Groton Open Space Association

Groton Open Space Proponents Look To State For Land Purchase

By Gladys Alcedo

Published in THE DAY, New London, 12/04/2002

Groton — A local conservation group is seeking the state’s help in buying 75 acres of undeveloped land south of Route 1 and west of Fishtown Road that the group says must be preserved as open space.

But if the nonprofit Groton Open Space Association succeeds in securing a state grant, it will have to raise more than $300,000 in matching funds. The group is appealing to the public, hoping residents will respond the way they did when the group raised $50,000 to help preserve Haley Farm as a state park in 1970.

“Today, the Groton Open Space Association feels it is urgent to save a beautiful and sensitive parcel of land situated within a mile of the Haley Farm,” GOSA President Priscilla W. Pratt said in a letter addressed to “Friends of the Environment.”

“This property offers us an opportunity to complete a greenbelt,” Pratt wrote. “It would run from Bluff Point through Haley Farm, the Mortimer D. Wright Nature Preserve across Route 215, the (desired parcel) and Pequot Woods.”

GOSA and a group of residents have appealed the Planning Commission’s approval of a housing development proposed for the land, which is owned by F.L. Merritt Inc. of Greenwich. The commission in February gave developer MacPherson-Johnston Corp. of Rhode Island permission to build 48 single-family homes there.

Several residents and GOSA members testified against the project during commission hearings, claiming it would harm the environment. The project would be within the Eccleston Brook watershed, which flows into Palmer Cove and Fishers Island Sound. The land also includes wetlands.

Environmental experts for the developers have testified that the project, which would set aside nearly 26 acres as open space, was designed to have minimal impact on the wetlands and environment. The project has been scaled down twice from the original 79 homes proposed in 1999.

Pratt said her group learned in August that the property was for sale and that the owner was open to the association’s offer to buy the land.

The president of F.L. Merritt Inc. couldn’t be reached for comment Tuesday night.

GOSA has unsuccessfully lobbied the town for years to apply for a state Department of Environmental Protection Open Space and Watershed Land Acquisition Grant, which could fund up to 65 percent of the land-acquisition costs.

Acting Town Manager Mark R. Oefinger said that in the past the town has refrained from pursuing the state grant because it required a local match. Oefinger said he favors establishing a dedicated fund within the town budget for open-space acquisition, though not next year, which promises to be a difficult one fiscally.

GOSA members, reluctant to wait for the town to act, spent the past couple of months filling out the grant application. The group hasn’t approached the town for help, but, Pratt said, “If the town wants to help, we won’t refuse. There are other properties that we hope they would buy as well.”

Pratt said her group won’t know until spring whether its application has been granted.