Bridgeport”™s Ellsworth Park recently served as the backdrop for the release of a report on the value ”” in quality of life and hard currency ”” the city”™s green spaces offer.
Bridgeport Mayor Bill Finch and Fairfield University President Jeffrey P. von Arx hosted the event where the findings from a study regarding the economic impact of parks were released.
The university and the city teamed on the project, which is titled “The Valuation of Bridgeport Parks.”
Residential properties within one-tenth of a mile from a park in Bridgeport have, on average, an 8 percent higher property value than residential properties within the next tenth of a mile from a park. Commercial properties show an even greater gain in property value within the first tenth of a mile from a park, showing an 11 percent increase compared with properties in the second tenth of a mile.
Other data showed there are 9.3 acres of open parkland for every 1,000 Bridgeport residents, totaling 1,356 acres of parks. “And,” said a Fairfield University statement accompanying the data, “88 percent of residents live within a 10-minute walk to one of Bridgeport”™s 46 parks.”
“In Bridgeport, we”™re focused on making our city a place where companies want to invest and hire people and a place where even more people choose to live, work and raise their families,” said Finch. “Parks play a key role in doing just that. By reopening Pleasure Beach this summer, building a new Knowlton Park and continuing to enhance places like Seaside Park, we”™re improving the quality of life for our residents while increasing property values in our neighborhoods.”
“Fairfield University is proud to have worked in partnership with the city of Bridgeport on this significant project,” said von Arx. “We are delighted that our Professor Dina Franceschi and her environmental impact class were able to participate in a study that supported the viability and the economic good sense of preserving parkland for the city. Fairfield University is part of the fabric of the Bridgeport community. Nearly 100 of our faculty and staff live and raise their families in Bridgeport and there are over 1,100 Fairfield graduates who hail from Bridgeport.
“In every important respect the health and vibrancy of the city of Bridgeport and the health and vibrancy of Fairfield University go hand in hand, so we are always looking for an opportunity to deepen and strengthen our relationship,” von Arx said.
Another finding from the report: “If we woke up tomorrow and someone had developed all of Bridgeport”™s parkland, this would add 729,900,000 gallons of water to the volume that the (Water Pollution Control Authority) already treats per year and Bridgeport taxpayers would collectively pay $751,289 more in water treatment-related taxes every year.”
The study also found the parks lead to and are the beneficiaries of increased volunteerism, noting “approximately 386,375 hours of documented community service in the Bridgeport city park system took place between the beginning of April 2012 and the end of May 2014.”
