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Hartford Stadium Critic Files Suit, Alleges Procedural Error

City of Hartford
A rendering of a planned baseball stadium in Hartford.
Credit kenkrayeske.com
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kenkrayeske.com
Ken Krayeske.
"The entire time the city has been pushing this baseball stadium since June of last year, process has been an issue."
Ken Krayeske

The New Britain Rock Cats want to play baseball in Hartford in April 2016, so when it comes to building their new stadium, every day matters. Now a new lawsuit says the city, in its haste, didn’t follow the law

Ken Krayeske is an attorney, a Hartford resident, and an outspoken critic of the stadium plan. He's filed suit in state court saying the city didn’t give proper notice of a recent Planning and Zoning Commission meeting about the stadium. Here's the issue: Krayeske says the law mandates a notice at least ten days in advance of the meeting, and the city only gave nine.

"The entire time the city has been pushing this baseball stadium since June of last year, process has been an issue," Krayeske said. "I want to see them do this process right. If they held a hearing that wasn’t properly noticed, then let’s go back and do it again."

Credit Jeff Cohen / WNPR
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WNPR
Yves Joseph, left, and Bob Landino of Centerplan Development, the firm building the stadium and related projects.

Bob Landino, one of the project’s developers, said this is the kind of hurdle that could slow things down, but not kill the deal. He also said timing might be more of a concern for the Rock Cats than it is for him -- and the team has backup plans, like playing in New Britain until the Hartford stadium is done.

“If they needed to stay another year, I believe they could," Landino said. "If they needed to find another home for a year, I believe they could probably do that, as well."

The city declined to comment. Efforts to reach the Rock Cats were unsuccessful.

Jeff Cohen started in newspapers in 2001 and joined Connecticut Public in 2010, where he worked as a reporter and fill-in host. In 2017, he was named news director. Then, in 2022, he became a senior enterprise reporter.

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SOMOS CONNECTICUT es una iniciativa de Connecticut Public, la emisora local de NPR y PBS del estado, que busca elevar nuestras historias latinas y expandir programación que alza y informa nuestras comunidades latinas locales. Visita CTPublic.org/latino para más reportajes y recursos. Para noticias, suscríbase a nuestro boletín informativo en ctpublic.org/newsletters.

The independent journalism and non-commercial programming you rely on every day is in danger.

If you’re reading this, you believe in trusted journalism and in learning without paywalls. You value access to educational content kids love and enriching cultural programming.

Now all of that is at risk.

Federal funding for public media is under threat and if it goes, the impact to our communities will be devastating.

Together, we can defend it. It’s time to protect what matters.

Your voice has protected public media before. Now, it’s needed again. Learn how you can protect the news and programming you depend on.