Groton Open Space Association

GOSA Addresses Town Council Regarding Dedicated Lands

GROTON–The Groton Open Space Association told the Town Council meeting Oct. 18, 2005, that statements by some councilors regarding dedicated town lands spell strife in the future and cast a shadow over those lands.

GOSA also said in a citizen’s petition that council discussions of this topic this year have been hampered by a lack of needed information and by inadequate direction from the town attorney.

The topic of protection of these lands arose in May, when Councilor Elissa Wright proposed to add strong language to town land records noting that the five lands had been purchased with proceeds of a 1988 bond issue authorized for open space, conservation and recreation purposes and thus were legally dedicated to those purposes. The council rejected Ms. Wright’s proposal in July in favor of a watered-down measure that applied to only four of the five lands.

The topic resurfaced in September when Town Manager Mark Oefinger asked the council to approve construction of a “temporary” parking lot on one of the lands, a 35-acre parcel near Fitch High School, that would accommodate student cars during planned construction at the school. The parcel involved would have been covered by Ms. Wright’s resolution but was not covered by the substitute resolution.

The citizen’s petition, delivered by Jim Furlong, a GOSA director, said:

–The council should have been made aware during the discussion of Ms. Wright’s resolution of plans to build the parking lot. Town Manager Mark Oefinger, who later said he had known of the proposed lot since May 26, didn’t mention it during the discussion. In this situation, one town councilor dismissed concern about the lands as a “manufactured crisis” engineered by special interest groups out to mislead the public. GOSA also noted that Councilor Paulann Sheets said in September that she had learned from a state official that the state had discourged an earlier idea to put a building on the parcel before the parking lot was proposed.

–The town attorney’s opinion, dated June 28, on the matter was, by its own evaluation, “not intended to be definitive.” The opinion also contained numerous confessions of uncertainties that made it unfit as a basis for a decision. Nonetheless, the opinion caused the council to turn against Ms. Wright’s resolution, which the Council had tentatively approved 6-3 at its May 24 meeting. GOSA urged the town to get a new and authoritative legal opinion from independent lawyers.

–Since receiving the legal opinion, some councilors have made troubling statements. These statements include assertions that the lands purchased with bond issue funds may not be dedicated to the purposes set forth in the bond ordinance, that all town land is held for general municipal purposes and that it is “egocentric” for any council to preserve open space for even a decade in advance because the council cannot see that far into the future. The citizen’s petition commented that it was fortunate this last-cited line of thinking had not aborted Bluff Point State Park and Coastal Reserve, Haley Farm State Park, and Yosemite.

–Regardless of any legal considerations, funds explicitly approved by voters for a specific purpose should be used for that purpose so that the town government maintains credibility.

–The town should talk with St. Mary, Mother of the Redeemer Church, adjacent to the high school, about using its large parking lot during construction. GOSA has ascertained that the church is willing to discuss the possibility with the town, GOSA Director Lorraine Santangelo said in a subsequent citizen’s petition.

GOSA also asserted that far from being a “special interest group,” it is a “public interest group” that has made many outstanding contributions to the quality of life in Groton. These include playing major parts in preserving Bluff Point and Haley Farm and, recently, in achieving an agreement to prevent planned development near Great Brook from polluting the town’s drinking water. Great Brook is the main conduit of drinking water from the Ledyard Reservoir to the Groton Reservoir.

In the discussion that followed, Mr. Oefinger was directed to discuss the possibility of parking at the church. Councilor Heather Bond said she been told earlier that the church was not suitable because it had unpredictable weekday functions, like funerals, but she endorsed looking at the idea again.

Councilor Frank O’Beirne said he would look further into information that a building had been proposed for the site.

Video of the citizens petitions and subsequent comments can be viewed on the Groton Town website (link to the town website is on the GOSA website under Upcoming Events). Click on Meetings at the town website and then on Streaming Video for the Oct. 18 meeting.