N A T U R A L R E S O U R C E S A N D C O N S E R V A T I O N . . . P R E V I O U S L Y
WESTON CONSERVATION COMMISSION REPORTS - COMMISSION MEMBERSHIP 2020 HERE
During the COVID-19 crisis, we are seeking to cover everything relate to land use virtually.
We will be "attending" Conservation
Commission meetings during this crisis and reporting decisions made and
anything else we feel capable of reporting accurately..
Thursday January 20, 2022 meeting item #1: Election of officers 2022:
- Sarah Schlecter, Chair.
- Holly Charlesworth, Vice Chair.
We had a conflict with the Board of Selectmen...
Conservation Commission Dec. 16, 2021 at 7:30pm on Zoom
- Receipt of application;
- Two more eroding roads - treatment the same as that used at Valley
Forge/Davis Hill a few years ago. This time up Valley Forge near
water company property as well as on Newtown Turnpike. Unanimous
approval of soil conservation activity - NOPT A REGULATED ACTIVITY.
- Pool at Laurel Lake West not approved and near the end of its 65
days for decision - extension will be needed for January meeting.
- 2022 meeting schedule approved.
A Public Hearing at Conservation Commission 12-13-21 brings a 6-0 vote to approve Lachat/Offutt Center wetlands application!
- 2 hour public hearing,
- 2 members of the public spoke.
- Conditions a-g; H, I, and J with specific references plus map titles - unanimous approval.
Left to right:
- The original agreement 2012 crafted by then Selectman Dennis
Tracey working with Nature Conservancy, the joint owner of the 44 acres
of Leon Lachat's farm
- Special Meeting on Zoom for Lachat application August 5, 2021...nothing happened for a long time until...
- Protesting neighbors of Lachat sought power for input into future
development and uses of the farm, taking their cast to the Attorney
General of CT.
- Mediator appointed by Selectmen to work out agreement between
neighbors and Lachat Town Farm Commission - no longer in Weston, former
Selectman Tracey made himself available and worked out an agreement that
satisfied neighbors - empowering them with equal representation with
the Town on a 7-member committee - the seventh member to be agreed upon
by neighbors and Town of Weston.
- Special Town Meeting live at the football stadium says a unanimous
YES (r) and made way for Conservation Commission to finally review a
new proposal (see Dec. 13, 2021 meeting notes above).
WESTON CONSERVATION COMMISSION
Regular Meeting July 22, 2021, 7:30pm to 9:45pm
All three applicants had issues of a different nature. Left to right:
1. Complications with initial approvals from Building Dept
(Newtown Turnpike) which were discussed with new attorney and engineer
and wetlands consultants and approval given with conditions.
2. Approvals for septic/site work granted but must return for the part of application for new construction (Weston Road).
3. CC went into executive session on item #3 on the agenda (Norfield Woods Road).
SPECIAL MEETING June 15, 2021 at 7:30pm punts to Wednesday June 30, 2021...
Conservation Commission Thursday May 27, 2021, 7:30pm on Zoom - receipt of Lachat wetlands application.
First on agenda - Town of Weston, CT &
The Nature Conservancy of CT [owners], Friends of Lachat, Inc. [agent];
106 Godfrey Road West; Offutt Education Center at Lachat Town Farm -
Construction of multi-use community building and associated parking,
storm water detention and septic system [21-09] - received.
To be heard in Conservation Commission Special Meeting June 15th at 7:30pm - a public hearing - June 15, 2021 is a Tuesday.
April 22nd meeting 2021 - EARTH DAY. What better meeting to attend than...CONSERVATION
Commission looking forward to meeting together again LIVE!!!
CONSERVATION COMMISSION - they protect the environment
from construction or destruction. New Conservation Planner brings
new organizational ideas forward.
Thursday March 25, 2021 7:30pm
Agenda had 4 items plus approvsl of minutes.
First 2 had previous presentations.
Third one gets quick OK.
There are standard "conditions" for use depending upon particular recommendations -
4th brings discussion of high water
table.
CONSERVATION COMMISSION
Thursday Oct. 22, 2020, 7:30pm via Zoom. Ended at 9pm.
"I didn't know" most popular line during this meeting. Which
Commission gets the least respect? Conservation! And why is
that? Because possession is nine-tenths of the law and once the
contours have been altered it is a lawsuit looming to try to enforce
conditions.
Another application: Seems that new residents are ignorant of
having to apply for permits and once done, don't follow them.
However, this time an approval was obtained. Discussion of hiring
process for Conservation Planner - item added to Regular Agenda to form
subcommittee to finalize selection of new hire. Interviews to come including staff and Town Administrator.
CONSERVATION COMMISSION
7:30pm via ZOOM - http://www.westonct.gov/media/file/CCAgenda6252020.pdf
Unfortunately, a Special Meeting of the Board of Selectmen was posted
for this very time...we'll see if meeting minutes (a great secretary to
this Commission - former catcher for the WILD THINGS) show up in a while....
CONSERVATION COMMISSION
Thursday May 28, 2020 at 7:30pm via Zoom
AGENDA: http://www.westonct.gov/media/file/CCAgenda5282020.
Present: Tracy, MSW, Sarah, Jim, Mike, Ed, Holly, Ted, Delana.
RECEIPT OF APPLICATION
11 November Trail; pool, pool house & gazebo.
Meeting began 7:34pm.
Receipt - above. Application in order. Visit in a week from
Saturday June 13. Moved and seconded. Unan.
Chair. moves to add to agenda...at the end: General discussion of follow up and approvals. Ted, Ed post
approval monitoring and investigation - unan.
In the audience, besides About Town, at the left, above, a young Westonite
Approvals with conditions i.e rain gardens...always excellent input from former Chair. Ed
DISCUSSION OF CC method of calculating implementation. Monitoring,
record-keeping. Implementation. Come up with a
system. Staff pull together a monitoring method. Put it
online? Silt fence (wrong kind). Commissioners should tell
staff and the staff follows up. CC wants to know about
inspections.
Better system? Spreadsheet of projects? Rolling list?.
Each month "report" - including "completed" in last month.
WHAT IS THE ORDER TO MONITOR PROJECTS?
1. Wetlands, 2. Code Enforcement and 3. Building Inspector
New permit form? Can conservation follow up after permit is
granted? JMO - nope. P&Z subdivision conditions were never
monitored. LOTS OF SWIMMING POOLS coming. For example, a new approval item - "Reserve the right to
inspect in the future" - tied to wetlands protection. Purpose: ENFORCEMENT AND MAINTAINING STUFF.
Certification. Can conservation hold up a C.O.? Leverage? Fee schedule for violations? Citation process.
Approval of 2 sets of minutes - wait a month.
Adjourn - motion second unan 8:17pm.
Conservation Commission virtual meeting
Ted, Jim, Mike, Ed, Bob, Sarah; David, Tracy, team from #2.
April 23, 2020 meeting agenda
SUMMARY OF ACTIONS TAKEN:
ACCEPTED: Application for separate garage - "walk" scheduled.
APPROVAL: A-G plus
"H" and "I" - pool & septic repair - landscaping plan (part of the
larger presentation). We had time to research this property while
the meeting was going on. This property is a lot that pre-existed various
changes in the zoning and subdivision regulations requiring 1.7 acres
of dry land on each building lot...very interesting, at least to me!
EXTENSION GRANTED: AVCC gets 90 day extension because of COVID-19 complication.
And this brave first "virtual" effort by Land Use Department began...
1. Receipt of Tiffany Lane application - driveway. Bob Sarah, unan.
2. Discussion/Decision on septic and in-ground pool, Old Hyde Road.
Att'y Murphy letter (s). First discussion. There
was a previous denial. He is new to the process. What is
new is better "team" - full compliance. WWHD OK. P&Z
said fine to pool as an accessory to house. Different septic
design. Wetlands confirmed. Erosion control new.
Previous denial. Constraints of other options. Bob Turner
notes all members have received copies. Replacement of septic in
the same location. Next presenter landscape architect. He's
got IT problem...on to soil scientist.
We note that "51 Old Hyde Road" was built in 1964 - pre-dating
WWHD. Also before Dominski-Oakrock (which was in 1976) when the
environmental parts of zoning we strengthened.
Two more witnesses. Lang Pools. First to excavate, put in
hay bales. Vinyl liner. No gravel, no drain. Only 6ft
deep. No draw down in winter. Pool always maintains water
level. Backyard? Is it wetlands? What could go
wrong? Who's going to work on this?
Condition of approval and put them on the plan? Future owners: municipal search is part of title search. Record resolution in the
land records.
Rain garden must be maintained. They seem to be ready to write additional conditions...
MOTION: Jim Smith, Ed - approve pool & recondition septic
subject to Grumman Plan2-13-20 rev 3/3/20, to A-G - "H"
disturbance line
incorporated. Plus "I" require ozone closed system pool
water. Will not be changed without coming back; "J" wetlands
restoration sign
off. Voice vote.
Turner, Reinrer, Smith, Ed, Sarah, Ted. - unan.
3. Extension/AVCC Composting Toilets (2) on golf course.
Extended because 90 day expension, Ted, Jim. Unan.
4. Approval of 3 sets of minutes. Plus site visit.
Unan. except for persons who was not present for some.
Site walk individually. Detached garage (item #1 above). From 8-10am
Adjourn. 9:45pm
Before COVID-19, we recorded news of the environment in various places on About Weston.
This location refers to national recognition of planning for the Eightmile River. Haddam Land Swap matter. And also for Oswegathie Hills saga. Close to us here.
SUSTAINABILITY STUDY LINK HERE
BELOW DROUGHT LINK
A blast from the past...familiar name.
How is reorganization of government in 2018 Norwalk like 2003 Oswegatchie Hills? Do trees have more rights than people?
PLANNING &
ZONING IN CONNECTICUT: open space v. affordable housing, 2010 decision.
"SHEFF
BACK"
LATEST - click
here.
WHOA - what's this? New DEEP commissioner wades into Oswegatchie Hills?
Ridgefield First Selectman reports on environmental victory in court.
Please note that photos of Saugatuck Reservoir and its West Branch
watershed are illustrations only, and had no significance in the
case itself. Link to "Sustainability"
LATEST DEVELOPMENT IN
THE NEWS;
BIG WIN FOR OPEN SPACE: http://www.theday.com/state-news/20151229/end-of-uncertainty-for-tax-incentives-heralded-as-major-boost-for-land-conservation
National Designation for Eight
Mile River? YES!!!
Is
this where to begin
learning how to save your river? Check UCONN/CLEAR for NEMO
Eightmile River Case Study.
READ HERE...
OF NEW APPLICATION REJECTION (2005)
GROWTH
MANAGEMENT
principles (just like State of Washington) prevailed in CT in 2005!
And
what of the Yale golf course issue?
And
a farm
preserved.
Generational change?
THIS IS NOTHING NEW - WHY METROPOLITAN DISTRICT SELLING PURE WATER THEY HAVE PAID TO MAKE PURE SHOULD NOT BE GIVEN AWAY FOR A FEW JOBS
http://www.newsweek.com/race-buy-worlds-water-73893
THE LONG ISLAND SOUND COMMUNITIES TO OUR EAST, BEYOND NEW HAVEN'S SUBURBS AND THE ISSUE OF WATERFRONT DEVELOPMENT, AND LNG
Old Lyme health director says sewers are solution to contaminated groundwater
DAY
By Kimberly Drelich
Published January 16. 2016 5:46PM | Updated January 16. 2016 5:47PM
Old Lyme — Weighing in on a debate about Hawk's Nest, the town's
director of health said sewers are the answer to a "threat to public
health of contaminated groundwater" in the neighborhood and nearby
beaches...story in full: http://www.theday.com/local/20160116/old-lyme-health-director-says-sewers-are-solution-to-contaminated-groundwater
Can you find a former guest of About Town in the linked picture?
Canton Republican Calls for Constitutional Amendment to Protect Open Space
CTNEWSJUNKIE
by Steve Majerus-Collins | Jan 14, 2016 5:30am
...David Leff, a former deputy commissioner for the state Department of
Environmental Protection, said that people who want to save their
favorite hiking trails, fishing holes, and recreational space for the
future should get behind the proposed amendment...http://www.ctnewsjunkie.com/archives/entry/canton_republican_calls_for_constitutional_amendment_to_protect_open_space/
Commission conditionally approves preliminary plan for Oswegatchie Hills
By Kimberly Drelich, DAY
Published August 20. 2015 9:58PM
Updated August 20. 2015 10:43PM
East Lyme — The Zoning Commission on Thursday conditionally
approved Landmark Development's preliminary plan for an affordable
housing development in the Oswegatchie Hills. Landmark has applied
to rezone 123 acres in the hills as an affordable housing district,
reserving 36 acres for development and 87 for open space.
The Middletown-based company, under developer Glenn Russo, also
submitted a preliminary site plan to build 840 housing units within 24
buildings.
The commission decided Thursday that only the acreage that falls within
the town's sewer service district will be rezoned as an affordable
housing district. The commission also said the developer must
incorporate several modifications while, or before, moving to the next
step of submitting a final site plan.
...Roger Reynolds, legal director for CFE and Save the Sound, called the proposal "premature."
"Without crucial information about wetlands and how sewage will be
handled, the application is so preliminary as to be virtually
meaningless," he said in a statement. "We will review the decision in
detail to do what is necessary to protect the statewide environmental
treasures that are the Oswegatchie Hills and the Niantic River."
Story in full: http://www.theday.com/local/20150820/commission-conditionally-approves-preliminary-plan-for-oswegatchie-hills
East Lyme commission continues deliberations on Oswegatchie Hills proposal
By Kimberly Drelich, DAY
Published August 06. 2015 9:45PM
Updated August 06. 2015 9:47PM
East Lyme — The Zoning Commission continued Thursday to discuss Landmark
Development's application for affordable housing in the Oswegatchie
Hills, but did not reach a decision.
The commission is expected to take a vote either next Thursday or on Aug. 20...story in full: http://www.theday.com/local/20150806/east-lyme-commission-continues-deliberations-on-oswegatchie-hills-proposal
‘Silver tsunami’ threatens Connecticut’s woodlands
Staff report, CT POST
Published 5:00 am, Monday, June 29, 2015
A recent study by Yale University School of Forestry & Environmental
Studies took a look into Connecticut’s private land ownership. The
study entitled “Understanding Connecticut Woodland Owners” is a
first-of-its-kind analysis of the attitude, values, and challenges of
people who own woodlands in Connecticut. The report concludes that
private landowner management and ownership has enormous influence on
the quality and extent of Connecticut forests - as families own half of
the approximately 1.8 million acres of woodlands in our state.
The Yale report also highlights a phenomena known as the “silver
tsunami,” the threat of the sale of interior woodland for development,
as 85 percent of Connecticut woodland owners are over 50 years old...
Story in full: http://www.ctpost.com/news/article/Silver-tsunami-threatens-Connecticut-s-6353297.php
Open space proposal to go before East Lyme selectmen
The DAY
Published May 18. 2015 7:16PM
By Kimberly Drelich
East Lyme — A Massachusetts foundation wants the town to help pay to
conserve about 166 acres of forest at the headwaters of the Niantic
River.
The New England Forestry Foundation would manage the land under a
sustainable forestry plan. In the past, land in that area was part of
the greenway plan accompanying a design for the long-stalled extension
of Route 11.
The proposal to preserve the undeveloped parcel, with an entrance at 29
Goldfinch Terrace, is slated to come before the Board of Selectmen
Wednesday. The selectmen heard presentations on the open-space proposal
last year and again this spring but have not taken a vote.
The parcel, adjacent to the Heritage at East Lyme subdivision, is north of Interstate 95 near the town's border with Waterford.
The proposal asks the town to contribute $350,000 for the parcel, part
of a 200-acre property owned by KSK Associates LLC. A $500,000 state
grant and the foundation would cover the remainder. KSK is asking $1.225
million, said managing member Stephen Harney.
The New England Forestry Foundation would own the land, to be called the
Niantic River Headwaters Preserve, while the state and town would hold
conservation easements on the property...CONSERVATION EASEMENTS NOTHING
NEW TO...WESTON!
Story in full: http://www.theday.com/local/20150518/open-space-proposal-to-go-before-east-lyme-selectmen
Latest development plan for Oswegatchie Hills calls for 840 housing units
By Kimberly Drelich, The Day
Published March 17. 2015 12:08AM
East Lyme - Following the town's revision of its affordable housing
rules two years ago, Landmark Development is now outlining "the
parameters" of plans to build a residential complex within the
Oswegatchie Hills near the Niantic River...story in full: http://www.theday.com/local/20150317/latest-development-plan-for-oswegatchie-hills-calls-for-840-housing-units
East Lyme, developer to sign memorandum of understanding over Oswegatchie Hills
By Kimberly Drelich, DAY
Published May 06. 2015 10:38PM
Updated May 06. 2015 10:56PM
East Lyme — Representatives for the town and Landmark Development are
expected to sign a memorandum of understanding in which both would "sit
at the same table" to see if they could find another land parcel in
exchange for development rights in the Oswegatchie Hills.
For more than 15 years, Landmark Development, a Middletown-based company
under developer Glenn Russo, has been trying to develop 236 acres it
owns in the Oswegatchie Hills. Landmark has filed several applications,
as well as lawsuits, concerning building affordable housing there.
On Wednesday, the Board of Selectmen praised the idea and unanimously
voted to authorize First Selectman Mark Nickerson to sign the
memorandum.
Nickerson said he and Russo will sign the memorandum at a yet to be determined time...story in full: http://www.theday.com/local/20150506/east-lyme-developer-to-sign-memorandum-of-understanding-over-oswegatchie-hills
SHEFF SHADOW
For those who may not remember all of this...21sr century challenge with three appeals, so far.
East Lyme Board of Selectmen about to make a fateful decision...interesting case as to who holds the easement, who owns the property.
NEXT TRY: http://www.theday.com/local/20150317/latest-development-plan-for-oswegatchie-hills-calls-for-840-housing-units
East Lyme commission discusses Landmark lawsuit behind closed doors
Kimberly Drelich, DAY
Article published Aug 26, 2014
East Lyme — The Water and Sewer Commission met in closed session Tuesday
to discuss litigation from Landmark Development Group, the
Middletown-based company that is proposing to build a residential
complex, including affordable units, in the Oswegatchie Hills.
Town attorney Edward O’Connell said before the executive session that the commission was not planning to take action on Tuesday.
Landmark has been appealing in state Superior Court the commission’s
2012 decision to deny its request for 118,000 gallons of sewage capacity
per day for the proposed development. At the time, the commission said
the request would claim a “disproportionately large” amount of the
town’s sewage capacity.
As part of the appeals case, the court directed the commission in
January to specify how much sewage capacity it would allow Landmark. The
commission voted in February to allow the developer 13,000 gallons per
day.
Judge Henry S. Cohn ordered in June for the commission to reconsider the
sewage allotment for Landmark. He said the allotted sewage capacity was
“inappropriately low,” for reasons that include the commission’s use of
data from 2004, which he said was not current, according to court
documents.
Court documents show that the case in ongoing, with a hearing scheduled for Sept. 4.
Or is that re-enlist?
Hikers enlist in cause of saving Oswegatchie Hills
DEEP commissioner joins students, says state should kick in
By Judy Benson Day Staff Writer
Article published Jun 10, 2014
East Lyme — In the 15 years since the Friends of Oswegatchie Hills
formed to preserve the rocky wooded slopes along the Niantic River and
fight development of the area, the group never attracted a
hiking-boots-on-the-trail ally like the one who came to town Monday, nor
the crowd of potential enlistees who followed him.
"I'm glad I got to see the property. It's the kind of place we're
interested in preserving," Rob Klee, commissioner of the state
Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, said Monday, as he
trekked the blue trail on the return leg of an hourlong hike in the
420-acre Oswegachie Hills Preserve. With him were 90 seventh- and
eighth-graders from East Lyme Middle School and two of his senior staff
members, plus First Selectman Paul Formica, state Rep. Ed Jutila and
several members of the Friends group and other conservation
organizations...
Before the hike, Klee, DEEP Policy Director Jessie Stratton and Graham
Stevens, director of DEEP's Office of Constituent Affairs and Land
Management, traveled up the Niantic River on a marine patrol boat to see
the woodlands from the water, hearing a pitch for preservation from
Dunn and others along the way. The purpose, Dunn said, was to impress on
the commissioner what is at stake if the Landmark property were
developed. The 236-acre parcel includes a mile of shoreline and steep
forest with a shallow layer of topsoil over bedrock...
Please search the Hartford Courant archives for the remainder of this story.
Developer Suggests State's
Controversial Land Swap May Be Revived
Hartford Courant
Jon Lender Government Watch
4:25 p.m. EDT, March 30, 2013
Last year, conservationists celebrated the death of the so-called
Haddam land swap — a controversial deal approved by the state
legislature in 2011 to let private developers acquire 17 acres of
state-owned land overlooking the Connecticut River in exchange for 87
acres of woods they owned elsewhere in town.
But the deal — which grew to symbolic importance for its opponents in
the environmental movement — may still have a heartbeat.
At least that's what Steve Rocco, a member of the development group
that announced last April that it had pulled out of the deal, told a
legislative committee in Hartford last week. Rocco showed up at a
hearing to testify against a new bill, sought by conservationists, to
erase from state statutes the 2011 enabling language for the land swap
"This is unfinished business," Rocco, one of the partners in Riverhouse
Properties, told the General Assembly's government administration
committee at a public hearing.
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Noting that the swap was killed last year by unfavorable property
appraisals, Rocco said: "The partners of the Riverhouse have not come
to a conclusion about whether or not to go back to the [state
Department of Energy and Environmental Protection] or pursue a
challenge of the appraisals legally, or other methods available."
That was a big uh-oh for some Haddam residents and conservationists
from elsewhere in the state, about 30 of whom submitted written
testimony in favor of repealing the enabling language...
Please search the Hartford Courant archives for the remainder of this story.
Developers
pull out of
Haddam land-swap deal
DAY
Apr 4, 2011 5:54 AM EDT
HADDAM, Conn. (AP) -- Developers have pulled out of a deal with
the state to swap land they own for 17 acres of state-owned property
along the Connecticut River in Haddam, where they had talked about
building a hotel and entertainment venue.
Riverhouse Properties told the Department of Energy and Environmental
Protection on Tuesday that it wasn't going through with the deal
because of land valuations. The developers wanted to trade 87 wooded
acres they owned in Haddam for the riverside property, but the state's
land was appraised at $1.3 million more than the developers' property.
Under the agreement approved by state officials last year, the
developers would have had to pay the state the difference between the
land valuations and they said Tuesday they couldn't do that.
Environmental activists opposed the deal.
"Absolutely the right choice..."
Commissioner Dan
Esty’s Recusal List: Anybody missing? As of Oct. 3. new Office of Consumer Counsel
Alcoa, BP, CH2M Hill, Coca-Cola Enterprise, Connecticut Fund for the
Environment, Disney, ESPN, Dow Chemical, FedEx, General Electric, IBM,
Ingersoll-Rand, Johnson & Johnson, Motorola, Naya Waters, Nestle
Waters, Nokia, Procter & Gamble, Personal Care Products Council, SC
Johnson, Scotts Miracle-Gro, The Nature Conservancy, Timex, Unilever,
Walmart, Waste Management, Yale University, Xerox.
Esty
Backed Legally By AG In CL&P Case, Collects $15,000 Speaker's
Fee
In Cleveland
The Hartford Courant
By JON LENDER, jlender@courant.com
11:19 PM EDT, October 3, 2011
HARTFORD — Daniel C. Esty, state energy and environment commissioner,
broke no regulation with his controversial intervention to halt utility
regulators' review of Connecticut Light & Power Co.'s
multimillion-dollar application to install "smart meters," Attorney
General George Jepsen said Monday.
CL&P had applied to install 1.2 million advanced "smart meters" —
which can record energy consumption in small time periods and great
detail — at customers' homes and businesses. But a director for the
Public Utility Regulatory Authority urged rejection in an Aug. 29
"draft decision" saying that the expensive CL&P proposal offered
scant consumer savings.
However, a day later, Esty — who was paid $205,000 by CL&P's
corporate parent, Northeast Utilities, for consulting work from 1997 to
2005 — formally requested that the CL&P proceeding be suspended
while a new policy for "smart meters" was developed. The case was put
on hold.
Esty's move was called "troubling" by the House Republican leader on
grounds that it interfered with what had been an independent utility
regulator until it was absorbed July 1 into Esty's newly created
agency, the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection. The
state's consumer counsel then asked Jepsen for an opinion on the
legality of Esty's intervention and the merger of PURA into DEEP.
Monday, Jepsen wrote: "We conclude that DEEP's actions in this
proceeding were entirely consistent with Public Act 11-80 and the
Uniform Administrative Procedures Act."
Jepsen's office said the public act that created DEEP authorized Esty
to set energy policy through the Comprehensive Energy Plan and the
Integrated Resources Plan, adding that PURA is to be "guided by the
goals of DEEP and by the goals of those plans."
Last week, Democratic Gov. Dannel P. Malloy defended Esty, saying he
did not believe his $205,000 in consulting work for NU resulted in a
conflict of interest and that Esty disclosed his work for NU while
being considered for his current post.
Esty has disqualified, or "recused," himself from issues involving 28
companies or groups with which he had relationships. He said he made
that "recusal list" based on relationships less than 5 years old, and
left NU off it because his work for the utility ended more than five
years ago. He said he'd checked with the Office of State Ethic about it...
Please search the Hartford Courant archives for the remainder of this story.
Esty Was Paid $205,000 By CL&P's
Corporate Parent
Energy And Environment Commissioner
Intervened In Multimillion-Dollar Application By Utility
Hartford Courant
Jon Lender, Government Watch
10:18 p.m. EDT, September 23, 2011
State energy and environment Commissioner Daniel C. Esty — who
sparked some official concern in recent weeks by halting state
regulators' deliberations in a multimillion-dollar application by
Connecticut Light & Power Co. — was paid $205,000 as a consultant
from 1997 to 2005 by CL&P's parent company, Northeast Utilities.
Esty acknowledged his eight-year financial connection with the utility
company in response to questions from The Courant, and that
acknowledgment may spark questions of whether he should have intervened
in a pending public utilities case involving such high stakes for the
huge subsidiary of the corporation that paid him.
All of this arises after The Courant made follow-up inquiries on
disclosures in a Government Watch column last Sunday. That column
reported that on Aug. 29 — a day before Esty injected himself into the
matter — a state utilities regulator had issued a "draft decision" that
recommended rejection of the pending CL&P application to install
1.2 million advanced "smart meters" costing hundreds of millions of
dollars at customers' homes and businesses.
Esty, 52, a longtime Yale professor, corporate environmental
consultant, and nationally publicized author, has been called a star
appointee in the new Democratic administration of Gov. Dannel P. Malloy...
Please search the Hartford Courant archives for the remainder of this story.
Environmental Commissioner
Recuses Himself From Working On Housatonic
Clean Up
Dan Esty won't do
work related to General Electric & 28 other firms.
By Nancy Eve Cohen,CPTV, WNPR
Published: Jul 12, 201
The Connecticut Commissioner of Environment and Energy has recused
himself from doing work related to General Electric and to more than
two dozen other companies. As WNPR’s Nancy Cohen reports this means Dan
Esty will not weigh in on the clean up of the Housatonic River.
Before taking the job as Commissioner, Dan Esty directed the Yale
Center for Environmental Law and Policy and was co-director of the
Center for Business and the Environment at Yale. Esty says he
recused himself from working on any issues related to General Electric
because he knew a number of G.E. officials and had received funding
from the GE Foundation for his projects at Yale. Esty even wrote
about G.E.’s battle over PCB clean up in the Hudson River in one
of his books...
Please search the NPR archives for the remainder of this story.
WATER SUPPLY OUR GREATEST ECONOMIC RESOURCE, JMO
Too busy "solving" the problems of
Connecticut? A "long view" of what kind of place CT
should be? The Haddam Land Swap may come back to bite this
administration.
Hotly Disputed Haddam Land Swap Is Dead
The Hartford Courant
By JON LENDER, jlender@courant.com
9:36 PM EDT, April 3, 2012
The Haddam land swap is dead.
The controversial deal that a powerful state senator pushed through the
General Assembly last year — infuriating environmentalists and putting
them at odds with the state's new environmental commissioner, Daniel
Esty — died quietly Tuesday of complications caused by legal provisions
and land valuations...
Please search the Hartford Courant archives for the remainder of this story.
Showdown on
citizen environmental action statute
Jan Ellen Spiegel, CT MIRROR
March 9, 2012
Environmental and business groups are marshalling forces for an
anticipated showdown Friday that pits part of the cornerstone of state
environmental law against development and job creation. At issue is
legislation that would restrict using environmental grounds to block
development projects...
The Fund for the Environment's Reynolds said there are existing statues
that address baseless claims, pointing to large judgments against
Westfarms Mall for bringing frivolous actions against the developers of
Blue Back Square in West Hartford.
He also rejected assertions by legislation supporters that the statute
has been widely abused, pointing to a 2010 report by the then
Department of Environmental Protection that looked into the concern and
found: "CEPA intervention in the Department's permitting process is
rare."
It went on to quantify that intervention was used 0.2 percent of the
time when a department permit was required, although admitted it could
not calculate its use at the local level. The report also said there
was at least a perception that interventions under CEPA made the state
a difficult place to do business.
Reynolds also noted that applicants have been known to abuse the
permitting process, appealing zoning or wetlands rulings when there is
no basis, but counting on concessions from municipalities that would
rather give in than submit to expensive litigation...
Please search the CT MIRROR archives for the remainder of this story.
DEEP chief goes fishing, catches heat
for land deal
Criticism of Haddam property swap
heard on day for marine-related issues
By Judy Benson Day Staff Writer
Article published
Sep 13, 2011
New London - In a day slated to bring attention to marine-related
issues, state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection
Commissioner Daniel Esty fielded questions Monday about pending
reductions on catch limits for blackfish and marina dredging.
But Esty also ended up defending his actions regarding a land swap deal
in Haddam. The questions came from the approximately 40 members
of the public who attended a "Commissioner in Your Corner" session with
Esty at Fort Trumbull State Park, one of a series of forums he has been
conducting at state parks.
The forum came after Esty, along with DEEP staff who deal with
fisheries and water quality issues, traveled aboard the research vessel
John Dempsey to view the shoreline from Old Lyme to New London with
local legislators. They discussed topics ranging from damage to coastal
parks caused by Tropical Storm Irene, turbidity and debris in the
Connecticut River since the storm, and fisheries management
issues. During the boat trip, state Sen. Andrea Stillman and
state Rep. Betsy Ritter, both Waterford Democrats, each caught a scup
off rods baited for them by DEEP staff...
Please search the New London DAY archives for the remainder of this story.
Malloy
OKs Haddam conservation land trade
New London DAY
Judy Benson
Article published Jul 15, 2011
Haddam - Gov. Dannel P. Malloy has signed into law a bill that will
enable the state to swap 17 acres of conservation land overlooking the
Connecticut River for 87 acres that adjoins Cockaponset State Forest.
The land swap measure, part of a larger bill that pertains to several
other state land transfers, was strongly opposed by a host of
conservation groups. More than 800 people opposing the swap signed a
petition submitted to the state legislature. Opponents feared it would
establish a dangerous precedent that would dissuade people from
donating land to the state for conservation.
In the proposed swap, the 17 acres, now part of the state Department of
Energy and Environmental Protection's Clark Creek Wildlife Area, would
be given to Riverhouse Properties LLC, which is seeking to build a
hotel and retail complex with a theater or other entertainment venue.
In exchange, Riverhouse would give the state 87 acres it owns next to
the state forest. Malloy signed the bill last Friday...
Please search the New London DAY archives for the remainder of this story.
NEXT: How about a
private housing/golf course on the State of CT piece of Trout Brook
Valley?
Haddam Land Swap Dodged Real
Scrutiny
Deal
Approved Despite No DEP Assessment And Only Token Public Discussion
The Hartford Courant
By MELISSA SCHLAG and ROB SMITH
July 3, 2011
In a time when trust in government is at an all-time low, it is sinking
further with the unethical handling of the proposed swap of 17 acres of
state-owned land overlooking the Connecticut River in Haddam.
Under the deal, approved by the General Assembly and awaiting the
governor's signature, the land overlooking the river would be traded
for 87 acres of woodland in Haddam's Higganum section. The 17-acre
parcel would be owned by the Riverhouse at Goodspeed Station, which
owns an adjoining parcel and wants to commercially develop the
state-owned site.
Sen. Eileen Daily, D-Westbrook, backed the swap and said, "Thorough
scrutiny of government and its transactions has always been part of the
Connecticut landscape..."
See Courant for article in full.
Melissa Schlag lives in the Higganum
section of Haddam and is a co-founder of Citizens for Protection of
Public Lands. Rob Smith of East Haddam is a member of the citizens
group and a retired assistant state parks director for the state
Department of Environmental Protection.
ENVIRONMENTAL
CHIEF DIDN'T DO HOMEWORK ON LAND SWAP
New London DAY
Article published Jun 28, 2011
Hartford - Connecticut's top environmental official says he did not get
involved in a contentious land swap because he did not research the
matter fully. Environmental Commissioner Daniel Esty says in an
interview with The Associated Press on Monday he did not have the
opportunity to dig into the details enough to make an informed
decision. The plan, which has been approved by the legislature, will
exchange a 17-acre site on the Connecticut River in Haddam for 87 acres
adjacent to a state forest several miles away.
DEP Chief Talks Of
'Dodging' Land Swap Issue
Some Suggest Agency And Governor
Playing Politics With Environmental Issue
Hartford COURANT
Jon Lender, Government Watch
June 26, 2011
"I cannot dodge this much longer," Gov. Dannel P. Malloy's new
appointee as environmental commissioner, Daniel C. Esty, wrote in an
uneasy-sounding e-mail to a subordinate on April 1...
Please search the Hartford Courant archives for the remainder of this story.
We
note that the 2011 Long Session is over for now...
Struggle to fix state's finances gave Malloy his victories and losses (our suggestion that the Haddam Land Swap was a
"loss")
Keith M. Phaneuf, CT MIRROR (in part)
June 9, 2011
Looking back on the just-ended 2011 legislative session, Gov. Dannel P.
Malloy said today the struggle to put Connecticut's fiscal house in
order and invigorate its economy created most of successes as
well as his one disappointment.
Malloy, who fielded reporters questions nine hours after the
legislature adjourned, said he and lawmakers made "a sizable down
payment" against unemployment with new job creation tax incentives, an
$864 million plan to expand the University of Connecticut Health
Center, and a new authority to market Bradley International Airport.
But perhaps the most important step the new administration and the
legislature took to get Connecticut's economy growing again was to
quell the uncertainty about the future created by filling the $3.67
billion deficit built into the next budget when Malloy took office in
January, the governor said.
"It is an honest budget, a straightforward budget," he said of the
$40.54 billion, two-year plan that raises $1.5 billion in new state
taxes in 2011-12, seeks $1.6 billion in labor savings over two years
and consolidates more than 80 agencies down to less than 60.
A bill that requires most companies to provide paid sick leave has been
decried by the Connecticut Business and Industry Association as a
dangerous mandate that will scare companies away from the state, but
Malloy rejected that premise. "CBIA tends to see the glass as half
empty," the governor said, adding it was important to give all
residents a basic benefit that more than three-quarters of Connecticut
workers already enjoy. CBIA officials "warn people of threats that
don't exist and they are pretty good at it."
Still, the governor announced he would work with his department heads
and private business leaders all summer developing more initiatives to
create jobs, and then call lawmakers back into special session this
fall to enact them.
"We need to come back and work on jobs," he said, calling it his one
disappointment that more wasn't done to accelerate Connecticut's
recovery from the last recession...
"It was the best session I ever had," quipped the governor, who never
served in state government before this year.
Malloy also
said that "in all probability" he would sign a controversial bill that
swaps 17 acres of state land near the Riverhouse at Goodspeed Station
in Haddam for 88 acres adjacent to the Cockaponset State Forest, also
in that community. A private firm wants to use the state land, which
has been preserved for its environmental value, for industrial
development.
The governor
and his administration had been relatively silent about the proposed
deal during the session, and Malloy said Thursday that "I really hadn't
had a lot of time to work on that issue."
HOW
THINGS
MAY CHANGE: When DEP has become, assuming that it will, DEEP, expect more of this...affordable
housing takes a back seat or not?
Conservation groups oppose land swap; Hotel-retail complex
developer dealing with state
By Judy Benson Day Staff Writer
Article published Jun 7, 2011
As the state legislature winds up business for the regular 2011
session this week, a bill that would allow the state to swap 17 acres
of conservation land for 87 acres owned by a developer next to a state
forest is the subject of intense eleventh-hour lobbying and maneuvering
by supporters and opponents.
The developer, Riverhouse Properties LLC, is seeking to build a hotel
and retail complex with a theater or other entertainment venue on the
17-acre site overlooking the Connecticut River across from the
Goodspeed Opera House on the eastern side of the river. The parcel is
next to its Riverhouse at Goodspeed Station banquet, conference and
catering center. The 87 acres abut Cockaponset State Forest.
The 17 acres is part of the state Department of Environmental
Protection's Clark Creek Wildlife Area. Tracks used by Connecticut
Valley Railroad State Park run between the parcel's east side and Eagle
Landing State Park on the west bank of the river. While both
properties are in Haddam, representatives of the more than two dozen
statewide environmental organizations, local land trusts and other
groups that have joined the opposition say the outcome could affect the
fate of conservation land statewide.
"I walked the (17-acre) property and it sealed the deal for me," said
Melissa Schlag Proulx of Haddam, who created a website,
www.landswap.org, for a group calling itself Stop the Swap, and was at
the state Capitol Monday to submit a petition signed by 640 residents
of more than 40 towns. She was involved in two opposition rallies...
Please search the New London DAY archives for the remainder of this story.
Housatonic Valley Looks at
Environmental Issues From Watersheds to Bottles
A Superior Court
decision to protect the Saugatuck Watershed has town officials
including First Selectman Rudy Marconi considering the impact on public
drinking water
Affordable housing efforts have benefited greatly from Section 8-30g of
the state code as the law allows builders lenience when bringing the
affordable units into town — but higher density is not always a good
thing.
When it comes to protecting the watershed, Judge Henry S. Cohn of the
State Superior Court writes, "The protection of a source of public
drinking water clearly outweighs the need for affordable housing."
The court overruled an appeal by the Eureka building company to amend
the zoning map in order to build units at a site on Bennett's Farm Road
in Ridgefield because 67 acres of the property were in the Saugatuck
Watershed, which supplies the public drinking water in the Saugatuck
Reservoir.
Ridgefield First Selectman Rudy Marconi backed the decision at the
Housatonic Valley Council of Elected Officials Thursday and introduced
state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) representative
MaryAnn Nusom Haverstock to speak about some of the region's efforts in
terms of protecting watersheds.
"A watershed encompasses many towns," Haverstock said. "If we can get
not one town but several towns coming together to look for funding, we
can bring low-impact development to planning and zoning."
"The bottom line," Marconi said, "is that water is the next oil," with
agreement from the HVCEO table, which included selectmen from New
Milford, Brookfield, New Fairfield and other towns in the region...
First Selectman Rudy Marconi of Ridgefield.
Saugatuck
watershed protection
blocks housing plan in Ridgefield
Danbury News-Times
Robert Miller, Staff Writer
Published: 10:08 p.m., Friday, November 12, 2010
RIDGEFIELD -- Developers of the proposed housing development on
Bennett's Farm Road cannot build any units on land that is part of the
Saugatuck River watershed, a state Superior Court judge has ruled.
"The protection of state water resources is not only consistent
with,
but a focus of state laws," Judge Henry S. Cohn wrote in an Oct. 20
decision. "The protection of a source of public drinking water clearly
outweighs the need for affordable housing."
Cohn also ruled that Eureka V cannot build an on-site septic
system or
even run sewer line across the watershed property. First Selectman Rudy Marconi said the decision proves state laws
value
watershed land enough to override the need for affordable housing.
"This is a huge victory," Marconi said Wednesday...
"It's a split decision," Ellen Burns, president of the
Ridgefield Open
Space Association, said of Cohn's opinion. "He upheld the town as far
as the Saugatuck watershed is concerned. But he threw the Norwalk River
under the bus."
A spokesman for Eureka was unavailable for comment Thursday.
The case has been in court since 2008, when Eureka sued the
Planning
and Zoning Commission over its rezoning of the 153-acre site, creating
a Housing Opportunity Zone.he site is at the top of a hill, with about 86 acres that have
drainage into the Norwalk River, while 67 acres are part of the
Sauagtuck River watershed...
Please search the Danbury News-Times archives for the remainder of this story.
Eureka
Withdraws Affordable Housing Appeal
"Bizarre case"
from developer challenged 2007 changes to zoning regulations.
By Kira Goldenberg, Ridgefield Patch
July 22, 2010
Long entrenched in multiple lawsuits against the town, the owners of
153 acres on Bennett's Farm Road appear to be ditching at least one of
their major cases.
Eureka V, LLC, has filed a motion to withdraw a superior court appeal
from 2007 protesting that what were then new changes to the town's
zoning regulations would unfairly prevent the developer from building
affordable housing on the site, court documents show.
Eureka V is a limited liability corporation of the New York-based
Milstein Properties.
"I thought it was a bizarre case to begin with," said First Selectman
Rudy Marconi, who has two cabinets and a large box in his office
devoted to storing Eureka-related documents. Neither he nor Town
Planner Betty Brosius knew why the developer decided to withdraw the
appeal now...
Please search the Ridgefield Patch archives for the remainder of this story.
NOTE: We have left the full story for this issue online to be sure we have not further complicated this matter.
Developer
to refile suit against East Lyme over housing proposal; Russo has alleged town shutting out
minorities
By Amy Renczkowski, New London Day Staff
Writer
Article published Jun 25, 2010
East Lyme - An attorney for developer
Glenn Russo said Thursday he will
refile a lawsuit accusing the town of racial discrimination through its
rejection of an affordable-housing development proposal, just months
after a U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals judge dismissed the suit.
The federal civil rights lawsuit filed by
Landmark Development Group
LLC, headed by Russo, dates back to 2003 and alleges the town was
purposefully preventing minorities from coming to East Lyme by
rejecting affordable housing. On March 10, an appellate court judge
upheld a federal judge's previous decision to dismiss the lawsuit.
Christopher Rooney of Carmody &
Torrance LLP, based in New Haven,
said Landmark did not appeal the decision any higher because it was
unlikely the case would have been heard by the U.S. Supreme Court.
Instead, Landmark will refile its case in the U.S. District Court in
Hartford.
"Although it's a final decision on the
matter, it does not block
further litigation," Rooney said.
Reached Thursday evening, First Selectman
Paul Formica was surprised to
hear about Russo's plans to restart litigation. He said it was his
understanding that the deadline had passed for Landmark to appeal to
the Supreme Court and the opportunity to refile the suit has passed
with that deadline.
Several phone calls placed with Deborah
Etlinger of Hartford-based Wolf
Horowitz & Etlinger LLC, who is representing the town in the
lawsuit, were not returned Thursday night.
Since 2000, Russo, a Middletown-based
developer, has submitted four
separate applications to build condominiums on more than 240 acres in
the northern end of the Oswegatchie Hills. The last application
proposed 1,720 units, a third of which would be deemed affordable under
state statutes.
The town rejected each application, and
Russo appealed each one in
Superior Court. The court twice upheld the town's position, and the
other two appeals are pending.
Formica said the town has spent a minimal
amount on legal fees to fight
the federal case. The town is covered by its insurance company, which
hired Etlinger. He said he wasn't sure how much the town paid in
previous years in legal fees to fight the other appeals.
Oswegatchie Hills includes approximately
700 acres of woodland that
front the Niantic River. Residents have, since then, approved the
purchase of nearly half of the acreage in Oswegatchie Hills to preserve
as open space.
Since Russo filed the civil rights
lawsuit, the town has approved two
affordable housing developments and has more clearly defined its
affordable-housing regulations. The Zoning Commission established a
subcommittee last year to look at the possibility of creating incentive
housing zones to make it easier to develop affordable housing in town.
Incentive housing zones, which give towns
control, exempt them from the
state's 10 percent affordable-housing goal for towns and provide cash
incentive payments. The special incentive housing zones allow for
denser-than-normal housing with the idea of stimulating the town's
economic growth by increasing the number of retail and business
customers as well as attracting additional grant money.
Jane Dauphinais, director of the
Southeastern Connecticut Housing
Alliance, said last fall that about 5 percent of East Lyme's total
housing units are designated as affordable. Most towns in the area have
between 2 and 3 percent, she said.
Larger cities and towns in the area, such
as Norwich, New London and
Groton, have about 20 percent of their total housing units considered
affordable.
In
Desegregation
Pact, Westchester Agrees to Add Affordable Housing
NYTIMES
By SAM ROBERTS
Dated online as
August
11, 2009
Westchester County officials have entered into a landmark
desegregation
agreement that would compel the county to create affordable housing in
overwhelmingly white communities and aggressively market it to
non-whites in the county and in neighboring New York City. The
agreement, to be formally filed Monday in Federal District Court in
Manhattan, would end three years of litigation by the
Anti-Discrimination Center over Westchester’s responsibility to enforce
fair-housing goals.
“Residential segregation underlies virtually every racial
disparity in
America, from education to jobs to the delivery of health care,” said
Craig Gurian, executive director of the Anti-Discrimination Center,
which filed the suit under the federal False Claims Act...
Preserve
Oswegatchie Hills
DAY editorial
Published on 5/16/2009
Once again a judge has ruled
against developer Glenn Russo in his
protracted legal fight to build affordable housing in East Lyme's
Oswegatchie Hills, and once again Mr. Russo has vowed to appeal.
While we agree that East Lyme,
like most suburban towns in New London
County, should offer a broader range of housing options, we also
believe that no homes of any kind, be they raised ranch or Tudor
mansion, belong in Oswegatchie Hills, a pristine expanse of forest and
ledges that offers dramatic views of the Niantic River Valley.
And so once again we urge Mr.
Russo to drop his appeal and abandon his
plans, thereby allowing the town and conservation organizations to
pursue preserving the property, as they have with adjoining parcels. A
consortium of public and private groups has in recent years managed to
create the 400-acre Oswegatchie Hills Nature Preserve, which has five
miles of hiking trails and will remain as open space for the enjoyment
of future generations.
Since 2000, Mr. Russo has been
seeking to build condominiums on 240
acres that his company, Landmark Development Group LLC, owns at the
northern end of the hills. His most recent legal strategy has been to
file a federal civil rights lawsuit accusing East Lyme of trying to
block minorities from coming to town by turning down Landmark's
affordable housing proposal - a specious allegation rejected twice in
state Superior Court and now tossed out in U.S. District Court.
In granting the town's request to
dismiss Mr. Russo's lawsuit, Judge
Robert Chatigny noted that the two minority plaintiffs who initially
professed to have wanted to move to East Lyme now say they have found
other accommodations and have withdrawn from the litigation. But John
Brittain, a prominent civil rights attorney representing Mr. Russo,
says he has lined up other minorities to take their place as plaintiffs
and will file an appeal in two or three months.
We urged Mr. Russo to drop his
plans a year ago after the second
Superior Court ruling. At the time, Judge Eliot Prescott properly ruled
that the state law intended to encourage affordable housing was less
important than the need to protect a “unique and important
environmental setting.”
Since then, it's worth noting,
the real estate market has collapsed and
there's an unprecedented glut of houses on the market, so one could
argue that the professed need for new homes cited in Mr. Russo's
lawsuit is considerably less urgent.
Some speculate that the real
intent of Mr. Russo's legal challenges has
been to drive up the selling price of his land, but whatever his
motives we fervently hope he sees the light before proceeding with an
appeal. It's time for him to move on, and for all of Oswegatchie Hills
to be protected.
Judge
dismisses
Oswegatchie Hills lawsuit against East Lyme; Developer files
appeal in affordable-housing case
DAY
By Karin
Crompton
Published on 5/14/2009
East Lyme - A judge has granted
the town's motion to dismiss a federal
civil rights lawsuit that had alleged East Lyme purposefully tried to
block minorities from coming to town by rejecting affordable housing.
-------------------------------
*
AFFORDABLE HOUSING IN EAST LYME
Year - Total Assisted - Percent
of Total Housing
2002 - 375 - 5.03
2003 - 299 - 4.01
2004 - 286 - 3.83
2005 - 308 - 4.13
2006 - 314 - 4.21
2007 - 373 - 5.00
2008 - 390 - 5.23
Assisted or affordable units
include governmentally assisted units,
deed restricted units and CHFA mortgages. The percentage equals the
number of total housing units in town (7,459), as per the 2000 Census,
divided by the number of affordable/assisted units.
SOURCE: STATE DEPARTMENT OF
ECONOMIC AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT
Program
hits milestone by
preserving 250th farm
DAY
Published on 4/25/2009
Gov. M. Jodi Rell and state Agriculture Commissioner F. Philip
Prelli
announced Friday that the state's Farmland Preservation Program reached
a milestone this week by preserving its 250th farm, the 181-acre
Wisneske Farm, in Norwich and Franklin.
The property is part of an agricultural cluster of more than 800
acres
of preserved farmland. It represents the first joint acquisition by the
state, a statewide land trust partner and a federal agency, according
to a news release from Rell's office.
”Agriculture contributes $2 billion to our economy each year and
it is
essential we retain the ability to produce local food, create jobs and
preserve our agriculture heritage,” Rell said.
The Wisneske Farm lies along a scenic ridge on Plain Hill Road
and is
adjacent to Bog Meadow Reservoir and other protected farmland. It
contains about 100 acres of cropland. Eugene Wisneske grows hay for
livestock and leases a portion of the cropland and pasture to a local
dairy, the Spielman Farm.
The protection of Wisneske Farm was a $757,500 joint purchase of
development rights between the state of Connecticut, the nonprofit
Connecticut Farmland Trust and the federal Natural Resources
Conservation Service. The state contributed just under $707,500 from
the $5 million lump sum bond allocation approved by the State Bond
Commission. The farmland trust contributed $50,000 through private
fundraising efforts. The state will receive reimbursement for 47
percent of the cost through the federal Farm and Ranch Lands Protection
Program administered by the conservation service.
The state's farmland preservation goal is to preserve 130,000
acres of
farmland, with 85,000 acres of active cropland. To date, about 25
percent or 254 farms totaling 34,500 acres have been approved for
protection by the Farmland Preservation Program.
Nature
Conservancy Acquires Eightmile Conservation Easements On 600
Acres
DAY
Published on 3/25/2009
Salem - The Nature
Conservancy, partnering with the Salem Valley
Corporation, Connecticut Farmland Trust, Natural Resources Conservation
Service and Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection,
announced Friday it has just acquired conservation easements on
approximately 600 acres in the Eightmile River watershed.
The acreage is in two
properties, one of which, at 550 acres, is among
the largest unprotected parcels remaining in the watershed. The
properties connect to 7,500 acres of conserved lands, including Devil's
Hopyard State Park, the Nehantic State Forest, and numerous Conservancy
preserves.
Preservation of these lands
also adds nearly 3 miles to the existing 10
miles of protected river corridor, located chiefly along the East
Branch of Eightmile River. The lands also add to the watershed's
protected farmland.
The two properties are in
managed forest and in agriculture. The
farmland is used for hay production and pasture, and leased by area
farmers. It includes 121 acres of prime and important agricultural
soils.
The Farmland Trust and
Conservation Service will hold the primary
easement and The Nature Conservancy will hold a secondary easement on
the agricultural lands, which will remain as working farmland.
The Conservancy will hold a
forest easement on the remaining 370 acres
of forested and wetland acres. Eventually the easements will be
transferred to the state.
The Salem Valley Corporation
last year donated to the Conservancy a
34-acre parcel adjacent to the Walden Preserve. The Conservancy is also
working with the corporation to protect a 118-acre property. Completion
of this fourth project would bring the size of the corporation's
protected lands to 730 acres.
Don't
you
think ONE of these shots in the dark will eventually find the right
judge? Then, after appeals, it's off to the U.S. Supreme Court!
Leave The Hills Alone
DAY editorial
Published on 2/7/2008
Developer Glenn Russo should call
off his relentless effort to develop
housing in the Oswegatchie Hills in East Lyme and work with
conservationists who want to buy the property and preserve it as open
space.
Mr. Russo's Landmark Development
Group has been trying since 2001 to
win approval for the condominium project that would include affordable
housing. In challenging the town's refusal to approve his plan, Mr.
Russo points to a state law intended to assist developers overcome
zoning regulations that exclude affordable housing.
Last week, for the second time, a
Superior Court judge rejected Mr.
Russo's appeal. Judge Eliot Prescott correctly found that the state law
intended to encourage affordable housing was trumped by the need to
protect a “unique and important environmental setting.”
Unfortunately, that does not
appear to be the end of the matter. Mr.
Russo has two other state court appeals pending and has also filed a
civil rights lawsuit in federal court alleging the town is
discriminating against poor and minority families by not allowing the
affordable housing project to move forward.
The evidence simply does not
support such claims. All the evidence
suggests instead that the public's interest is to preserve these vital
woodlands overlooking the Niantic River. The town, state and private
groups have worked together to begin buying up open space in the
Oswegatchie Hills and want to acquire the property from Mr. Russo,
should he abandon his plans.
There is surely a need in this
region for more housing that working
families can afford, but there are plenty of places to build it that
make far more sense than in the Oswegatchie Hills.
Russo
Loses
Oswegatchie Hills Appeal: Developer now 0-for-2 on appeals in
quest to build condominiums
DAY
M. Matthew
Clark
Published on 2/6/2008
East Lyme — For the second time
in six years, a Superior Court judge
has rejected an appeal by Glenn Russo, the developer who has tried for
years to build affordable housing condominiums in the Oswegatchie
Hills...
RUSSO'S
LATEST PLAN SHOT DOWN
Developer's 4th Attempt To Build
Affordable Units Is Derailed By Zoning Panel
DAY
By M. Matthew
Clark
Published on 11/2/2007
East Lyme — For the fourth time
in five years, the Zoning Commission
Thursday unanimously rejected an application for an affordable housing
project in the Oswegatchie Hills...
Russo
Augments Civil Rights Lawsuit Against East Lyme; Developer Trying To
Prove The Town Is Blocking The Plan Because It Wants To Keep Out
Minorities
DAY
By Karin Crompton
Published on 9/20/2007
East Lyme — The would-be
Oswegatchie Hills developer who filed a
federal civil rights lawsuit against the town is trying to amend the
complaint, filing a substitute version that goes into much greater
detail about the ways in which he thinks the town conspired against him
and the project...
Russo had first approached the
Zoning Commission in the late 1990s with
a proposal to build a golf course and senior citizen community. The
commission denied his plan, saying, among other things, that the
run-off from the greens could pollute the Niantic River.
In June 2002, he proposed
creating an affordable-housing district. As
part of his application, he presented plans for an 894-unit housing
complex called River Views Estates. The commission rejected it. In
addition to the water and sewer issue, the panel decided that
preserving the Hills was a higher priority than establishing an
affordable-housing district there.
Lawsuit Against E.
Lyme
Lurches To Life; Waiting May Be Nearly Over In Developer Russo's
Civil Rights Suit
DAY
By Karin Crompton
Published on 7/28/2007
East Lyme — In October 2003, a Middletown developer filed a
federal
civil rights lawsuit against the town, alleging that East Lyme
purposefully tried to block affordable housing — and, by extension,
minorities — from coming to town...
Sheff
Case Returns To Court
School
Desegregation Issue Had Been Stuck In The State Legislature
By ROBERT A. FRAHM | Courant Staff Writer
July 6, 2007
The struggle to desegregate Hartford's public schools is back in
court...
Gaffey,
D-Meriden, said he plans to schedule a hearing to review
questions about the Sheff proposal, including whether it complies with
last week's U.S. Supreme Court ruling prohibiting schools from
assigning students to schools on the basis of race.
Although the goal of the Sheff settlement is to reduce racial
isolation, officials have said the Sheff programs are not affected by
the Supreme Court's ruling because students are selected for schools
based on where they live, and are not singled out by race.
Gaffey also said lawmakers want to know why Hartford officials
did not
sign on to the latest tentative agreement.
Although Hartford plans to comply with the terms of the Sheff
agreement, officials decided not to sign because of the cost of busing
students and building new magnet schools under the original agreement,
Hartford Corporation Counsel John Rose said. Under the original
settlement, the state paid the bulk of the cost, but Hartford also
spent millions of dollars, he said.
If the city had received guarantees that those costs would be
covered
completely by the state under the new tentative settlement, "we would
have signed off," he said. "That's really what it's about."
Although the court allowed city officials to take part in
settlement
negotiations, the settlement was between the plaintiffs and the state.
The city could have signed on, but its approval was not required.
Russo Buys 148
Acres In Oswegatchie Hills; Developer Pays $1.8M For
Controversial EL Land
DAY
By Karin Crompton
Published on 9/23/2006
East Lyme — Glenn Russo, the
developer with the controversial plan to
build condos in the Oswegatchie Hills, has purchased 148 acres in the
Hills on which he had previously held an option...
Hearing Speakers
Pan Oswegatchie Hills Housing Proposal; Plan marks fourth try for
Landmark LLC
DAY
By Katie Warchut
Published
on 4/21/2006
East Lyme — A cloud of criticism
hung in the air Thursday night surrounding an affordable-housing
development proposal.
Instead of describing his
development plan in the Oswegatchie Hills, developer Glenn Russo
reiterated an offer: to sell at least the waterfront portion of the
property for fair market value. He said he has had no success in
selling to the town or the state...
New
Oswegatchie Plan Twice The Size; Developer files new proposal
for homes along river
DAY
By Karin Crompton
Published on 2/5/2006
East Lyme — In his latest application, the developer seeking to
build
affordable housing and market-rate condominiums in the town's
Oswegatchie Hills section is proposing 1,720 units. Glenn Russo,
who owns Landmark Development LLC of Middletown, has submitted a fourth
application for Oswegatchie Hills, this one calling for development of
more than 240 acres in the northern part of the wooded expanse that
fronts the Niantic River.
The application has been filed in Town Hall but has yet to be
officially accepted by the Zoning Commission...
'Oswegatchie
Hills Preserve'
Unfettered public interest
embraces one of Connecticut's most precious stretches of unspoiled
nature.
Editorial from New London
DAY
Published on 11/23/2005
Even as recently as 10 years ago,
the idea was unimaginable: A public
nature preserve in the Oswegatchie Hills of East Lyme, stretching
across 700 acres from a location near Pennsylvania Avenue in Niantic
north to the headwaters of the Niantic River in Golden Spur. Up to that
point, the most effective protections for the expanse of woodlands,
quarries and bluffs overlooking the Niantic River were downturns in the
real estate market.
But the ambitious vision of
Friends of An Oswegatchie Hills Nature
Preserve and other conservationists is taking solid form. Land is
changing hands from private to public ownership, accompanied by a
cascade of federal, state, local and private funds. The progress,
remarkable for only a few years' efforts, is a strong measure of public
support for the preservation of this land, which is under assault from
Middletown developer Glenn Russo.
Mr. Russo has been relentless in
his attempts to build hundreds of
housing units in the northern end of the Oswegatchie Hills. But the
conservation movement has been just as persistent. The East Lyme Land
Conservation Trust and the town have acquired, independently of each
other, nearly 200 acres and the town is moving close to adding 157
acres to this open space at the Niantic end. The town will vote on that
$1.5 million acquisition early next year. If the purchase is approved,
more than half the Oswegatchie Hills will be under public trust.
Money is also pouring in. The
effort has yielded, so far, a war chest
of $5.5 million in federal, state and local financial commitments. The
Friends group has raised nearly $500,000 toward a goal of $2 million.
The funds will bankroll an effort to acquire three additional parcels
of land and the property Mr. Russo owns or has an option to buy, should
he abandon his plans. The land still in private hands extends to the
west of Quarry Dock Road into the granite quarries that overlook the
Niantic River.
Were the preserve to materialize
completely, the public would have
access to the land from the south end, near Veterans Memorial Field,
and to the north, as well as from the west, through the land acquired
by the East Lyme Land Conservation Trust. Hikers and mountain bikers
will be able to ascend without trespassing on private property to the
ridge of the hills, or travel along past the outcroppings to Turkey
Point and Golden Spur. This area is one of the most beautiful stretches
of nature one can find anywhere.
More important, the land, which
is the last undeveloped stretch of
woodland still protecting the Niantic River from pollution from septic
systems, lawn fertilizers and other poisonous run-off, will no longer
be at the mercy of private property owners and the real estate market.
Mr. Russo has submitted his third
plan. Two others have been turned
down, one of which is under appeal in Superior Court. Mr. Russo also
has launched a civil-rights lawsuit in federal court, charging that the
town has denied poor and minority families their rights to affordable
housing (a portion of his plan calls for affordable housing).
It is nonsense to suggest that
the town has been motivated by social
exclusivity to fight Mr. Russo and earlier developers who proposed
large-scale developments in the Oswegatchie Hills. The most compelling
evidence of this is in the massing of public interests that are
assembling to Mr. Russo's south: the town government of East Lyme,
Friends of an Oswegatchie Hills Nature Preserve, the East Lyme Land
Conservation Trust, the Connecticut General Assembly, the state
Department of Environmental Protection and the federal Trust for Public
Land. In addition, Waterford and East Lyme are partners in protecting
the Oswegatchie Hills through the Niantic River Gateway Commission. Now
millions of dollars are flowing into the effort.
If that's not a strong message,
what is?
Compromise could Temper
Oswegatchie Hills Dispute; Negotiations Are Possible On Plan For
Development
By KARIN CROMPTON
Day Staff Writer, East Lyme/Salem
Published on 12/6/2005
East Lyme —For years, discussion of whether to allow development
in the
Oswegatchie Hills has, for the most part, been an all-or-nothing
debate: either the Hills would be preserved, completely, or hundreds of
condominiums would dot the landscape that fronts the Niantic
River. That may have changed last Thursday night...
Developer
Submits 3rd
Try For Oswegatchie Hills; Landmark's application is for 840
condominiums
By KARIN CROMPTON
Day Staff
Writer, East Lyme/Salem
Published
on 6/17/2005
East Lyme —
The developer who has twice wrangled with the town over putting housing
in the Oswegatchie Hills has submitted a third application, this time
for
840 condominiums in the Hills. Glenn Russo, owner of Landmark
Development
LLC of Middletown, said the application addresses the issues of sewer,
water and equality that have been of concern to the town's Zoning
Commission...
Developer
Appeals EL Affordable-housing Denial; Landmark Files Suit After
Zoning
Board's Rejection Of Its Latest Application
By KARIN CROMPTON
Day Staff
Writer, Lyme/Old Lyme
Published
on 1/28/2005
East Lyme —
The developer who hopes to build condominiums and affordable housing in
the Oswegatchie Hills has filed a lawsuit to appeal the Zoning
Commission's
denial of his most recent application.
Glenn Russo,
the owner of Landmark Development LLC of Middletown, filed the lawsuit
in New London Superior Court on Tuesday. It names the town's Zoning
Commission
as the defendant...
Conflict
Growing In Unspoiled Forest; Affordable Housing At Odds With
Preservation
Hartford Courant,
January 18, 2005
By MIKE SWIFT
EAST LYME --
Perhaps the one thing people agree about when it comes to the
Oswegatchie
Hills is that their value is too great to measure...
"In the civil
rights movement, there is a saying: `Freedom is good, but freedom ain't
free.' It costs. Natural land use preservation, a land trust, is good,
too. But it, too, is not free," Brittain said. "So you have two
competing
interests with the natural preservation of Oswegatchie Hills."
Competing
Needs
Two of the
state's most thorny problems - the preservation of open land from
sprawling
development, and the sifting of Connecticut's cities and towns into
haves
and have-nots - are colliding on the Oswegatchie Hills...
John Brittain
& Oswegatchie Hills; A Determined Strategist Leads A Fight
For
Racial Equality In Housing
By ALLISON
FRANK, Day Staff Writer, East Lyme/Salem
Published
on 1/11/2004
Atlanta --
Last Saturday evening in downtown Atlanta, attorney John C. Brittain
broke
away from a law school conference and
retreated
to a posh lounge reserved for Hilton Hotel club members. In tailored
suit
and striped bowtie, he reached for an ashtray, moving it to the center
of a glass-topped table like a piece in a chess game.
“This is the
Oswegatchie Hills,” he said, stretching the name to
“Ozz-a-wa-gat-chie,”
rolling out the syllables like a jazz song...
Bush Signs Bill
That Will Protect Eightmile River
By DAVID FUNKHOUSER | Courant Staff Writer
May 9, 2008
LYME — - Nathan Frohling stood next to the Eightmile River near
the
East Haddam-Lyme border and pointed to a shrubby clearing in the woods.
"This was going to be a six-lot subdivision," he said...
'Heart' Of
Local Watershed Joins Protected Status; Nature Conservancy to buy 706
more acres along Eightmile River
DAY
By Judy
Benson
Published
on 2/13/2008
Salem —
The Nature Conservancy has reached an agreement to ensure that
one of the largest remaining swaths of unprotected land in the
Eightmile River watershed will not be developed...
Pair Awaits
Ruling On Lawsuit Over Disposal Of State-owned Land; Bingham, Fromer
seek role in legal debate on environmental issues
DAY
By Karin
Crompton
Published
on 1/9/2008
David
Bingham and Robert Fromer are awaiting the state Supreme Court's
ruling on a simple question that could lead to a complex court case —
all of which could affect the future of the former Norwich State
Hospital site in Preston and Norwich and the former Seaside Regional
Center in Waterford...
Eightmile River
Closer To National Designation; House passes bill introduced by
2nd District's Courtney
DAY
By Judy
Benson
Published
on 8/1/2007
The
Eightmile River and its watershed are now within one vote of
finally becoming part of the National Park Service's Wild and Scenic
Rivers System...
‘Friends'
Raise Funds
To Preserve The Hills; Oswegatchie Development Plan Drives
Volunteer
Partnership
By KARIN CROMPTON, Day Staff Writer,
Lyme/Old Lyme
Published on 12/5/2004
East Lyme -- For the generations
of hikers who scrambled along the ledges and explored the trails of
Oswegatchie
Hills, one assumption prevailed: The Hills would never
change.
So when developer Glenn Russo came to town with plans for a development
of hundreds of condominiums and then challenged the Zoning Commission's
denial of his application in state and federal courts, it sent a jolt
throughout
the community...
Tuesday October
26, 2004 New London DAY:
Open-Space Advocates
Eye Oswegatchie Hills; Group Looking To Preserve 700 Acres With
Walking
Trails, Access To Water
By KARIN CROMPTON
Waterford
—A public-private partnership is organizing to buy 700 acres in the
Oswegatchie
Hills and preserve the land as open space. Local, state and
federal
officials attended a public rally at Sandy Point Beach on the Waterford
side of the Niantic River Monday morning to promote buying and
preserving
the land on the opposite shore in East Lyme.
The goal is
to purchase 10 privately owned, undeveloped parcels at fair market
value.
The land would become a nature preserve that would include a mile of
waterfront
and would stretch from Veterans Memorial Field in East Lyme north to
The
Golden Spur, adjacent to Route 1. The linked properties would include
walking
trails and access to the water...
Bill would
protect Eightmile
River
New London DAY
By Susan Haigh, Published on 3/10/2001
A
congressional subcommittee will
hear testimony next week on why the unsullied Eightmile River, which
winds
its way through East Haddam, Salem and Lyme, should be protected as
part
of the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System.
U.S.
Rep. Rob Simmons, R-2nd District,
announced this week that the House Subcommittee on National Parks,
Recreation
and Public Lands will conduct a hearing Tuesday on his bill authorizing
the National Park Service to study granting the Eightmile River the
special
designation...
State Fares Well In Sheff
Hearing
June 21, 2005
By RACHEL GOTTLIEB, Courant Staff
Writer
NEW
BRITAIN -- The plaintiffs in
the landmark Sheff vs. O'Neill lawsuit to desegregate Hartford's
schools
were in court Monday accusing the state of breaching the settlement in
the long-running case by falling woefully behind in enrolling students
in new Hartford magnet schools...
Sheff Plaintiffs Not Satisfied:
Dispute State's School Desegregation Efforts
August 3, 2004
By ROBERT
A. FRAHM, Courant Staff Writer
Plaintiffs
in a Hartford school desegregation case will return to court today to
contend
that the state has failed to enroll enough children in new city magnet
schools to comply with a court-approved settlement last year...
Panel Rejects
Application For Oswegatchie Hills Plan; EL Zoning Commission
unanimously
turns down Landmark LLC proposal
By KARIN CROMPTON
Day Staff
Writer, Lyme/Old Lyme
Published
on 1/7/2005
East Lyme —
The town's Zoning Commission on Thursday night unanimously rejected a
controversial
application for 352 units of housing in the sprawling Oswegatchie Hills
woodlands alongside the Niantic River...
Oswegatchie Hills Developer
Offers East Lyme Land; Town Would Have To Purchase The Property
From
Landmark LLC
By ETHAN ROUEN, DAY
Published on 8/20/2004
East
Lyme— A representative for Landmark
LLC Thursday offered to sell the town some of the land the company owns
in the Oswegatchie Hills...
New Proposal Submitted
For Oswegatchie Hills; Plan would phase in some housing units
By ETHAN ROUEN
Day Staff
Writer, East Lyme, Salem
Published
on 8/6/2004
East Lyme—
The Zoning Commission heard a revised proposal Thursday from Landmark
LLC
to develop land in Oswegatchie Hills...
Oswegatchie
Hills Development partly In East Lyme Sewer Area
By ETHAN ROUEN, New London DAY,
October 1, 2004
East
Lyme — A Department of Environmental
Protection official has determined that part of the proposed
development
in the Oswegatchie Hills falls within the town's sewer-service area,
contradicting
one of the town's strongest arguments against developing the land.
In
a letter to town Planning Director
Meg Parulis that was read into the record at a Zoning Commission public
hearing Wednesday, a DEP engineer said his 2002 assessment that the
hills
were not in the sewer-service area was incorrect.
“I
can now state that a portion of
the project known as Riverview Heights is within the ultimate tributary
area ... for the East Lyme sewer system,” wrote Dennis Greci, the DEP
engineer.
Landmark,
which owns or has options
on about 230 acres in the hills, applied to the Zoning Commission in
2002
to build an 894-unit housing complex with affordable housing in the
hills.
The commission denied the application, citing a lack of the water and
sewer
services and a desire to protect the land as open space.
In
response, Landmark and its owner,
Glen Russo, filed two lawsuits against the town. The first was decided
last month in Superior Court in favor of the town. Russo argued that
the
town used false information about its water and sewer systems when
denying
the application. In her ruling, Judge Barbara Quinn wrote that the
commission's
decision, based on potential environmental damage, a lack of sewer and
water resources, and traffic problems, was correct, and that the
potential
harm to the land outweighed the town's need for affordable housing.
Landmark
also has a federal discrimination
lawsuit against the town, the Zoning and Water and Sewer commissions
and
four town officials, claiming that the Zoning Commission's denial of
the
proposed housing complex was racially motivated. Blacks and Hispanics
dominate
Connecticut's affordable-housing market.
Some
town officials have insisted
for several years that Russo's property is not within the sewer-
service
area, known as the sewer shed. Greci said his initial findings on the
hills
were based on information provided by the town.
In
letters from 2002 and August 2004,
First Selectman Wayne Fraser said the area is excluded from the sewer
shed.
Frederick
Thumm, the director of
public works, said in a 2001 letter that the hills were not in the
sewer
shed, but wrote in an August letter that, “my review suggests that a
majority
of the area is outside the sewer shed.”
“That
goes to show how misinformation
led to that decision,” said Russo's attorney, Michael Zizka, of the
Superior
Court's ruling...
‘Friends'
Raise Funds To Preserve The Hills; Oswegatchie Development Plan
Drives
Volunteer Partnership
By KARIN CROMPTON
Day Staff
Writer, Lyme/Old Lyme
Published
on 12/5/2004
East Lyme --
For the generations of hikers who scrambled along the ledges and
explored
the trails of Oswegatchie Hills, one assumption prevailed: The Hills
would
never change...
With An Eye To The Future;
Land Preservation Will Ultimately Benefit Entire Region, Say Lyme
Officials
By KARIN CROMPTON
Tuesday, 10-12-04 DAY
Lyme— While other southeastern Connecticut
towns may look for developers for their unused land, the 2,016
residents
of Lyme seem to want to make time stand still...
Golf Course Proposal Hits Bump
August
16, 2005
By RINKER BUCK,
Courant
Staff Writer
In
a major
setback for one of America's blue-chip developers, the state
Department of Environmental Protection filed a tentative determination
on Monday to deny the water permits needed for the controversial Yale
Farm Golf Course in Litchfield County.
Roland W. Betts, a close personal friend and former business associate
of President Bush, has spent the past four years attempting to secure
permits for a championship, 18-hole course on the grounds of a
historic, 780-acre estate in Norfolk and North Canaan. The property
straddles two crucial brooks feeding the Housatonic River watershed and
scenic Campbell Falls State Park.
A well-financed group of
abutting landowners and a
growing coalition of environmental groups have marshaled a host of
scientific studies against the project and battled the Yale Farm
developers before regulatory agencies and in the courts. This effort
seems to have convinced increasingly skeptical state and federal
regulators that too many questions remain about the golf course's
effect on a sensitive rural area and its water supply.
In August 2004, the federal Environmental Protection Agency,
saying
that 10 of Betts' 18 holes would directly affect wetlands on the Yale
Farm property, recommended that his permit be denied. A Litchfield
County Superior Court judge also invalidated the permits Betts received
from the North Canaan Inland Wetlands Conservation Commission over the
location of a mitigation pond...
Neither Betts nor the project manager for the golf course could
be
reached for comment Monday. Yale Farm's battery of environmental
engineers, lawyers and golf course designers are not allowed by the
developer to speak with reporters.
Falls Village
farm to remain undeveloped
Waterbury Republican-American
Thursday, January 10, 2008 7:18 AM EST
FALLS VILLAGE -- Farmed for the better part of 260 years, Grassy
Hill
Farm will retain its agricultural heritage thanks to a 38-acre easement
granted to the Connecticut Farmland Trust by the property's owners.
Richard and Mary Lanier donated the easement on Brewster Road,
assuring
that the land always will be used for agricultural purposes and cannot
be developed.
Grassy Hill is the 14th farm to be preserved by the Connecticut
Farmland Trust, which has protected 1,100 acres of farmland in the
state since 2002. Connecticut Farmland Trust is the only private,
statewide, nonprofit, conservation organization dedicated exclusively
to protecting Connecticut's working farmland.