Groton Open Space Association

At Least 800 Acres In Groton’s Development Pipeline, Study Shows

 

GROTON–Recent, current and possibly imminent development involves at least 800 acres of Groton land, a recent study by GOSA and the Office of Planning and Development (OPDS) shows.

The “Pipeline” study, suggested by GOSA and carried out by the OPDS in April, 2005, lists 31 parcels of land. The parcels were selected for inclusion because they are either:

–the sites of recently completed developments

–in development

–in some stage of the process of application for development or

–well known to be for sale for development

They range in acreage from 125.6 for the proposed Great Brook subdivision down to 1.0 acre for the proposed Library Hill subdivision. The projects go back as much as five years. They involve 1,381 identified residential units, plus an unknown number of units on 175 acres that either are for sale or for which the exact number of units has not yet been worked out. Several of the development approvals are under appeal, either by GOSA or other parties.

The analysis presented in this article represents GOSA’s interpretation, not that of the OPDS, which supplied the Pipeline data.

The number of units that would be built on the 175 acres referred to above is, as stated, unknown. However, based on zoning of the areas and what little is known about plans for them would suggest to GOSA that an estimate of 250 units is reasonable. That would bring the total number of units in the Pipeline to 1,631. The 1,631 units are equivalent to more than 9% of the Town of Groton housing stock of 17,320 units in 1999, latest year for which figures were immediately available.

The Pipeline numbers exclude developments that are known to be commercial or industrial in nature, rather than residential. GOSA notes that the figures do not capture every new house or every undeveloped property that is advertised for sale. They also do not count land that may be “banked” by large development companies, either in the form of ownership or options to purchase. That means that the figures understate the true situation by an unknown but probably significant amount. They should be regarded as only an initial effort to put numbers to a matter that needs more study.

To place the figure in further perspective: 800 acres represents an area about 7% bigger than the 745-acre Bluff Point State Park. It is four times the size of 200-acre Haley Farm State Park before it was enlarged in 2002.

A study of Groton’s open space, released in February 1999 by Planimetrics of Avon, CT, showed that Groton had 6,231 acres of unprotected, undeveloped private land. The Pipeline acreage amounts to approximately 13% of that figure and is a subtraction from it. The Planimetrics study is a supplementary booklet to the Groton Plan of Conservation and Development, also prepared by Planimetrics.

How much open space does Groton have? This often-asked question is answered in the Planimetrics study. The short answer is that Groton has a lot of actual open space and comparatively little securely protected open space. Planimetrics found that Groton had 10,617 acres of actual, or “perceived”, open space, of which only 2,311 acres were securely protected as open space, either by the State of Connecticut, Town of Groton (dedication to open space) or land trust. The perceived open space amounted to 52% of Groton’s total acreage, while the securely protected open space came to just 11%. Since those 1999 figures were released, some 57 acres have been added to open space, in the form of an enlargement of Haley Farm, and at least 800 acres have entered the development pipeline. Big development companies like Toll Brothers and Pulte are interested in this coastal area, which as we all know is located about midway between Boston and New York.

The full Planimetrics breakdown of the 10,617 acres of perceived open space in its 1999 report is as follows:

Municipal Dedicated* 1,198 acres

State of CT* 1,020

Land Trust* 93

Public Managed 302

Private Managed 258

Supply Watershed 1,318

Golf Course 134

Cemeteries 63

Undeveloped Land 6,231

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*Classified by Planimetrics as preserved

Copies of the Pipeline and 1999 open space study can be obtained by e-mailing jfurlong1@comcast.net. GOSA would welcome any suggestions for additions to or corrections of the figures.