Town of Old Lyme Open Space Committee Meeting
Christ the King Church
Minutes: June 13, 2008
Chairman Diana Atwood Johnson opened the meeting at 08:35 with OSC members Amanda Blair, Peter Cable, Christina Clayton, Ted Crosby, Robert DePianta, Judi Glover, Evan Griswold, George James, and Ted Kiritsis in attendance.
Upon motion by Ted Crosby and second by Evan the minutes of the May 9, 2008 meeting were accepted by vote.
Subdivisions
a) Short Hills Properties LLC
Marty Smith has submitted to the Zoning Commission an application and plans for a 7-lot subdivision on a portion of the assembly of parcels between Short Hills Road and Boston Post Road (designated here as the Tooker property) and the application has been referred to the Wetlands Commission. Marty Smith is planning a phased development of the total property of 195 acres. In discussion Evan commented on the disconnectedness of the land designated for open space and noted that this feature would negate its usefulness for either recreation or wildlife preservation. Ted Crosby and Ted Kiritsis both questioned the piecemeal approach to open space designation inherent in Smith’s phased development of the Tooker property. Diana will invite Marty Smith to attend an OSC meeting to indicate how the development pieces will fit into the whole
scheme of development.
b) Woods of Old Lyme LLC
The designated open space on the 123-acre property on the Post Road being developed by Hussein Mushin as Old Lyme Heights is all wetland. Diana noted that there is no public access to the land and, thus, no reason for the Town to accept the land as open space. She suggested instead that the open space should be kept by the Old Lyme Heights homeowners association. George indicated a previous plan for open space, proposed 6-7 years ago, that he suggested should be resubmitted by OSC as a recommended plan for open space for the development. Diana suggested that perhaps OSC should request from Hussein Mushin a fee-in-lieu of open space designation since the wetland will be protected under any open space compliance option. The options for open space in the Old Lyme Heights development are: (1) Old Lyme to assume ownership of the currently
designated open in the developer’s plans of record; (2) Old Lyme Heights homeowners association assume ownership of the currently designated open in the developer’s plans of record; (3) developer to provide fee-in-lieu of open space set-aside; and (4) open space designation to be changed to conform with OSC plan previously recommended. Diana will attempt to schedule a meeting with the developer, Hussein Mushin, to inspect the property and discuss with him the various open space options.
c) Lord’s Woods
Diana reported there has been no progress on remediation of damage to open space at the Lord’s Woods subdivision. Amanda recommended that the letter from attorney Mark Block stipulating payment of $75k for reparation, on which an initial $5k payment has been made, should be recorded in Town Hall.
Status of Open Space Committee
Diana referred to the 1997 letter establishing the Open Space Committee reporting to the Conservation Commission. She also noted that Connecticut statutes allow for community establishment of a stand-alone committee for the acquisition of land for the town. In discussion both Bob and Ted Kiritsis suggested the essential issue for such an entity is the possession of legally established power to enforce decisions. Ted Kiritsis suggested consulting with CRERPA about these issues.
Priority Property Discussion
Diana distributed a new spreadsheet she had prepared of properties of interest for open space consideration prioritized on the basis of two criteria: (1) adjacency to existing open space; and (2) probability of acquisition. This listing then is a step toward a system for ordering the priority and focus of potential acquisition of property for open space. There was discussion of the listing of properties designated as high priority, both to affirm the initial priority assignment and to more generally discuss the status of each property.
Conservation Easement Letter
Diana reported that she had not completed a revised draft of the conservation easement letter intended to inform these property owners with conservation easements on their property that they will be contacted by OSC to schedule the required monitoring survey of their open space property.
Old Business
There was no discussion of old business.
At 10:35 on a motion by Ted Crosby, second by Bob, it was voted to adjourn the meeting.
Respectfully submitted,
Peter Cable
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