Groton Open Space Association

Open Space, Water, Farms Dominate CEQ Forum

GROTON–Citizens’ concerns about protecting wetlands and drinking water, maintaining open space and saving Connecticut’s dwindling farmland dominated a public forum held by the state’s Council on Environmental Quality Oct. 22, 2003.

The forum, at the Groton Public Library, was staged to allow citizens to go on record with observations and suggestions about the status of the area’s environment. The CEQ advises the governor and legislature on environmental matters.

Duncan Schweitzer, a civil engineer who frequently advises GOSA on a pro bono basis, told the council that the state provides little support to the non-specialist volunteers who serve on town land-use bodies. He said that opposition to developers’ plans frequently falls to citizens’ groups, who then must spend heavily to present expert evidence to land bodies. He complained that state guidance on protecting wetlands is hard to find and, when finally located, often amounts to “Pablum.” He urged that scientific expertise be offered on the state’s website, along with information on crucial legal decisions and on the number of building permits issued.

Sidney Van Zandt, a GOSA director, noted that the organization spends “thousands of dollars” on experts. “Why should citizens have to spend money to save land?” she asked. “Why not the town?”

Paulann Sheets, an environmental lawyer who represents GOSA pro bono, urged modification of “automatic approval” rules that limit the time that planning and zoning bodies have to make decisions. She also asked for changes in rules that impose de facto time limits on inland wetlands agencies. She said such rules–together with advice by town lawyers to land-use bodies to avoid lawsuits–bias the system in favor of developers. She also suggested that drinking water be better protected through adoption of strict limits both on development near reservoirs and on abandonment of land by water companies. She said that 18 Connecticut reservoirs have been abandonned in the last 10 years, as the surrounding land has appreciated in value and as getting top value on investment has become the “name of the game” for companies.

Ms. Sheets noted that developers had sued GOSA over its effort to save the Merritt property, and told the council that the suit, dropped quickly last summer in the face of a threatened countersuit, was evidence of a serious local struggle between builders and conservationists.

Molly McKay, chairman of transportion for Connecticut of the Sierra Club, expressed opposition on environmental grounds to the proposed eight-mile extension of Route 11, which currently terminates in Salem, to Route 95. She estimated that the extension, which would require a three-level, 70-foot-high interchange at the junction with I-95, would cost some $900 million. The huge cost of the road, she said, would leave no money for the big green buffer along the highway that some supporters have proposed.

Alicia Betty, of the Trust for Public Land, asked that the state include funds “at significant levels” for acquiring open space in the bonding package. The open space program was suspended after this year’s April round of awards as a result of the state’s financial crunch. “Once it’s gone, it’s lost forever,” she said, referring to open space consumed by development.

Council Chairman Donal C. O’Brien Jr. commented that “the biggest issue we’ve heard over 30 years is open space.” Mr. O’Brien is a former chairman of the National Audubon Society and a retired partner in the law firm of Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy. He has won several national competitions for bird carvings.

Donald Francis of Brooklyn, CT, of the Working Lands Alliance, urged support for the Purchase of Development Rights program that ensures farmland remains undeveloped while allowing farmers to continue to work it. Mr. Francis, who said he had milked cows that morning in Brooklyn before driving to Groton, said that farmland in Connecticut is disappearing at a rate of 8,000 acres a year.

State Senator Catherine Cook, R-Mystic, expressed concern that the number of farms in her district has fallen to 22 from 45. She said that urban legislators tend to have more clout in the legislature because they represent more populous areas. She said that ways need to be found to link aid for urban projects, like the remediation of brown fields, to money for protecting farms.

Regarding open space, she asked, “How do we ensure that landowners get value from keeping space green?” She said that the costs of land preservation need to be shared regionally, rather than carried solely by individual towns.