Donald told the board that the amount of trash and vandalism at this playground doesn’t correspond with the number of children using it. There aren’t the number of kids using it for the amount of maintenance required to keep the playground open, he said.

It’s a chronic situation that has included dealing with bags of personal garbage and vandalism that Donald suspects is done by children under the age of 12.

“If people do vandalism, shouldn’t that be addressed instead of taking the park away?” Judy Schmitt, a Village View resident, asked. “There are a lot of kids out there.”

Selectman Paul Gooch suggested the neighborhood there could perhaps do what East Wilton has done and step up.

Those interested may contact Donald, Town Manager Rhonda Irish or attend the Recreation Committee meeting planned for 7 p.m. Sunday, April 10, at the town office.

If no one shows, the board will again look at alternatives, including housing, but the playground will not be closed or sold without plenty of notice, Faunce assured residents.

Burke told selectmen more about the two Community Concepts programs that build modest, energy-efficient homes in the tri-county area.

Six families working together nights and weekends help build a home appraised at $145,000 for each family through a self-help program. More than 200 homes were built this way in the last 10 years, he said. Ten self-help homes were built in Wilton over those years for a value of $1.45 million in new housing, bringing new property taxes to the town, he said.

The agency has also worked with Foster Tech students, supplying materials and plans and letting the students get the experience of building affordable homes.

Before the town changes the playground to a housing site, the appraised value of the lot, $29,000, would have to be allotted to a new playground or an existing one because it was initially created with federal grant funds.

[email protected]