Groton Open Space Association

Groton Town Council To Consider Watrous Property Recommendation

GROTON–The Town Council agreed at its June 17, 2003, meeting to refer to its Committee of the Whole an 18-month-old official recommendation that the town preserve the Watrous property on Noank-Ledyard Road as open space.

The action, proposed by Councilor Elissa Wright, came after a citizen’s petition presentation by Wendy MacFarland, who lives near the property.

Applications to develop 105 acres of the property as the Four Winds at Mystic residential life care community for seniors have been filed with the Zoning Commission and the Inland Wetlands Agency.

Ms. MacFarland said that allowing these applications to enter the approval process before the town deals with the open-space recommendation is “putting the cart before the horse.”

The recommendation for preservation was made by Conservation Commission Chairman Brae Rafferty Dec. 11, 2001 in a memo to the Council’s Environment & Recreation Committee and hasn’t yet been acted upon. The recommendation was for the town to apply for state funds to buy the property.

Mayor Frank O’Beirne Jr. commented that the town currently doesn’t have a lot of money for acquiring open space. Ms. MacFarland said later than she was not seeking an immediate purchase, only a written town commitment to buy when sufficient money becomes available at the state and/or town levels.

Ms. MacFarland said the property is an “ecological gem” with a highly productive vernal pool and a white cedar swamp, and is widely regarded as a community asset even though it is privately owned. She said the owner’s right to sell would be protected by a town commitment to acquire the property.