TOWN OF OLD LYME : OPEN SPACE MEETING
Friday, December 9th, 2011
1. Call to order/welcome:
Diana Atwood Johnson, Chairperson, called to order the meeting at 8.30am, and
welcomed new secretary Stacey Pamplin.
Members Attending: Diana Atwood Johnson, Ted Kiritisis, Peter Cable, Amanda Blair,
Marianne Gotfredson,, George James and Evan Griswold
Absent: Bill Dunbar, Bruce Baratz
Guests: Kurt Zemba
2. No voting alternates needed
3. New business:
Peter Cable gave a brief of the WPCA meeting held 12.06.11. Diana had learned that
using open space to locate community sewage systems on, had been talked about by
the WPCA. Diana had asked Peter Cable to attend the meeting on behalf of the Open
Space Commission. Peter passed around a statement he had produced highlighting that
the Open Space Commission strongly opposes the idea of the use of open space land
for waste treatment. Open Space land owned by the town had been voted for that
purpose at Town Meetings and paid for, as open space, with taxpayer dollars and grant
monies from the State and others. The Bartholomew property was donated for
conservation purposes as stated in the Selectman’s meeting at the time. Open Space
lands are to preserve the natural resources of these lands, Land used for waste
treatment facilities has to be cleared for that purpose and therefore, would not be
preserving the natural state of the land. The committee agreed with said statement.
Diana is investigating conservation easements on town owned open space land as a
possible option to proactively further protect the land. The controversy over the Haddam
Land Swap has many attorneys in Connecticut looking into additional protections for
land bought by governments with open space funds and/or donated to governments for
conservation.
Diana Johnson handed out a property list review to the committee and briefed the
committee on the high priority properties.
A motion was made by the commission for the Chairperson to contact Mr. Eklund.
regarding the abutting property to town owned open space at 314 Ferry Road.
4. Old Business:
Martone property: A discussion of the Martone property on the Boston Post Road took
place. Diana Johnson suggested the committee walk the Martone location to study the
property.
Trail book: Peter gave a small brief on the history of the proposed trail book. The subcommittee
has been delayed in its work. The committee discussed how to obtain maps
of the trails, and agreed the priority is to get trail maps on to the internet.
Stewardship: George James announced all trails have been cleared of storm debris
from Hurricane Irene and are open and usable at this moment. A tree fell during the
storm that may provide the barrier that Steve Ames has asked for at the end of his
gravel road. The committee also discussed marking out the boundaries between the
Ames Family Preserve and Mike Sanders land.
5. Reports:
George James reported that the Economic Development Commission’s grant to
establish a bike and kayak trail may lead to a bike route on route 156 with the goal of
becoming an official bike route to connect East Lyme and Old Saybrook.
6. Correspondence and communications: None
7. Review of the minutes of 11.10.11:
A motion to accept the amended minutes was made by Ted Kiritsis, and approved by
all.
8. Adjournment: Motion made by Diana Johnson, seconded by Ted Kiritsis, approved
by all. Meeting adjourned at 10.34am.
Stacey Pamplin
Secretary
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