Groton Open Space Association

SCCOG Draft Plan Termed Weak On Conservation

GROTON — The Southeastern Connecticut Council of Governments presented a draft Regional Plan of Conservation and Development in Groton June 28, 2007. It listed Issue No. 1 for the region as governmental fragmentation and it gave scant attention to the need for open space.

In commentary that followed the SCCOG presentation, Brae Rafferty, chairman of the Town of Groton Conservation Commission, said the conservation component of the report was “very weak.” He said it is important to have greenbelts, including wildlife corridors, linking towns, and he would like to see a much stronger emphasis on conservation in the final 2007 report.

The Groton Open Space Association also was generally critical of the report, though it praised Section 12.8, which said:

“Significant natural resources exist throughout the region. While these resources pose limitations to development, it is imperative that these resources be protected. Failure to meet this challenge will create significant impacts on every facet of economic growth and quality of life in southeastern Connecticut.”

Joan Smith, a GOSA director, commented that the draft plan “does not adequately address the conservation goals articulated by the large citizen group that attended the public hearing [last year] in Groton. The plan minimizes the overwhelming response in favor of farm and woodland protection, and prioritizes water resource protection without recognizing the critical importance of open space protection in achieving that goal.”

She said the plan’s “historic review of past [regional] POCDs fails to emphasize conservation opportunities won and lost and fails to provide a focus for new efforts.”

Another GOSA director, Sidney Van Zandt, urged the SCCOG to establish as a major goal the protection of the region’s water supply, which she said could fall short of needs created by development as early as 2010–“only three years from this very night.” She urged promotion by the SCCOG of innovative stormwater practices, including pervious blacktop, such as those that are being developed by the Stormwater Center of the University of New Hampshire at Durham.

Discussing the need for open space, Ms. Van Zandt said that only 11% of Groton’s open space is securely protected. Looking back, she noted that GOSA and its members had a major hand in saving the 1000+ acres of Bluff Point and Haley Farm “from the threat of over 600 acres of residential development, an industrial park, a 400-boat marina, underground oil storage, a helicopter landing pad, a bridge promised by NY’s [Planner Robert] Moses from the east end of Long Island to Fisher’s Island and Bluff Point and Watch Hill to hook up with [a] four-lane highway” connecting Route 117 with Bluff Point. She also recalled the threat of a “major jetport across the Poquonnock River” from Bluff Point.

She said, “My question tonight is have we learned?” from the proposed anti-environment follies of the past.

James Furlong, another GOSA director, said the draft seriously overstated the amount and percentage of securely protected open space in Groton and said the numbers in the draft SCCOG report conflict with those in the 2002 Groton Town Plan of Conservation and Development, adjusted for the addition of 57 acres to Haley Farm since 2002.

In contrast to last year’s well-attended meeting on June 15, 2006, this year’s drew only about 10 members of the public.

James Butler, SCCOG executive director, said, “We want to continue to improve the [10-year draft] plan…” At present, he said, SCCOG is without regulatory or taxing powers and is limited to the “power of persuasion.”