Conservation Commission Meeting
Christ the King Church
August 6, 2008, 7:30 pm
Members: Ted Crosby (ex-officio representing Gateway Commission)
Eleanor Czarnowski
Taffy Holland
George James
Janice Kraus
David McCulloch
Agnes O’Connor
Tom Sherer
Attending: Ted Crosby, Eleanor Czarnowski, Francine Gumkowski, Taffy Holland, George James, Dave McCulloch
Visitors: Vicky Lanier, Peter Strauss, Michael and Beth Sullivan
Diana Atwood Johnson
1. July Minutes
Accepted.
2. Short Hills Abutters
The visiting group distributed pictures and maps of the area, and a copy of the letter (to “Residents” – meaning just the abutters?) from Martin J. Smith, VP of Real Estate Service of Connecticut. The letter described their plans for developing the initial seven lot subdivision, and discussed some of the abutters’ objections.
Members of the group discussed the following concerns: the potential increase in traffic entering and leaving Short Hills Road from 90 additional houses; that even the initial seven houses will double the Short Hills traffic; what they say are fragmented versions of the proposal being presented to the Town commissions; that acceptance of the initial proposal for only seven properties may open the door to problems with additional development; that the development of the second half of the property will go over a large wetlands, that runoff from the development will endanger the headwaters of Armstrong Brook, the tidal marsh, and a dug pond; and finally that access for construction is ambiguous – Route 1 (past the stumping operations) or via Short Hills Road.
They also asked us to recommend that the Town commissions and Selectmen review the entire set of plans and proposal instead of selected fragments.
They would like the Conservation Commission to propose that the entire area should be open space. The developer is willing to sell it to the town for six million dollars. Diana said the State does have open space purchase programs, but the funds are low. Towns can buy open space outright or receive a grant of up to 50% of the appraisal. State/Federal appraisals would be much less than six million.
Commission members made several suggestions:
Ted said we can go through all the information and help do the groundwork for a public hearing if the abutters can assemble a large enough group to get it on the public record. George suggested putting together statistics showing the cost to Old Lyme of new town roads, an additional 60 kids in the schools, and so forth.
Diana said maybe they could find information in the proposals that don’t meet the Town’s regulations.
Ted said the Planning Commission needs to be told to look carefully at the proposed entrance/exit (rte 1 vs Short Hills Rd).
David said IW has looked at the initial 7 house proposal and it’s being reviewed by the Town engineers. IW should walk the road if that’s where the traffic will go. He said Planning should do a water assessment for the development.
Diana Atwood Johnson – Open Space Status
Diana summarized open space potential and in the works:
o Short Hills – potentially 170 acres abutting the Lay (OLCT) and McCulloch (TNC easement) open space areas.
o Marsh property (Pioneer Farm) on Black Hall River – 8 lots with easement on about 8 acres abutting the river.
o Hilltop (Dieboldt) – easement of about 8 acres.
o Woods of Old Lyme (128 acres total) – 38 lots and an easement of 29 acres.
o Pedersen property – 34 acres of open space, eight acres of easement.
That’s a total of 246 acres in easements and 50 in town open space – it has more than doubled in the past two years.
Diana said the developer of Lords Wood (AIWA) – 11 acre subdivision – clearcut the Town deeded land. He was charged $75,000 and must make repairs as compensation. He will also add two parking spaces for access to Lay.
3. Update on POW sewers
George attended the meeting. He said that he believed his efforts were in vain. There is a report that more people in POW are having second thoughts about the sewer construction.
4. Proposed short cell tower near Cross Land
Ellie said the cell tower reception is not good in this area. She proposed offering a cell tower site at Cross Lane with the proceeds to go to open space and community programs. David said the town owns land adjacent to the Water Company property, and it would be further from the schools, so no radiation hazards.
5. Next Town Magazine topic
Ellie suggested we write an article for Old Lyme Events about ongoing development, and how it could impact Old Lyme.
Assignments
· Ellie will write to Zoning about proposed changes to zoning regulations. She will send out a draft to the CC members.
· Dave will send Agnes info about the pesticide DVD, list of pesticides and health problems, and the name of a good speaker.
· Ellie will write a letter to Planning with suggestions for the Questionnaire and a copy of the Old Saybrook POCD.
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