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03/17/2011 12:00 AMThe Board of Selectmen has unanimously agreed to preserve 20.6 acres of land on the 42-acre Griswold property through a conservation easement. The easement is required by the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to satisfy the state grants the town received to help offset costs for the purchase of the property.
The land included in the conservation easement is slightly less than the acreage recommended by the selectmen's Park Development Committee, however, the selectmen have been discussing alternative approaches to preserving additional portions of open space.
The Park Development Committee, in its interim report to the Board of Selectmen last month, said it is recommending that the Griswold property contain three full-size, multi-purpose playing fields, a kayak launch, a flexible lawn area, parking, and a small building for concessions and restrooms.
"In return for state grant funds, we will recommend that 22 acres be set aside under a conservation easement to preserve the coastal forest, saltmarsh, and warm season grassland habitats on the site," the report said.
As the selectmen and members of the park committee discussed preservation options last month, some concerns arose. First, the park committee has just hired a landscape architect to develop a master plan for the property and that work has barely begun. Second, there was discussion among committee members about the viability of using the south hangar as a picnic pavilion. Third, the acreage needed to meet the requirements of the state grants appeared to be a minimum of 19.56 acres. The town and its partners, including the Trust for Public Land (TPL) and Audubon Connecticut, received $1.26 million in grants.
Town Engineer Mike Ott has presented several different options in the design of the conservation easement area, each with slightly different acreage and slightly different boundary lines. In the meantime, Alicia Betty of TPL, Ott, and other town officials have been negotiating with the DEP to best determine which option meets both the state's requirements and the town's desires. By Monday morning, the magic number appeared to be 20.6 acres.
In the meantime, the selectmen have been investigating ways in which the town can preserve additional open space through town ordinances. First Selectman Fillmore McPherson said discussions with the town attorney indicate that the process "would be a very simple thing to do." The Board of Selectmen could designate an area and place its own restrictions on it.
The requirements for approving and/or overturning the ordinance could also be determined by the selectmen-"For instance, we might require a 4-1 super majority," McPherson said-and any final action would require a town meeting.
Under discussion here is approximately two acres of buffer zone on the property. There are requests to maintain the acres as open space and other requests to allow for some flexibility concerning future use. The selectmen hope they can address both issues through a town ordinance, but will hold off on taking any action until the master plan has been developed.