Groton Open Space Association

Strong Support Shown For Wright Bill To Protect Municipal Open Space

GROTON — Citizens made strong statements of support March 3, 2009, for State Rep. Elissa Wright’s bill to help ensure permanent protection of municipal open-space, conservation and recreation lands bought with open space financing approved by voters at referendum.

Some speakers at the Town Council meeting, attended by about 40 persons, expressed incredulity that council members could contemplate any use for open space lands other than what voters specified. One petitioner said that referendum results on a bond issue create a “contract” between the government and the voters that can’t be legally changed by the council.

The demonstration of support for the proposed legislation followed a Town Council Committee of the Whole session Feb. 24, 2009, at which Ms. Wright came in for criticism by some council members and staff for supposedly allowing the council to be taken by surprise by her bill and for introducing a measure that they felt could bind the hands of future councils.

When it was pointed out to them, councilors quickly conceded that a copy of the bill had been included in their packet of information several weeks earlier.

Ms. Wright has explained that the intent of her bill is to ensure that open space, conservation and recreation lands purchased exclusively with municipal bond money as appropriated specifically for those purposes by town voters at referendum should remain devoted to the uses specified in the referendum. Her bill would require that deeds to such municipal lands — or statements recorded with the deeds – should reflect the intent of the voters and should set forth the open space, conservation and recreation restrictions on uses of these lands, as authorized by referendum voters.

Council members appeared split on the bill itself. Councilor Mick O’Beirne said he has tended to favor “flexibility” in the use of funds. Councilor Heather Bond, who had led the criticism of Ms. Wright at the Feb. 24 meeting, said the state should not mandate the use of municipal open space lands acquired exclusively with local funds. Ms Bond has said the bill would tie the town’s hands on future uses of the land. “We can’t see into the future what might happen. It’s not all black and white.” Ms. Bond, a Republican who was defeated by Ms. Wright in 2006 for the office of state representative, said her stand on the bill was “not a personal attack on Elissa,” as she said some emails to her have suggested.

Ms. Wright has noted that under current state law, when open space, park and recreation land is taken for a highway or other purposes, there is a requirement that comparable replacement open space or park land be provided. Under this principle, if some urgent need to use dedicated open space land for some other purpose should arise in the future, the use could be changed if other comparable open space land were provided in substitution. What is clear is that the original dedicated purpose of municipal open space land acquired under a referendum vote cannot be extinguished, and certainly not at the whim of future legislative bodies, she has said.

While serving as a town councilor in 2005, Ms. Wright introduced a measure that would have recorded formal notice on the land records of the purposes of Groton’s 1988 open space referendum in which Groton voters overwhelmingly passed an $8 million bond ordinance to conserve important open space, conservation and recreation land throughout the town. The deeds to five of the six parcels purchased are silent as to the referendum vote and its effect. The state required a dedication agreement that limited uses to “conservation or recreation” on one property that was purchased with additional funding from a state grant. After approving Ms. Wright’s resolution in Committee of the Whole in 2005, the council ultimately passed a truncated substitute version, which is noted on the land records.

Councilor Paulann Sheets endorsed the intent of Rep. Wright’s bill. Ms. Sheets recalled that the 1988 open space bond issue authorization by Groton voters was clearly intended for open space land. She said that an early proposal to include “other municipal purposes” — in addition to open space, conservation and recreation — as a goal of the bond issue had been withdrawn. Several councilors appeared undecided March 3 on Rep. Wright’s bill. Mayor Harry Watson said toward the conclusion of the discussions, “We haven’t said we’re against the bill.”

It was expected that the next Town Council Committee of the Whole meeting at 6 p.m. March 10 would take up the matter again.

During the March 3 council meeting and a special Committee of the Whole meeting that immediately preceded it, Ms. Wright noted that contrary to an assertion at the Feb. 24 meeting, her bill did not mention or allude to Groton. She said her bill is designed to deal with an issue — the honoring of citizens’ votes — that is of statewide concern.

Discussing the issue of communication between Hartford and Groton, State Sen. Andrew Maynard — also present with Rep. Ted Moukawsher — said that it is difficult for legislators to brief constituencies on every bill they sponsor or co-sponsor. “We have a month’s window to introduce bills. Things go pretty fast. Maybe we can improve the process. There’s a huge volume [of bills] going through.”

Councilor Sheets said the Town Council received copies of Ms. Wright’s bill in timely fashion, and she added that state legislative information is public. “If there’s any fault, I don’t think it lies with our state representatives.” Ms. Wright noted that she has a legislative website where it is possible to track the progress of her bills.

In the citizens’ petition portion of the meeting, former Councilor Ed Eckelmeyer said in a statement read by his wife that he finds “it unbelievable that some town councilors…take the position that they are not limited” by the referendum vote. He said it would be a “breach of trust” not to honor the voters’ will.

Beth Tillman, of Mystic, said she was on the board of the Mystic Community Center when the center conveyed a sizeable tract [39.5 acres] to the town for “deeded open space.” The property along River Road in Mystic was purchased with open space bond referendum proceeds. She said that if she had known then that “20 years later” no deed notice would exist, she would have felt the board had “abrogated our fiduciary responsibility.” She added that the referendum result created a “contract” that the Town Council is not permitted to change. Any attempt to alter it could result in suits for “tortious [contract] interference,” she said. “I don’t know what other purposes the town may have in mind.”

Lynn Marshall, of Noank, said, “When I vote for open space, I expect the land to be used for that. If it’s not, I’d want to know why.”

Edith Fairgrieve, of Mystic, noted that the 1988 open space referendum for $8 million was approved by a three-to-one margin on Nov. 8 of that year. She expressed regret that the town allowed the authorization to expire before the town had spent the final $1.8 million of the $8 million. She said, “Historically, the Groton Town Council has not demonstrated by attitude or action any interest in forwarding the preservation of Groton’s natural landscape, which adds so much to the character of the town and to the quality of life for residents.” She said it is of prime importance to honor the 1988 vote.

Sandy Van Zandt, of Noank, said, “I think it’s good that the hands of town officials be tied. This is a trust bestowed by the taxpayers.” He said Rep. Wright’s bill would create a mandate but it would be a mandate that “costs nothing” in that it would involve only a notice in the deeds to open space lands.

Molly McKay, of Stonington, representing the Sierra Club of Connecticut, said the group supports the bill. She said she personally has always admired Groton’s open space, a major community asset. She recalled that growing up in Bristol, she had trouble finding “any place to go that wasn’t someone’s backyard.” She said children finally found a quasi-public recreational space beyond the end of “a dead-end street.”

Joan Smith, a director of the Groton Open Space Association presenting GOSA’s position, noted that when the group acquired The Merritt Family Forest last year with aid from the state, it was required to sign a conservation easement that is recorded with the deed. GOSA was “grateful” to sign “in order to ensure legally that the land would always remain true to the open space purposes for which it was purchased,” she said, adding that municipal land bought for open space purposes should have the same protection.

Paul Bates, of Noank, speaking for the bill, said that loss of confidence in government “doing what it says it will do” is a major reason for voter apathy. “I think we need to concentrate on being accurate. We can turn it around,” he said.

Former Councilor Richard Dixon, of Old Mystic, who played a major role in the 1988 bond issue, said that if anyone tries to change the use of the lands acquired, “Shame on you.”

Sidney Van Zandt, of Noank, said that proper notice on deeds was essential so that future generations are certain to know the purpose for which the land was acquired.

Genevieve Cerf, of Groton Long Point, criticized the “disrespectful” tone of the Feb. 24 meeting toward Ms. Wright.

John Sutherland, of Mumford Cove, noted that the state has a “public bill tracking” system that members of the public can use to get email alerts concerning bills of interest to them.