Groton Open Space Association

GOSA Urges Town Priority For Open Space Protection

GROTON — The Groton Open Space Association is urging the Town Council to make land preservation a priority.

Following is the text of a Jan. 11, 2007, letter from Edith Fairgrieve, a GOSA director, to Paulann H. Sheets, chairman of the Town Council’s Environment Committee:

“GOSA is frustrated by the lack of progress in advancing open space protection in the Town of Groton. Currently the Conservation Commission awaits consideration of its map and list of ‘Properties Desirable for Protection’ for inclusion in the pending update of the Plan of Conservation and Development. The date on the map is November 2005, more than a year ago, with a number of properties on the list presently undergoing development action.

“GOSA recollects that the question of Groton’s Open Space Plan and relevant statutes were discussed in the Town Council’s Environment Committee and subsequently at a July 2005 Committee of Chairpersons meeting. In both instances the topic was pushed aside.

“In light of unrestrained development pressure, GOSA feels that open space protection needs to be a government priority. The topic must be placed on the agenda before it is too late for meaningful action. Is it not time for the Environment Committee to revisit the question?”

The letter came up briefly at the Jan. 16, 2007, Town Council meeting, when Councilor Sheets raised the question of whether the best venue for the discussions was the Environment Committee or the council’s Committee of the Whole. Mayor Harry Watson and Councilor Sheets agreed that she would make a recommendation on this matter once she’d had a chance to study the just-received request from GOSA.

The town’s last bond issue for open space protection was approved almost a generation ago was only 75% utilized.