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08/15/2017 05:30 PMWith a new planned parking lot for hikers, public access to the town’s 228-acre Horse Hill Woods Open Space area will soon get easier.
On July 25, the Zoning Commission approved the Conservation Commission’s application to build a new six-space parking area on the north side of Breakneck Hill Road, 100 feet from Westbrook’s town line with Clinton. A marked trail, which takes off from near the new parking area, will connect recreational users parking there with other marked trails in the 228 Horse Hill Woods Open Space and Conservation Area.
“The Conservation Commission (CC) finished making and marking trails in 2016; trail maps have been completed for the first 34 acres and a portion of the Russo property by the Connecticut River Coastal Conservation District under contract with the Conservation Commission,” said Tom ODell, Conservation Commission chairman. “Eventually, the trail will connect north with trails in the C. Richard and Olive P. Brose Hie Hill Foundation’s 150 acre conservation property that connects with Weber Woods Section of Cockaponset State Forest.”
The town’s Department of Public Works will provide the services to build the new parking lot using funds from the Conservation Commission budget. ODell is optimistic that the new parking area will be ready for use by October.
As with other town open space land, posted signs remind users that no motorized vehicles are allowed on the trails or in the open space.
Ongoing Open Space Work
Tom ODell reports that for the second year in a row, the Conservation Commission’s two interns are quantifying the number and knowledge of visitors to Westbrook’s Salt Island, a designated open space, for management purposes. In the process, they are promoting stewardship for natural and cultural resources, particularly nesting shorebirds and bulkhead remains of the historic center of Westbrook’s import-export trade.
Also this summer the interns and Conservation Commission volunteers are re-painting trail blazes in Horse Hill Woods and Chapman Mill Pond Open Space areas, maintaining milkweed plants and restoring a habitat for monarch butterflies and other species.
Other planned projects include development of a main connecting trail in Toby Hill Woods.
Since 2001, the Town of Westbrook has acquired, with support from a $2.3 million bonding authorization passed in 2002 and $2.3 million in federal and state grants, a total of 409.3 acres of land to protect as open space. To date, the acquisitions include Horse Hill Woods (24 acres in 2001), Chapman Mill Pond (83 acres in 2003), Horse Hill Gorge (Kehlringer parcel, 36.3 acres in 2004), Salt Island Overlook (7 acres in 2004), Horse Hill Woods 2 and 3 (Russo parcel, 124 acres; and Miele parcel, 43 acres, in 2013), Horse Hill Woods 4 (St. John, 8 acres), and Toby Hill Woods (84 acres in 2015).
As of 2016, 20 percent of the land within the Town of Westbrook’s boundaries is designated as conservation land.