Groton Open Space Association

Town Units Hear GOSA Concerns On Zoning Change

GROTON–The Groton Open Space Association has presented to the Town Council and Zoning Commission its objections to the content and manner of presentation of proposals to amend the Town’s zoning regulations.

Both town units held separate meetings on the evening of Nov. 3, 2004, at the Town Hall Annex. GOSA Treasurer Genevieve Cerf and Director Joan Smith made the organization’s case–Ms. Cerf at the Town Council meeting and Ms. Smith at both meetings.

Ms. Cerf expressed “distress and dismay” at the proposal to create a new class of “Active Senior Housing” that she said would lead to increasing sprawl in a “radical and rapid buildout,” with accompanying problems of budget difficulties, crime and increased traffic. She urged a “paradigm shift” away from the practice of “worshipping at the altar of the grand list.” Bigger tax rolls, she said, can in fact lead to higher taxes.

The GOSA treasurer, who is a member of the Representative Town Meeting, urged a public referendum be held on the issue and said “My constituents are very concerned about sprawl.”

Ms. Smith said the proposal holds the potential to create “wall-to-wall high-density housing throughout most areas of the town.” She said it contravenes the 2002 Town of Groton Plan of Conservation and Development by allowing multifamily housing in areas explicitly discouraged for that use by the plan. She said high-density development can protect open space only if it is accompanied by large, mandated set-asides of open space. Yet the zoning change proposal foresees an open space set-aside of only 7%, less than the 10% now considered a minimum for housing developments, and far less than an open space development would require.

The proposed changes reached the public in the form of a draft set of amendments, with suggested additions shown in underlined boldface and deletions shown with a strikethrough. Ms. Smith said that because of the far-reaching nature of some of the proposed changes, “A written discussion…should be prepared by the Office of Planning and Development” to accompany the draft.

The Zoning Commission expressed interest in GOSA’s comments. A member said the group was eager to proceed with some technical modifications. A GOSA official said later this opened the possibility that the Senior Active Housing issue and the more technical changes within the amendments could be considered separately. GOSA has engaged Attorney Richard Dixon to examine the proposals in detail.

The GOSA presentation stimulated lively discussion in the Town Council, where Councilor Peter Bartinik questioned whether the OPDS staff gives adequate consideration to environmental questions. Town Manager Mark Oefinger said a large-scale meeting of land use commissions and councilors should perhaps be convened “if you have concern that the staff is not green.” He contended the “staff is very green when appropriate.”

Mr. Oefinger expressed irritation at what he termed “catch phrases and generalizations” aimed at the OPDS that have been “going around for months and months.” He didn’t name the source of his irritation. However, GOSA has made several presentations to the council in recent months calling for better stewardship of Groton’s striking environmental assets. Such assets, GOSA holds, are increasingly hard to find in the crowded corridor between New York and Boston, south of I-95, and should not be squandered in pell-mell construction.

Separately, The Day reported that at the same meeting, “The Council established a fund … to buy land worthy of preserving in its natural state.”

In an article by Gladys Alcedo, the newspaper said: “The Open Space Land Acquisition Fund, which had been discussed on-and-off for the last couple of years, will be financed annually by an amount to be determined by the council and the Representative Town Meeting. No more than the equivalent of two mills of the tax rate may be [appropriated] in a given year, in accordance with state statute.” [The fund can be supplemented by private donaions, however.]

The article said Councilor Frank O’Beirne Jr. cast the lone vote against the measure. He argued that creation of a fund could encourage sellers to demand high prices and might create pressure on the town to spend money buying marginal open space. The newspaper quoted him as saying that he doesn’t oppose preservation of open space but favors the transfer of funds from the budget as necessary, rather than creation of a special fund.

With respect to the issue of prices paid to sellers of open space, Councilor Elissa T. Wright said that if the town uses local funds in conjunction with the state Open Space and Watershed Land Acquisition Program, specific guidelines have to be met, including a fair market purchase price determined by two appraisers, the newspaper said.