This is a printer-friendly version of an article from Zip06.com.

Protecting Beacon Hill

In 1991, the state purchased Beacon Hill, the southern end of the traprock ridge system that runs from Long Island Sound north to Vermont. Branford residents who had worked for years to protect this important natural area on the east side of the Farm River cheered Beacon Hill’s permanent protection. But is its protection as open space as permanent as we all thought? Maybe not. The state legislature frequently considers proposals to sell, swap, or give away state property, including open space land, to be used for other purposes. Sometimes this happens late in the session without a public hearing or even public notice—see the 2014 Special Report of the Connecticut Council on Environmental Quality on this problem (search “Preserved But Maybe Not” at www.ct.gov). Could this happen to Beacon Hill or one of several state Wildlife Management Areas in Branford?

In the November election, we can act to keep this from happening in the future by voting “Yes” on ballot Question 2. If the question passes, it will amend the State Constitution to require a public hearing and enactment of a bill that deals only with the sale or transfer of state-owned real property or interests in real property. For properties that are under the control of the Department of Agriculture, especially easements on farmland, or the Department of Energy & Environmental Protection, the bill must be passed by two-thirds of the total membership of each house of the legislature.

Maine, Massachusetts, and New York all have protections for public lands in their state constitutions. It’s time for Connecticut to do the same, but it will happen only if we all support it. I encourage your readers to go to the polls on Nov. 6 and vote “Yes” on Question 2 to permanently protect Connecticut’s state-owned open space.

Bill Horne

Branford