HAMDEN — Officials are still deciding when one of Connecticut’s popular state parks will be reopened due to the damage by storms last Tuesday.
The Sleeping Giant Park Association (SGPA) said early Monday that even professional construction crews are shaking their heads at the sheer, overwhelming task of cleaning up just the picnic and parking areas along with the Tower Path. The group said the park would be closed for several months. The DEEP later said no determination on a timeline has been made.
The DEEP announced that Squantz Pond State Park has reopened as of Monday. Sleeping Giant and Wharton Brook will remain closed through the holiday weekend, no timeline has been set on when those two parks will reopen. A determination will be made by the end of Tuesday as to the status of Kettletown State Park for the Memorial Day weekend.
SGPA later apologized for the announcement.
The SGPA are asking that people respect the signs that say ‘closed’. They remind people that state staff already have their hands full with trying to get the park back up to safe conditions.
Hamden was just one of the towns that was affected by the volatile weather on the 15th. Damage in Hamden included a swath about 1/2 mile in width and 7.25 miles in length, from near Sleeping Giant State Park and Quinnipiac University, across Wharton Brook State Park, to just east of Tyler Mill in Wallingford. Extensive damage occurred, with numerous pine trees uprooted and snapped.
