Groton Open Space Association

Watrous Property On State List For Possible Acquisition

GROTON — The Watrous property in Groton is among tracts listed by the Department of Environmental Protection and lawmakers as prospective purchases by the state, the Hartford Courant reported Jan. 14, 2007.

The DEP had notified GOSA in September 2004 that the 160-acre property was a candidate for acquisition under the state’s Natural Heritage Trust program.

When GOSA pointed this out at a Planning Commission hearing Sept. 28, 2004, Michael J. Murphy, director of the Office of Planning and Development Services, said the DEP’s notice to GOSA was a “form letter” that had been given “much too much” weight. The exchange occurred during a commission meeting on a site plan for a 147-unit “residential life care community” on the property.

The Courant said 20 properties are on the state list at present. These range in size from 1,000 acres in Old Saybrook, Essex and Westbrook, down to 29 acres in Chester. The Courant article shows that the candidacy of the Watrous tract for acquisition remains intact.

The “residential life care community” planned for the land by Massachusetts developer Ron Bonvie has won approval from the town’s land use commissions and withstood GOSA appeals to the Superior Court and Appellate Court.

Mr. Bonvie appealed two conditions imposed by the Inland Wetlands Agency on its approval and the appeal prevailed in Superior Court. The Appellate Court first agreed to hear the town’s appeal. However, it said Dec. 20, 2006, that it couldn’t rule on the appeal because the Superior Court had intended that the case be remanded to the IWA for further consideration. The Dec. 20 action meant that the Appellate Court could not act on Mr. Bonvie’s motion urging that the town’s appeal be granted. This motion, a reversal of his previous position, evidently was intended to clear remaining roadblocks facing the project.

The Appellate Court said the remand requires “further proceedings that are not merely ministerial.”

Any state acquisition now would require Mr. Bonvie’s approval because he has an option to buy the land.

The list of desired properties appeared as a sidebar to a Hartford Courant story by Staff Writer Rinker Buck. It said Connecticut’s land conservation program has faltered since 2003 and is now considered an embarrassment by many conservationists. It quoted Matt Zieper, research director for the Trust for Public Land, as saying the key to a successful state conservation program is a big and stable revenue stream. Such a stream avoids the politically driven fluctuations that hurt towns’ ability to arrange purchases of open space.