Groton Open Space Association

Wal-Mart Developer Tries To Censor Public Water Talks

GROTON — The lawyer for a company that wants to develop a Wal-Mart Super Center in the watershed of the Groton Utilities reservoir system tried to prevent discussion of the project at a public meeting on drinking water quality March 31, 2008, in the Town Hall Annex.

Diane Whitney, attorney for Konover Development Corp., immediately interrupted Jim Furlong, a Mystic resident, at the meeting when he named the proposed Wal-Mart project on Route 184 as a potential threat that could attract further development to the watershed.

Ms. Whitney said that some members of the Inland Wetlands Agency were attending the meeting and asserted the project therefore should not be discussed. The agency, which previously approved the project, is scheduled to hear — at its meeting April 9, 2008 — some proposed changes in the Wal-Mart plan. Her implication presumably was that the members could be influenced by any discussion at the drinking water quality meeting.

The session was called to disseminate and gather information for the Drinking Water Quality Management Plan for Groton, Ledyard, Preston, Norwich, Montville, Waterford and North Stonington. It was conducted by representatives of Milone & MacBroom, Inc., of Cheshire, CT, the plan consultant. Approximately 25 persons attended the meeting, and provided wide-ranging input on shellfish, treatment costs, pervious hard surfaces and other matters.

After Ms. Whitney broke in, Mr. Furlong told the attorney that he hoped “Wal-Mart will let me speak.” He said that “censorship, here, in a public meeting, is not allowed.” He said members of the Inland Wetlands Agency would make up their own minds about the project.

Ms. Whitney did not pursue her objection further. Jeanine Armstrong Bonin, public engineer, who was moderating the discussion, asked Mr. Furlong to avoid discussion of specific projects. He finished his thought and moved on to his general points. The points were that commercial zoning along Route 184 is a source of potential damage to water quality and that the town itself has not proven an adequate guardian of water quality. He pointed out that the Groton Open Space Association had been forced to step in several years ago to limit the danger posed to Great Brook, main conduit between the upper and lower reservoirs, by the Great Brook subdivision. He urged the consultants to come up with a water protection plan with the “teeth” that currently are missing. The town’s Office of Planning and Development Services has distanced itself from the water-protection measures for residents that GOSA negotiated with the Great Brook developer.

(Mr. Furlong, a member of GOSA, is writer of this report.)

Among other public comments:

Joan Smith, of Groton, a director of the Groton Open Space Association, said that the time is opportune in Groton for new environmental initiatives to protect drinking water because the town has just hired consultants to help rewrite zoning regulations. In addition, she said that towns that set aside watershed land ought to receive payments in lieu of taxes (PILOT), as do towns that host state parks.

Syma Ebbin PhD, of the City of Groton, said Groton should avoid the need for extensive treatment of water by limiting sources of pollution. She noted that if heavy treatment should become required, the quality of untreated water flowing over the Groton Utilities dam into the Poquonnock River and Long Island Sound by implication would be bad. She said that New York City avoided having to make vast expenditures for new treatment facilities by implementing environmental protections in the Catskills around its reservoirs there.

Ed Murphy, chairman of the Town of Groton Shellfish Commission, said shellfish are entirely absent from western Connecticut. “Let’s not let that…happen here,” he said.

Sue Sutherland, a member of the Town of Groton Zoning Commission, speaking for herself, urged examination of potential impacts of full buildouts on water supplies. She took note of projections that southeast Connecticut’s need for water will exceed supply by 2010.

Rusty Warner, of Noank, a environmental consultant to architects, developers and homeowners, said “win-win” solutions to water problems are possible, but he urged the consultants to come up with enforceable measures that won’t be scrapped when budgets get tight.

Paul Bates, a director of the Noank Water Department, said the department wants to avoid the need for more treatment and would support efforts to acquire land to protect the watershed.

Sidney Van Zandt, of Noank, a member of the advisory board to the Drinking Water Quality Management Plan¸ urged that only low impact development be allowed in areas that function as watersheds for drinking water. She held up Jordan Cove in Waterford as an example for other towns to emulate, saying the development has no stormwater runoff.

Sandy Van Zandt, of Noank, urged the consultants to look into pervious pavements such as those under study at the University of New Hampshire Stormwater Center. He noted that pervious asphalt allows water to infiltrate straight down into the ground.

The Drinking Water Quality Management Plan consultants expect to hold meetings on a draft plan in October and publish a final version in November. The effort is funded by a state legislative act.