Groton Open Space Association

Michael Klemens Opposes Ice House Move; IWA Closes Hearings

GROTON–Michael W. Klemens, a well-known ecologist, has told the Groton Inland Wetlands Agency that it ought to deny the request of the Mystic Ice House subdivision developer for reduced wetlands and vernal pool buffers.

Mr. Klemens, a Rye, N.Y.-based consultant who co-authored a standard text on vernal pool conservation, said at the IWA hearing Feb. 25, 2004 that reducing the buffer to 50 feet from the previously approved 150 feet would “not only adversely affect the wildlife in the vernal pool but [would] jeopardize this wetland by increasing siltation and eutrophication, as well as by thermal alteration.”

The hearings have drawn great interest because the developer has contended that the state Supreme Court’s Avalon Bay decision last fall justified reopening the case. The decision appeared to some developers to end the authority of wetlands agencies to factor wildlife into their decisions on development applications.

Mr. Klemens said, “As you may be aware, the current session of the Connecticut Legislature is considering several different versions of proposed legislation to correct what is widely recognized as an opinion based upon a single case, with a peculiar set of circumstances, that has created what some perceive as a window of opportunity to receive approvals that are less protective of the environment than the legislative intent (as opposed to the judicial interpretation) may be. Given the uncertainty of the outcome in this legislative session, it would be prudent to require that the application be resubmitted denovo, and be then subject to the new standards that are being considered… It is quite possible that these new standards that are being considered in Hartford as we speak, may provide you with an opportunity to achieve an even better conservation design that your current approval, by either reducing density or providing additional cluster standards.”

The Avalon Bay decision appeared to require wetlands agencies to focus solely on water quality rather than wildlife, but Klemens argued in effect that water quality and wildlife are inseparable.

“…the ‘beneficial’ nature of organisms in the wetland is well documented scientifically, and is integral to the arguments that have been made about the protection of the Mystic Ice House vernal pool,” he said. He noted that woodfrogs clear ponds of organic debris that otherwise would degrade water quality. Salamanders provide non-chemical control of mosquitoes by eating their larvae.

“I urge the Groton Inland Wetlands Agency to consider seriously the beneficial nature of the wetland organisms that are supported by the vernal pool and its upland habitat, and how the loss of those organisms will in turn impact the very wetland functions that are clearly within your purview.”

At the conclusion of the Feb. 25 proceedings, the IWA closed the hearings on the Ice House application and said it would announce its decision later.