NEWS
The following news and Op-Ed articles provide a good sense of our history.
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September 26, 2008
The Day, New London, Connecticut
Mediation efforts fail in dispute between East Lyme, developer
By KARIN CROMPTON
Day Staff Writer, Lyme/Old Lyme
Regional
East Lyme - Mediation between the town and Landmark Development Group has failed, meaning pretrial court proceedings have restarted in Landmark's federal civil rights lawsuit against East Lyme.
Landmark, a Middletown company headed by Glenn Russo, has accused East Lyme in federal court of deliberately blocking minorities from moving into town by denying Russo's applications for condominiums and affordable housing in the Oswegatchie Hills.
Russo filed the civil rights lawsuit in October 2003.
According to paperwork filed in U.S. District Court in New Haven, the two sides agreed during a 15-minute phone conference held Sept. 15 that mediation attempts had failed and a settlement was not possible. The sides had met three times for settlement talks since May.
Discovery in the case can now proceed, the judge ruled.
In March, the town agreed to enter into mediation upon a request to do so by trial judge Robert Chatigny. East Lyme had indicated in previous filings in the case that mediation would not prove fruitful, and it was difficult to determine what middle ground the two sides could reach.
Russo has proposed building as many as 1,700 units, while the town has contended that the pristine woodlands fronting the Niantic River should be preserved as open space.
Both sides declined to elaborate on the cause for the breakdown in mediation talks, saying they had agreed to keep that information confidential.
Attorney Christopher Rooney, representing Landmark, said the next step is for Chatigny to rule on pending motions in the case.
Chatigny was hearing arguments on the town's motion to dismiss the case when he suggested in March that the two sides try to settle.
Rooney said the court would probably try to put the case on a “faster track for trial” because of its age. Still, he said, it might be awhile.
”Optimistically, it's 18 months to two years from a trial,” Rooney said by phone on Wednesday. “We have a lot of discovery; it's a complicated case.”
The town filed an updated motion to dismiss the case last November after Landmark amended its original complaint to add allegations of secret meetings held by town employees and accusing the town of misrepresenting pertinent information and plotting against the Landmark proposals.
Landmark's original and amended complaints include two plaintiffs, Lisa Clemons and Susan Barlow, who are described as African-American women who want to move to East Lyme from Windsor and Hartford, respectively, along with their children.
The town's motion to dismiss says Clemons and Barlow cannot demonstrate they were denied the opportunity to move to East Lyme and enroll their children in its schools, or that they would qualify to live in Landmark's proposed development.
The motion also contends that Landmark does not prove it is entitled to hook into the town's sewer system, that there is no proof that any “behind the scenes” action influenced the Zoning Commission's decisions, and that federal courts should not substitute for state courts nor serve as zoning boards of appeals.
February 7, 2008
The Day, New London, Connecticut
Leave the Hills Alone
Home/Editorial
Developer Glenn Russo should call off his relentless effort to develop housing in the Oswegatchie Hills in East Lyme and work with conservationists who want to buy the property and preserve it as open space.
Mr. Russo's Landmark Development Group has been trying since 2001 to win approval for the condominium project that would include affordable housing. In challenging the town's refusal to approve his plan, Mr. Russo points to a state law intended to assist developers overcome zoning regulations that exclude affordable housing.
Last week, for the second time, a Superior Court judge rejected Mr. Russo's appeal. Judge Eliot Prescott correctly found that the state law intended to encourage affordable housing was trumped by the need to protect a “unique and important environmental setting.”
Unfortunately, that does not appear to be the end of the matter. Mr. Russo has two other state court appeals pending and has also filed a civil rights lawsuit in federal court alleging the town is discriminating against poor and minority families by not allowing the affordable housing project to move forward.
The evidence simply does not support such claims. All the evidence suggests instead that the public's interest is to preserve these vital woodlands overlooking the Niantic River. The town, state and private groups have worked together to begin buying up open space in the Oswegatchie Hills and want to acquire the property from Mr. Russo, should he abandon his plans.
There is surely a need in this region for more housing that working families can afford, but there are plenty of places to build it that make far more sense than in the Oswegatchie Hills.
East Lyme
February 6, 2008
The Day, New London, Connecticut
Russo Loses Oswegatchie Hills Appeal
Home/Region
East Lyme — For the second time in six years, a Superior Court judge has rejected an appeal by Glenn Russo, the developer who has tried for years to build affordable housing condominiums in the Oswegatchie Hills.
Last Friday, New Britain Superior Court Judge Eliot Prescott ruled in the town's favor on a 2005 appeal brought by Landmark Development Group. The real estate company, which is headed by Russo, was seeking a court decision to overturn the East Lyme Zoning Commission's initial rejection of his application.
The case, Prescott noted, “highlights the sometimes competing public policies of developing and maintaining affordable housing and preserving and protecting Connecticut's fragile natural resources.”
“In this case, the public policy of encouraging the development of affordable housing must yield in light of the unique and important environmental setting of the property sought to be developed,” Prescott wrote in his decision.
“That's great news for the town,” said Mark Nickerson, the commission's chairman. “The Zoning Commission works very hard in its deliberations, weighing all the evidence, and we're pleased that the judge came to the same conclusion as we did.”
First Selectman Paul Formica said the judge's ruling is “certainly a good sign,” and that the Oswegatchie Hills ought to be preserved, not developed.
“We are for affordable housing, just not on that piece of land,” Formica said Tuesday.
Russo has had four various affordable housing plans rejected by the commission since 2002. He has appealed each rejection in court, with two appeals currently pending. He has also filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the town.
“Obviously we're disappointed we didn't win on all of the points we tried to make,” Russo said in a phone interview Tuesday. He added, however, that he believes the ruling bodes well for his pending appeals.
• • •
Landmark's first application to develop condominiums in the Oswegatchie Hills was submitted December 2001. The zoning board denied the application in late June 2002.
The commission cited five reasons in its denial. The proposal wasn't compatible with local and state plans of development, which included protecting the area as open space. It had inadequate water and sewer for the proposed density of the project, the commission determined, and could potentially damage the ecosystem of Long Island Sound and the Niantic River. They also cited traffic concerns.
Landmark revised its application and resubmitted it in July of that year. The commission rejected the amended plan, saying it did not sufficiently resolve the initial problems. Landmark filed an appeal in October 2002 in Superior Court over that rejection.
On Sept. 7, 2004, another New Britain Superior Court judge, Barbara Quinn, upheld the commission's decision on the first application from Russo, citing the same concerns that the zoning board listed in its decision.
Simultaneously, Landmark submitted a new application, the one that Prescott ruled on Friday, which the judge called “a point of vigorous dispute by the parties from the outset.”
The new proposal did not, in its own terms, seek any amendments from the commission, but was submitted rather as an affordable housing application under the state statutes that provide for that type of housing.
The affordable housing laws are meant to “assist property owners in overcoming local zoning regulations that are exclusionary,” according to Prescott's decision.
State law recommends that at least 10 percent of the housing stock in a municipality be considered affordable, defined as being within the financial means of people who earn 60 to 80 percent of the median town income. East Lyme has 4.8 percent affordable housing, and the majority of that serves as elderly housing.
And though East Lyme is subject to those laws, Russo's plan would be a detriment to public health because of the inadequate sewer capacity for the proposed density and because there has been “a long standing public interest in preserving (the land) as open space,” Prescott's decision stated.
Developer Glenn Russo has been trying for years to build affordable housing on property he owns in the Oswegatchie Hills, but his applications so far have been rejected by the town. He has appealed two of the rejections, but was told by a judge Friday that the second appeal was being denied.
November 15, 2007
The Day/The Lyme Times, New London, Connecticut
Oswegatchie Hills Nature Preserve Officially Opened
By Michael Dunn
Special to The Lyme Times
The Oswegatchie Hills Nature Preserve was officially opened and dedicated on Nov. 4, as close to 100 people watched the unveiling of a new sign on Rte. 161 in Niantic.
Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal kicked off the speakers' portion of the event, and spoke about the responsibility we all share as stewards of the environment. "We have a duty to leave the earth the same or better than we found it", he said. Blumenthal commended all the parties who worked to create the 400-plus-acre nature preserve, and he advocated for the preservation of the additional 230 acres of waterfront land abutting the nature preserve, which is currently owned by Landmark Development. Blumenthal vowed “to stand side by side with the town and fight in any court anywhere to prevent development endangering this fragile resource.”
First Selectman Beth Hogan, State Senator Andrea Stillman, State Representative Ed Jutila, and State Representative Betsy Ritter all spoke about the importance of preserving open space and of the significance of officially opening the Oswegatchie Hills Nature Preserve. Alicia Betty, project manager for the Trust for Public Land, credited the local political leadership, the Friends of the Oswegatchie Hills Nature Preserve, and others for creating a unique and powerful partnership with impressive results.
Marvin Schutt, president of the Friends, called the opening of the preserve a “dream come true.” Denise Garofalo, capital campaign and membership chair of the Friends called each of the Friends' board members to stand and be recognized for their efforts and dedication.
The new sign marking Veterans Memorial Field and the Oswegatchie Hills Nature Preserve was created and unveiled by John Wilson of Sign Craft. Following the ceremony the Friends provided guided hiking tours of varying lengths through the Hills.
Trail guides which show more than five miles of marked trails are now available in distribution boxes at trailside. The Trail Guide is also available online at the Town of East Lyme Web site, www.eltownhall.com, and at the Friends of the Oswegatchie Hills Nature Preserve Web site, www.oswhills.org.
Michael Dunn is the Vice President of the Friends of the Oswegatchie Hills Nature Preserve, Inc.
Photo credit - Tim Cook The Day
October 11, 2007
The Lyme Times, New London, Connecticut
Oswegatchie Group Celebrates Year Of Land Acquisitions
By Suzanne Thompson, Times Staff Writer
Walks in the Woods - Friends produce Oswegatchie Hills Nature Preserve Trail Guide Published on 10/11/2007
It's time to head for the hills as another New England fall is coloring up. The Friends of the Oswegatchie Hills Nature Preserve (FOHNP) and the town of East Lyme encourage residents and visitors to enjoy the natural splendor, wildlife, and solitude of the 400-acre preserve that runs parallel to the west bank of the Niantic River.
The Friends organization has produced a concise two-page guide to the preserve to help visitors plan for a wide variety of passive recreational pursuits on the varied terrain. Visitors to the preserve can find black and white copies in waterproof boxes at the head of marked trails and the main entrance behind Veterans Field off Route 161. They also can stop by the town clerk's office at Town Hall and the East Lyme Library for copies, or download and print a color copy of the brochure on this website here or at www.eltownhall.com.
Passive recreation means enjoying, observing, and perhaps photographing nature, birds, wildlife, flora, and fauna. No motorized vehicles, hunting, camping, alcoholic beverages, or fires are allowed; picnicking is welcomed as long as visitors remove all litter. Dogs are permitted, but owners are reminded to help protect wildlife and their young from boisterous domesticated pets.
Hikes along the preserve's many miles of marked trails wind through terrain that ranges from Clark Pond near the entrance of the preserve to the more challenging, steeper trails in the middle section of the hills. These trails are along the rocky ridges and ravines running parallel to the Niantic River that were dug out by ice age glaciers.
Not to be missed is the “Lunar Landscape” area in the western highlands of the area. Near Mount Tabor, the highest point in the hills, two abandoned rock quarries worked in the 1800s provide choice spots for picnics as well as archeological exploration. Although the preserve does not contain any Niantic River frontage, it provides visitors seasonal vistas of Niantic River, Smith Cove, and Niantic Bay.
The trail guide recommends staying on the marked and mapped trails, noting that the many unmarked trails in the hills “WILL get you lost.” Blazing, or maintaining, the trails is an ongoing service provided by Friends and East Lyme Land Trust volunteers.
Passive recreation and environmental preservation are the dual goals of the Friends organization formed in 2001 to raise public awareness and gain the funds necessary to purchase the remaining undeveloped land in the hills. The group's ultimate objective is to create a nature preserve of 700 acres for future generations to enjoy.
The Friends organization was incorporated and became a 501(c)(3) organization in 2001 after Marvin Schutt and Michael Dunn, residents of Saunders Point in Niantic, wrote a letter to the editor of The Day requesting others to join its efforts. It has grown from a small grassroots group of a dozen people in 2004 to more than 600 members. Membership is based on ongoing donations of $20 to $500 to cover operating expenses. Larger contributions can be made for future land purchases.
All board members and committee members are volunteers, many serving on multiple committees and projects. Schutt serves as president and chair of community outreach. Dunn is vice president and land acquisition committee chair. Denise Garofalo is capital campaign chair. Directors Paul Whitehouse and Carl Stamm provide ongoing management of the nature preserve, following a management plan that defines the responsibilities for ongoing management and future public use of the land. This plan was signed by the Friends, the East Lyme Land Trust, and First Selectman Beth Hogan on behalf of East Lyme.
Early on, Dunn said, the group was fortunate to get advice from George Milne, retired senior vice president of Pfizer Global Research and Development, who serves as honorary director.
“George was the one who recommended we partner with the town of East Lyme to purchase our first property,” said Dunn, referring to a strategically located 65-acre parcel known as the Gardiner property near the center of the preserve. The Friends acquired that land for $290,000 and sold it to the town for half of that price, while retaining a conservation easement that protects the land from future development.
The organization has continually sought community support for its preservation efforts. In April 2005, town residents voted 300 to 2 in favor of a $2 million bonding resolution for preservation of open space. Schutt said it was this unprecedented show of local support that paved the way for the Connecticut legislature to approve a $2 million bond to purchase land in Oswegatchie Hills.
The Friends also has become a member of a Partnership for Preservation with the town, the state, and the federal government, as well as the Trust for Public Land, a national nonprofit land conservation organization. The Friends credit then-First Selectman Wayne Fraser for establishing the initial partnership.
As of November 2006, the Friends report that 288 acres of open space had been acquired for the preserve. This includes additional state grants of $919,800 and federal grants of $830,000. The Friends contributed $345,000 and continues to work with the TPL to acquire remaining properties from other landowners in the area.
“This would never have gotten done without the Trust for Public Land's involvement,” Schutt said. Founded in 1972, it is second in size to The Nature Conservancy in land preservation efforts around the world. The trust has paid for required appraisals of land, as well as advocated in Washington and Hartford on behalf of the preserve.
Dunn said it is the Friends' stated goal to purchase at fair market value the 236 acres to the north owned by developer Glenn Russo. This parcel, which extends to Boston Post Road (Route 1) east of I-95, includes about a mile of saltwater frontage on the Niantic River. Russo's latest proposal for developing the land is before the East Lyme Zoning Commission.
The FOHNP has been designated an intervener, representing the public trust or public interest in the environment, in ongoing consideration of development proposals. It is sharing legal costs with the Save the River-Save the Hills organization. Fred Grimsey is president of STR-STH, and Deb Moshier-Dunn, Michael's wife, is vice president.
January 6, 2005
The Day, New London, Connecticut
Zoning Panel To Vote Tonight On Oswegatchie Hills Plan
By KARIN CROMPTON
Day Staff Writer, Lyme/Old Lyme
The Zoning Commission is expected to vote tonight on a developer's plan
to build affordable housing and market-rate condominiums in the Oswegatchie
Hills. The meeting is at 7:30 p.m. at the Town Hall.
The commission closed the public hearing portion of the application in
the early morning hours of Nov. 9. It has 65 days to render a decision.
The commission is examining a proposed phased development of the Hills
by Landmark LLC, starting with a 352-unit housing complex. Affordable
housing would comprise 34 percent, or 120 units, of the development.
This is the second such application. The commission rejected the first
in 2002 and the Superior Court upheld the decision last fall.
January 7, 2005
The Day, New London, Connecticut
Panel Rejects Application For Oswegatchie Hills Plan
EL Zoning Commission unanimously turns down Landmark LLC proposal
By KARIN CROMPTON
Day Staff Writer, Lyme/Old Lyme
East Lyme — The town's Zoning Commission on Thursday night unanimously
rejected a controversial application for 352 units of housing in the sprawling
Oswegatchie Hills woodlands alongside the Niantic River.
But, unlike its previous denial of a similar application, the commission's
decision left open the possibility that a portion of the land could be
developed.
The application was for a phased development by Landmark LLC, starting
with the 352 units. Affordable housing would comprise 120 units, or 34
percent of the development. The affordable housing would be rental apartments
near the entrance of the development, with market-rate condominiums for
sale in an opposite corner near the Niantic River and Latimer Brook.Landmark
owner Glenn Russo of Middletown said after the decision he would appeal
it in court.
“It's obvious to me and has been obvious to the state of Connecticut
for some time that towns like East Lyme do not want the type of people
who live in affordable housing units to live in their town,” Russo
said. “That's why the state of Connecticut felt compelled to create
an affordable housing statute to give the state the right to oversee and
review decisions made by local boards.
“We intend to use that review process through an appeal of the zoning
commission's denial.”
The zoning commission divided the lengthy denial into three segments,
each with its own list of reasons. The sections include an amendment to
the town's zoning regulations; a zone change request; and an affordable
housing application.
Among its reasons to deny, the commission said the development would “unreasonably”
pollute the hills; that water and sewer service are not available and
that on-site septic is an unacceptable alternative; that there is no right
of way allowing Landmark access to the proposed development; and that
the affordable housing is different from and “less desirable”
than the market-rate condos.
“As we sat here for six public hearings, it became very clear that
it's the wrong development on the wrong piece of land,” said commission
Chairman Mark Nickerson. “It's an intense development. It would
represent, if not the biggest development in East Lyme, one of the biggest
developments, on one of the most sensitive pieces of land. It just doesn't
add up.”
Nickerson added, “This puzzle piece didn't fit in this puzzle here.
That's not to say that this piece, affordable housing, doesn't fit in
East Lyme, because it does. ... We do want affordable housing in East
Lyme, but this land is too precious. It needs to be preserved.”
The zoning commission said Thursday night that if Landmark reapplies for
a zone change, it should restrict its application to the portion of the
site where water and sewer are available.
That was a marked difference from the decision on Landmarks' first application,
in which the commission said sewer and water were not available on any
part of the land. That application was for a change of zone and included
plans for 894 units, of which 280 were designated as affordable. It was
denied on June 26, 2002.
The commission also rejected a modified proposal by Landmark in July 2002.
Russo appealed the decisions to the state Superior Court, which upheld
the commission's decisions in a ruling issued last September.
Last September, during the hearings on the most recent application, an
employee in the state Department of Environmental Protection wrote a letter
concluding that the property is partially within the town's sewer shed.
Dennis Greci, a supervising sanitary engineer with the DEP, wrote that
about 42 acres of the proposed development “lie within the proposed
sewer service area known as Golden Spur...” Greci said that meant
about 24 proposed residential units would receive sewer service.
In a November letter Greci also disputed one of Russo's main arguments
by writing that the property outside the sewer shed cannot hook into the
service. Greci also refuted Russo's claim that he has a right of way to
the sewer because some of the property proposed for development abuts
land that falls within the sewer shed.
In Connecticut, an affordable housing application is not subject to the
same rules as other applications. The onus is on the town to prove that
the need to preserve the land is greater than the good that would come
from building affordable housing.
Russo said Thursday that a new affordable housing district regulation
enacted last year by the town is discriminatory because it requires an
applicant to prove that sewer and water are available.
“This commission has approved multi-family developments on community
septic systems,” he said. “We are proposing a multi-family
unit on community septic. The only difference between multi-family units
on septic systems that they denied and multi-family developments that
they approved are the people who live in the units.”
Russo still has a federal discrimination lawsuit pending against the town,
the zoning and the water and sewer commissions, and four town officials.
In it, he claims that the denial to allow the development of affordable
housing was racially motivated.
January 14, 2005
The Day, New London, Connecticut
Official Of Friends Of Oswegatchie Hills Donates Property
By KARIN CROMPTON
Day Staff Writer, Lyme/Old Lyme
East Lyme — The vice president of the nonprofit group Friends of
the Oswegatchie Hills Nature Preserve has donated an investment property
to the group so it can sell the building and use the proceeds to purchase
property in the Hills.
The Friends group is seeking to buy and preserve land in the Hills as
open space. The Friends launched membership and fund-raising campaigns
this fall and is also working toward a $2 million land purchase capital
campaign.
Michael Dunn, vice president of the group, said on Wednesday that Friends
could sell the property, located on Main Street in Norwich, and use the
proceeds for land purchase. Dunn is the manager of Parkway South LLC,
which formerly owned the building.
A deed dated Dec. 30 in Norwich says Parkway South LLC, of Niantic, quitclaimed
property at 485-487 and 481 Main St. in Norwich for $1 to the nonprofit.
Dunn said a business named Providence Lacquer is currently in the building
and would begin paying rent to the Friends group.
Late in November, the Friends group signed an option to purchase a 65-acre
tract of land in the Hills. Dunn said then that the purchase price would
be $290,000. The option agreement calls for the group to close on the
property by the end of March.
The nonprofit plans to actively participate in a preservation partnership,
formed by the town's first selectman. Its goal is to purchase almost 700
acres in the Hills and preserve it as open space. Dunn, along with East
Lyme First Selectman Wayne Fraser and an employee with the Trust for Public
Land will meet next week to talk about how to negotiate and buy the land
in the Hills.
The preservation partnership's goals include buying land where developer
Glen Russo is seeking to build housing. Russo has applied twice to build
condominiums and affordable housing on about 230 acres in the Hills. Twice
his plans have been rejected by the town's zoning commission. Russo said
last week that he intends to appeal the latest denial in court.
January 28, 2005
The Day, New London, Connecticut
Developer Appeals EL Affordable-housing Denial
Landmark Files Suit After Zoning Board's Rejection Of Its Latest Application
By KARIN CROMPTON
Day Staff Writer, Lyme/Old Lyme
“It's very difficult to believe that they would have made
a mistake about that. It's not rocket science to read a map, and it was
their map. ... When the judge made her decision on the last appeal ...
she relied on something they said that was flat-out not true.” Michael
Zizka, attorney for Glenn Russo, owner of Landmark Development LLC, on
allegedly inaccurate testimony made by East Lyme officials.
East Lyme — The developer who hopes to build condominiums and affordable
housing in the Oswegatchie Hills has filed a lawsuit to appeal the Zoning
Commission's denial of his most recent application.
Glenn Russo, the owner of Landmark Development LLC of Middletown, filed
the lawsuit in New London Superior Court on Tuesday. It names the town's
Zoning Commission as the defendant.
This is Russo's second attempt to build in the Hills. In June 2002 the
commission denied his first application, which sought a zone change that
included a conceptual plan for 894 housing units — 280 of which
were designated as affordable.
Russo appealed that decision, but a Superior Court judge upheld the commission's
decision in September 2004.
The application that is the subject of the suit calls for phased development
beginning with 352 units. Affordable housing would comprise 120 units,
or 34 percent of the first phase. The affordable housing would consist
of rental apartments near the entrance of the development, with market-rate
condominiums for sale in an opposite corner near the Niantic River and
Latimer Brook.
Russo and his attorney contend that this application will prove to the
court that the town used false information in its first rejection, and
that the judge upheld the town's denial based on misinformation.
Specifically, the suit claims that when town officials said the site was
completely outside the sewer shed, or sewer service area, and thus had
no access to sewer and water service, they were misrepresenting the facts.
Russo and his attorney maintain that information the town presented about
its Plan of Development, which outlines how much of the land should be
preserved as open space, was also wrong and incorrectly influenced the
judge's decision to uphold the commission's ruling.
“When we went in before, we had the Water and Sewer Commission saying
that we were outside the sewer shed, which was false,” Russo's attorney,
Michael Zizka, said by phone on Thursday. “It's very difficult to
believe that they would have made a mistake about that. It's not rocket
science to read a map, and it was their map. ... When the judge made her
decision on the last appeal ... she relied on something they said that
was flat-out not true.”
Zoning Commission chairman Mark Nickerson said he could not comment on
the appeal other than to say he stands by the commission's decision and
is confident it was based on facts. First Selectman Wayne Fraser called
the appeal a “shame.”
Russo said Thursday that he hopes the town will accept his offer to sell
it a majority of the property while allowing him to develop a part of
it.
“Even though we feel as though we were forced into filing this appeal,
we still have some hope that we can work with the town and they would
reconsider the offer that we've presented to them,” he said.
The suit says the commission's reasons for denial do not meet its burden
of proof. Under state law, a town cannot deny an affordable housing application
simply based on its zoning regulations. Rather, the town must prove that
the need to preserve the land outweighs the need for affordable housing.
The suit says there was substantial evidence in the record showing that
the soil could support a community septic system and that the application
“would not prevent the town from achieving its preservation goals
for the Oswegatchie Hills.”
The suit also says the town's affordable-housing regulation, which says
any affordable housing must prove that water and sewer are available to
the site, “is an illegal pretext since the Commission does not require
public water and sewer availability for any other multifamily housing
in East Lyme.”
February 11, 2005
The Day, New London, Connecticut
Group Kicks Off Fund-raising Campaign To Purchase Land In Oswegatchie
Hills
By KARIN CROMPTON
Day Staff Writer, Lyme/Old Lyme
East Lyme — A local nonprofit group has taken several steps toward
its goal of helping the town and cooperating organizations buy land in
the Oswegatchie Hills to preserve as open space.
On Thursday The Friends of the Oswegatchie Hills Nature Preserve announced
it has kicked off its capital campaign. That announcement followed a Monday
visit to Hartford to testify in favor of a bill to set aside state money
for land in the Hills.
The Friends, a nonprofit group, wants to raise $2 million in private funding
to match equal amounts from state and federal sources and from the town
of East Lyme. First Selectman Wayne Fraser said last fall that he would
ask residents to approve spending $2 million on preservation efforts in
the Oswegatchie Hills.
The capital campaign will help the organization buy a 65-acre parcel that
belongs to Benajah Farms Limited Partnership of Waterford. In December,
The Friends signed an option to buy the property for $290,000. The option
agreement calls for the group to close on the property by the end of March.
The Friends group is part of the public-private Partnership for Preservation
that formed to buy and preserve land in the Hills. The Friends also announced
Thursday that its membership has grown from 12 to 350 people since November.
Together with the Trust for Public Land (TPL) — a national nonprofit
that helps small organizations raise money and negotiate for land conservation
— the Friends will approach landowners in the Hills on behalf of
the partnership.
Michael Dunn, Friends vice president, said he has walked some of the land
with TPL representatives. Dunn said TPL may suggest the partnership apply
for a federal Coastal and Estuarine Land Conservation Program grant.
The Friends will give a presentation to the Board of Selectmen at 6:30
p.m. March 2 on a plan to split the purchase of the Benajah property.
The presentation will also involve how to raise money and buy land and
how the Friends plan to contribute to the partnership.
March 3, 2005
The Day, New London, Connecticut
Group Pitches Plan To Preserve Swaths Of Oswegatchie Hills
By KARIN CROMPTON
Day Staff Writer, Lyme/Old Lyme
East Lyme — Individual property owners could buy and preserve hundreds
of acres in the Oswegatchie Hills for just $17 a year over 20 years, according
to a local nonprofit group.
Members of the Friends of the Oswegatchie Hills Nature Preserve detailed
Wednesday night how a partnership would purchase property in the Hills,
using a $2 million state bond as the starting point for fund-raising efforts.
The Friends hosted a meeting at Town Hall, and invited the Boards of Selectmen
and Finance as well as the public to attend.
The Friends are one cog in a group called the Partnership for Preservation,
whose membership includes nonprofits and town and state officials intent
on buying hundreds of acres in the Hills and preserving them as open space.
The partnership's plan is for residents to approve spending $2 million
toward the effort. They hope the money would be matched by state and federal
funds. The Friends also is running a $2 million capital campaign for a
total of $8 million.
The key, according to the Friends and state and town officials who attended,
is for residents to approve the money. That would demonstrate to the state
legislature that East Lyme is serious about preserving the land, they
said.
Earlier in the day, the legislature's Environment Committee voted in favor
of a bill that would grant the town a bond to purchase land in the Hills.
The committee approved the legislation by a unanimous voice vote. The
bill next moves on to the Finance, Revenue and Bonding Committee.
“This is kind of like hitting a solo home run in the third inning
of the ballgame,” said state Rep. Ed Jutila, D-East Lyme, who attended
the Friends meeting. “It feels really good, we've got momentum,
but it's still a long game and there are quite a few innings to go.”
The $2 million would work as a sort of savings account from which the
town could withdraw money to purchase land. Each property that became
available would need town meeting approval before its purchase.
Also Wednesday, the Friends received a check for $10,325 from the Niantic
Rotary Foundation. Mike Dunn, the group's vice president, said the money
would go toward the capital campaign and land purchase.
The Friends formally asked the town to contribute half the price of a
property the group expects to close on later this month. The Friends purchased
an option to buy 65 acres in the Hills known as the Gardiner Property.
The total purchase price is $290,000; the Friends asked the town for $145,000.
Dunn said the group could close on the parcel and then sell it to the
town at “half price.”
March 31, 2005
The Day, New London, Connecticut
Preservationists To Ask Town For Bond To Buy Land In
Hills
East Lyme
The Friends of the Oswegatchie Hills Nature Preserve and the Trust for Public Land will make a presentation to the East Lyme boards of selectmen and finance at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday.
The groups will ask the town to authorize a $2 million bond to purchase land for preservation in Oswegatchie Hills. As part of this proposal, the town will be asked to authorize spending $145,000, which is 50 percent of the purchase of the Benajah Farms property owned by the Gardiner family and currently under contract to the Friends.
Former state Rep. Gary Orefice, a new board member of the Friends, will be one of the presenters.
March 31, 2005
The Day, New London, Connecticut
Oswegatchie Hills Advocates Reach Milestone In Campaign
By KARIN CROMPTON
Day Staff Writer, Lyme/Old Lyme
Propelled by a $50,000 donation from an anonymous local resident, the
Friends of the Oswegatchie Hills Nature Preserve announced late last week
that they have reached the $350,000 mark in their capital campaign.
The Friends plan to use part of those funds to buy the Benajah Farms property,
a 65-acre parcel in the heart of the Hills.
At the end of November, the Friends announced the start of a $2 million
land purchase capital campaign. The capital campaign was launched with
a $25,000 donation from chiropractor Chris Connaughty and his wife, Lynn,
of Niantic.
The Friends group is one segment of a public-private partnership that
formed to buy land in the Hills and preserve it as open space.
In the past two weeks, the boards of selectmen and finance each voted
unanimously to approve a $2 million bonding resolution to buy open space.
While the money could be used toward purchases anywhere in East Lyme,
town officials have said the focus is on land in the Hills.
Residents will decide whether to approve the $2 million at a town meeting
next month.
April 1, 2005
The Day, New London, Connecticut
Nonprofit Group Buys Oswegatchie Hills Land - ‘Friends'
Pay Cash For Key 65-acre Tract
By KARIN CROMPTON
Day Staff Writer, Lyme/Old Lyme
East Lyme — A nonprofit group closed Thursday afternoon on a 65-acre
parcel in an area considered key to blocking potential southward development
in the Oswegatchie Hills.
The Friends of the Oswegatchie Hills Nature Preserve paid $290,000 cash
for the property, formerly owned by Benajah Farms Limited Partnership
of Waterford. Alan Gardiner of Waterford is the principal.
Gardiner, who is the moderator of the Waterford Representative Town Meeting,
said in late November that an appraiser told him the fair market value
of the land is about $5,000 an acre. The Friends' purchase price comes
out to $4,454 per acre.
The Friends “are more than fulfilling their promise to raise funds
and be a real leader in the preservation effort,” First Selectman
Wayne Fraser said Thursday. “This first sale is the signal to the
public and to other funding agencies that East Lyme is serious and we're
together.”
The property is located in the northern half of the Hills, a 700-acre
expanse of woodlands that fronts the Niantic River. The parcel is accessible
from the Chapman Woods development and has a trail system that crosses
private property and connects to a former granite quarry not on the Benajah
Farms parcel.
To the south are 130 acres already owned and preserved by the East Lyme
Land Conservation Trust, a private group.
To the north is land that developer Glenn Russo either owns or has an
option to buy. Russo's company, Landmark Development LLC, has twice applied
to the town to build condominiums and affordable housing in the Hills.
Both times the town's Zoning Commission has denied his application.
An appeal of the second decision is pending in state Superior Court, and
a civil rights discrimination lawsuit Russo brought against East Lyme
is still pending in federal District Court.
With Thursday's purchase nearly 200 acres stand in the way of Landmark's
expansion to the south should the company be allowed to develop its property.
Its current proposal calls for a first phase of 352 housing units.
“It's a big step in the right direction,” said Mike Dunn,
vice president of the Friends.
The Friends are one entity in the Partnership for Preservation, whose
membership includes nonprofit groups and town and state agencies intent
on buying hundreds of acres in the Hills and preserving them as open space.
In the past two weeks, the boards of selectmen and finance each voted
unanimously to approve a $2 million bonding resolution to buy open space
in town. A town meeting vote will be scheduled for 7 p.m. on April 11
at the high school, Fraser said.
The goal is for each of four segments — the town, state and federal
governments, and private entities — to commit $2 million toward
open-space purchases for a total of $8 million.
Should residents approve of the bonding, the Board of Selectmen would
then decide whether to pay for half of the Benajah Farms purchase, using
$145,000 of the bond money. Residents would ultimately vote on the purchase.
Dunn said the town would then own the land and the Friends would hold
a conservation easement on it.
The Friends are working with the National Trust for Public Land to negotiate
with landowners in the Hills. The Trust helps local nonprofits find federal
money to preserve land.
Dunn said the Trust will pay the cost of appraisals and surveys, and that
it had put in a preliminary request for a federal grant.
At the end of November the Friends announced the start of a $2 million
land-purchase capital campaign.
Dunn said the Friends now have about $66,000 remaining in their capital
account.
April 7, 2005
Op-Ed Page, The Day, New London, Connecticut
Let's Act Now To Save Oswegatchie Hills
By GEORGE MILNE
For years folks have been talking of making Niantic's 700-acre area of
Oswegatchie Hills into a preserve. This past two weeks, plans have been
turned into actions, and we have reached a tipping point.
A group called Friends of the Oswegatchie Hills Nature Preserve has moved
from promise to action. As part of its land purchase capital campaign,
the group has purchased a 65-acre parcel adjacent to the 130 acres already
owned by the East Lyme Land Conservation Trust using private donations.
Concurrently, as reported in The Day, the East Lyme boards of Selectmen
and Finance each voted unanimously to approve a $2 million bonding resolution
to buy open space in town. These actions send a very concrete message
to our state and federal officials about our seriousness as a town in
seeking a matching commitment from each – for a total of $8 million.
We, as residents of East Lyme, now have the opportunity to tip the balance
in the direction of the future, by voting yes for the bond proposal at
7 p.m. on April 11 at the high school. Why yes?
How often in these days do you have the opportunity to support a truly
non-partisan effort that brings together principled, forward-looking citizens
and politicians from both sides of the aisle to do something that will
have a lasting and undiluted benefit?
How often do you get to be part of preserving the largest undeveloped
tract of waterfront in Connecticut – creating a place to hike past
the granite outcroppings that provided the foundations for the Brooklyn
Bridge and along the shore where the Nehantic Indians once lived and fished
– to be connected to nature and to history?
How often are you able to open up new access to the water for kayakers
who will be able to explore the Niantic River and view its aquatic wildlife
and waterfowl?
How often can you preserve the chance for your children and families to
continue to boat, swim and picnic along the shore by Turkey Point and
to thrill at the sight of an osprey rising from the river with a fish
gripped in its talons?
How often do we get the chance to preserve not just a unique tract of
land, but also the nearby waterways, by protecting them from the inevitable
runoff that would come with development and thereby preserve the fisheries
and clamming in the river and the return of Niantic Bay scallops?
How often does one find a tract of land that can join the town from the
ballfield in the south to Flanders in the north with a series of trails
and perhaps someday a bike path?
How often do you get to leverage your investment at a ratio of 3 to 1
while enhancing the qualities that have long made East Lyme a destination
for residents who value quality of life and visitors who value our open
spaces and waterfront?
And what do we lose by not acting? There are others with plans for the
development of Oswegatchie Hills. This is our time to act as there is
no going back and once lost, this opportunity cannot be recovered. This
is not something to be put off.
I have had the privilege to work with the Friends of the Oswegatchie Hills
Nature Preserve in a modest, unofficial capacity and now as a contributor.
Together with the town and legislative leadership, they have a winning
combination of creativity, energy and dedication to making East Lyme an
even better place to live and visit.
I hope you will support this unique opportunity and your selectmen by
voting “yes.”
George Milne lives in East Lyme. He is retired executive vice president
of Pfizer Global Research and Development.
April 10, 2005
Op-Ed Page, The Day, New London, Connecticut
Rising Tide In Niantic River
Grass-roots effort to save the Oswegatchie Hills from land developers
has captured the public's imagination.
A grass-roots movement to preserve the Oswegatchie Hills from land development
grows geometrically. The latest example is a proposal that will go before
an East Lyme town meeting Monday to borrow up to $2 million for open-space
land acquisitions. Diverse groups with expanding public support are adding
to the momentum to keep builders from despoiling this valuable and strikingly
beautiful expanse of land along the Niantic River.
The townspeople should consent to this modest bond authorization without
hesitation. Compared to what some other communities have invested in open
space, this investment is small. But by approving it, East Lyme will have
made a good-faith gesture that will encourage other contributions from
the state and federal sources and private donors. Local legislators have
introduced legislation to authorize a like donation to the cause by the
state.
Congressman Rob Simmons is seeking help in Washington. And the umbrella
effort by Friends of Oswegatchie Hills Nature Preserve to raise funds
and acquire land in the area for public use and preservation grows in
membership every day. The number exceeds 400, including George Milne,
a prominent retired Pfizer executive who has a home overlooking the Niantic
River.
There already has been significant progress in taking land in the Oswegatchie
Hills out of circulation. Notably, the East Lyme Land Conservation Trust
has acquired 130 acres in a deal with landowners and developers. The Friends
group recently acquired another parcel with private donations, and if
the bond measure passes Monday, some of the funds will help with those
costs and leverage future acquisitions.
This is a far cry from the situation even as recent as a decade ago, when
a very few were struggling to bring the importance of preserving the land
to the attention of the public and the state. But even then, before the
cause became a popular one, significant progress took place, and that
work provides the foundation for what is going on today.
The legislature approved the creation of a Gateway Commission, made up
of representatives from Waterford and East Lyme, to develop policies to
protect the Niantic River, and by extension, the hundreds of acres that
make up the Oswegatchie Hills. For the land is not only an important natural
habitat but a natural filter for rainwater entering the river.
East Lyme has approved increasingly stringent zoning restrictions, which
have the community currently engaged in a legal fight with a Middletown
developer. Glenn Russo, the determined developer in this struggle, wants
to build hundreds of units of housing on the northern stretches of the
Oswegatchie Hills.
What is new about this latest, grass-roots effort, is that it has gone
on the offensive in raising funds and has a vision of buying the land
and devoting it to the public's enjoyment. The Friends of Oswegatchie
Hills is eyeing more than 400 acres extending from near Pennsylvania Avenue
to the Boston Post Road. The effort has stirred the imagination not only
of current property owners but former residents, who live in different
parts of the country today and still remember the magic of places like
“High Rock,” Turkey Point and the granite quarries. It seems
Mr. Russo's plans have had the unforeseen consequence for him of galvanizing
this kind of support.
That battle may last for years. But it only serves to solidify the movement
to bring the land along the west ridge of the Oswegatchie Hills into the
public domain, where it will be safe from developers like Mr. Russo. The
town has a chance to express its resolve to do so by turning out in large
numbers at the town meeting at East Lyme High School Monday night and
voting in favor of this bond authorization. The meeting begins at 7 p.m
April 12, 2005
The Day, New London, Connecticut
EL Voters Approve $2 Million In Open-space Funds For The ‘Hills'
By KARIN CROMPTON
Day Staff Writer, Lyme/Old Lyme
East Lyme —With many supporters vowing the town would not repeat
its past mistakes, voters at a special town meeting on Monday night overwhelmingly
approved spending up to $2 million to buy and preserve open space in town.
Although the money can be used to buy land anywhere in town, the focus
will be on purchasing land in the Oswegatchie Hills, a 700-acre expanse
of woodlands that borders the Niantic River.
About 300 people attended the meeting, held in the high-school auditorium.
Only two or three people voted no in the voice vote.
Immediately after the motion passed, the room erupted into cheers, hollers,
and whistles. Half the room stood and applauded, while others hugged and
pumped their fists.
“You could feel it here tonight — this was a community, it
was everybody,” said Marvin Schutt, president of the nonprofit group
Friends of the Oswegatchie Hills Nature Preserve. “Previous times,
there wasn't the unification of communication and of desire.”
Many people who want to preserve the Hills have lamented the town's failure
to buy a key chunk of land there 18 years ago. In 1987, the town received
a $1 million state grant to help it buy land in the Hills, but East Lyme
failed to use the grant and the state repealed it in 1989.
Now, that same property belongs to developer Glenn Russo, who owns Landmark
Development LLC of Middletown. Russo either owns or has the option to
buy 230 acres in the northern end of the Hills and has twice applied to
the town to build market-rate condominiums and affordable housing units
there.
The town has twice denied Russo's applications and Russo responded each
time by appealing the decision in Superior Court. The court upheld the
town's decision in the first appeal, and the second is pending.
Russo also has a federal discrimination lawsuit pending against the town,
the zoning and the water and sewer commissions, and four town officials.
In it, he claims that the denial to allow the development of affordable
housing was racially motivated.
“If we had done this back in (1987), in hindsight now, Oswegatchie
Hills would have been preserved,” First Selectman Wayne Fraser said
Monday after the vote.
Monday's approval is considered key to a partnership effort to buy as
much land as possible in the Hills and preserve it as open space.
The town is one entity in the “Partnership for Preservation,”
a public-private group formed in October to work together to buy and preserve
hundreds of acres of land in the Hills.
The partnership's members include nonprofit groups and town and state
officials. The goal is for each of four segments — the town, state
and federal governments, and private entities — to commit $2 million
toward open space purchases for a total of $8 million.
In January, the state legislature's environment committee unanimously
approved a bill authorizing $2 million in funds for open space purchases
in East Lyme. The bill is currently in the finance committee as a bond
bill.
Partnership representatives have repeatedly said that the state and federal
government will not ante up money if the town doesn't first show its commitment.
“It helps an awful lot because it shows the commitment on the part
of a community to match the state's contribution,” state Sen. Andrea
Stillman, D-Waterford, said by phone Monday afternoon. Stillman authored
the bill along with state Rep. Ed Jutila, D-East Lyme, and state Rep.
Betsy Ritter, D-Waterford.
“That's something that the state's always looking for, is a commitment
from the community. Certainly the action they take (Monday) will be important
towards expressing that commitment,” Stillman said.
The money approved Monday would be bonded, with the town borrowing as
needed. Each time the town or another entity wants to use the money, the
purchase would need to be approved by voters at a town meeting.
Fraser said the first proposal will be to spend $145,000 to pay for half
the cost of a 65-acre parcel in the Hills that the Friends group bought
on March 31.
November 6, 2005
The Day, New London, Connecticut
Oswegatchie Group Celebrates Year Of Land Acquisitions
By KARIN CROMPTON
Day Staff Writer, East Lyme/Salem
East Lyme — A nonprofit group intent on creating a nature preserve
in the Oswegatchie Hills held its first annual meeting Saturday, deeming
the balmy day one of celebration after a year of record growth and land
acquisitions.
According to its annual report, the Friends of the Oswegatchie Hills Nature
Preserve, Inc. has raised $450,000 toward its goal of $2 million in private
funding to match equal amounts from state and federal sources and from
the town of East Lyme.
In March, the group negotiated to purchase a 65-acre parcel in the Hills,
ultimately splitting the purchase price with the town. And the group has
worked with The Trust for Public Land, a national nonprofit conservation
organization, which signed a purchase and sales agreement in August on
two additional properties totaling 157 acres in the southern end of the
Hills.
“We've had a great year,” Michael Dunn, vice president of
the Friends, said during the meeting on Saturday. “... Today is
really a celebration of what we've been able to accomplish.”
About 30 people attended the meeting, held in the town's Community Center.
About the same number then met at Veterans Memorial Field to hike the
two latest properties, known as the Clark Pond property and the Bayberry
Property.
The Friends launched a membership campaign last November and formalized
its Board of Directors last year as well. It joined a partnership formed
in October 2004 with a goal of buying and preserving almost 700 acres
in the Hills.
State Sen. Andrea Stillman, D-Waterford, gave an update Saturday on a
$2 million bond authorization for open space purchases in town.
Stillman said Gov. M. Jodi Rell controls the agenda for the bond commission,
which next meets Dec. 9, and cautioned the group that the governor “is
not interested in too much more bonding before the end of the year”.
But Stillman said she is optimistic that if the bond commission does not
vote on the bond next month, it will go through in January or February,
a new calendar year when “we start from zero”.
The group passed around a petition Saturday urging the governor to add
the item to the bond commission's December agenda, and Dunn asked them
to take copies of the petition home and gather more signatures.
The partnership is awaiting word from the state Department of Environmental
Protection on whether it approved grant money that would cover up to half
the purchase price of the two newest parcels, and on a federal grant,
called the Coastal and Estuarine Land Conservation Program (CELCP), for
up to $250,000.
February 8, 2004
The Day, New London, Connecticut
Oswegatchie Hills Showdown: Preservation or Development?
By Allison Frank
Day Staff Writer, East Lyrne/Salern
Editor's Note: In an occasional series on 0swegatchie Hills, The Day looks at attempts over the last 30 years to preserve the property and the different proposals owners have made for the land. The property, seen alternately as a spot prime for development or preservation, is at the heart of two lawsuits.
East Lyme - Nearly every evening for the past 42 years,
Fred Grimsey and his wife have watched the Oswegatchie Hills fall asleep.
From their living room overlooking the Niantic River in Waterford, they
sit on leather couches and look through back windows at the water, now
covered by ice and blanketed with snow. They marvel at the pinks, the
blues, the dusky violets in the sky as the sun sets over the hills' wooded
landscape, perched above the river's west bank.
The roughly 800-acre woodland spans Niantic and Waterford. The portion
of the hills lining more than a mile of the waterfront has escaped development,
save for a cluster of houses in the northwest comer and single-family
homes along Oswegatchie Hills and Quarry Dock roads.
"I always said that I wonder when they're going to get over there
and rape it," Grimsey said of developers eyeing the prime waterfront
property.
Grimsey, a retired Connecticut College professor and Electric Boat engineer,
is president of a local environmental group with about 40 members formed
to protect the river and the hills. He knows that some development in
the hills is inevitable, but he says he hopes it will not come at the
expense of polluting the river and destroying the ecosystem.
"There's so much ledge and outcropping," he said. "The
best use would be a nature preserve, or a lodge with educational programs
for kids."
Today the property is at the heart of two lawsuits, one in federal court
and the other in the state system. In the state case, a developer wants
to reverse a decision by East Lyme's Zoning Commission denying his proposal
for a housing complex with some affordable units on roughly 230 acres
along the waterfront. The developer, Glenn Russo, head of Landmark Development
LLC of Middletown, also recruited high-profile civil rights attorney John
C. Brittain to launch a separate, federal discrimination lawsuit against
East Lyme and several town officials.
The federal case claims the commission denied the affordable housing proposal
to prevent African-Americans and Hispanics from moving into town. The
town has filed a motion to dismiss that federal case and is preparing
to defend the state lawsuit in an affordable housing appeals court this
winter.
Grimsey knows that determining the use of the land is not in his hands.
But through Save the River/Save the Hills - the group he founded in 2001
- he hopes to affect the outcome of the state case. He plans to apply
for intervener status, which would allow Save the River/Save the Hills
to file motions and present testimony on its environmental concerns. The
group has started a legal defense fund to cover expenses for that possibility.
And if Landmark and its real estate subsidiary, Jarvis of Cheshire LLC
- managed by Russo's wife Alicia - win the state appeal, Grimsey said,
Save the River/Save the Hills will sue them in turn.
The legal battle over the hills could have been avoided, local environmentalists
and residents say, if either the town or the state had purchased the land
to preserve as open space. But negotiations over the years between the
town and the landowners, and the state and Landmark failed to reach an
agreement on preservation.
The town had a chance to buy the land in 1987, when it received a $1 million
state grant to help with the purchase. At the time, the late Phathon Matthews
owned more than 150 acres in the hills and was asking the town for $2.5
million for his land, managed under the name of Sargents Head Realty Corporation.
The town failed to use the grant, however, so the state repealed it in
1989. Matthews withdrew his offer that year, citing negative publicity.
First Selectman Wayne Fraser, who took office in 1997, blames his predecessors
for dropping the ball.
"The town made a huge mistake," Fraser said in a recent interview.
"if we had more preparation back then, (the grant) would have given
us a great opportunity to preserve" the land.
Fraser and town officials under previous administrations have tried to
curb development.in the hills. The Planning Commission has consistently
recommended in plans of development dating back to 1968 that the property
be preserved as open space. The East Lyme Land Conservation Trust currently
owns more than 100 acres in the hills, and conservation easements blanket
at least another 45 acres. Fraser said the town purposely did not extend
sewers to the site over the years to discourage development there.
The town in 1989, under former First Selectman Dennis Murphy's administration,
formed an 0swegatchie Hills study committee to discuss potential uses
of the land and to draft regulations to govern it. Murphy requested an
environmental review of four parcels in the hills, three of which comprise
the roughly 230-acre site that Landmark wants to develop. Those three
parcels include:
* About 113 acres owned by the Matthews family through Sargent's;
* Another 29 acres owned by Sargent's; and
* 86 acres now owned by Landmark through its subsidiary Jarvis.
When the late David Cini took office in 1990, he met with Phathon Matthews
to discuss preservation of land along the Niantic River. Matthews asked
Cini to include him in future plans to protect the waterfront.
"As you certainly know, I have spent 65 years of my life on the river,"
Matthews wrote to Cini in February 1990, "and presently own a very
large amount of the waterfront, for which I am so anxious to protect."
Matthews died in 1994, and Cini died two years later while in office.
Matthews' widow, A. Cynthia Matthews declined to be interviewed for this
article.
The Matthews family began acquiring property in the hills in the 1950s.
Landmark obtained its 86 acres by foreclosing in 2000 on a parcel that
had belonged to other people.
By the time Landmark entered the picture, the Zoning Commission had rezoned
the hills to three-acre lots to restrict development. And in 1999, the
commission increased the lot size to five acres and limited the type of
development to single-family homes, or small business such as inns by
special permit. However, the commission was forced last year to revert
to three-acre zoning after an appeal of the 1999 decision won in court.
When Fraser took office in 1997, preserving Oswegatchie Hills was among
his top priorities. He wrote to Gov. John G. Rowland in 1998, pitching
the property as a potential gem for state land preservation.
Rowland had just proposed spending more than $160 million over five years
on land acquisitions throughout Connecticut. Fraser told the governor
that the hills could be a link in the Route 11 greenway - a corridor of
open space - and could be used as a nature preserve with hiking trails.
Matthews' real estate agent followed up with a letter to Rowland's office
listing the price of Sargent's land as $1.9 million. Rowland told Fraser
the state wasn't interested.
The DEP had reviewed the property for the state Recreation and Natural
Heritage Trust program, he said, but decided the property was overpriced
and unsuitable for its needs. Rowland advised the town to apply for a
grant through the state's open space program, which helps municipalities
buy land to set aside for recreation and conservation. The town didn't
take his advice, Fraser said, because it couldn't afford the property
even with the help of a grant.
In 1999, however, the DEP changed its mind about Oswegatchie Hills. DEP
Commissioner Arthur Rocque Jr. told Fraser his agency was interested in
acquiring several vacant parcels in the hills through the heritage trust
program. That program, Rocque said, had "ample funds for the purchase
of such a valuable piece of property."
The DEP offered to buy 143 acres from Sargent's, Rocque said in a letter
to Fraser, but the property was tied up in options to Landmark, which
prohibited the Matthews family from considering the state's offer.
On Sept. 15, 1998, Sargent's signed an agreement with Russo, of Landmark
Development, to sell the developer 150 acres in the hills, including the
113.5 acres at 23 Calkins Road and the 29-acre parcel on Quarry Dock Road.
Russo, in a recent interview, said he still has a contract to purchase
the property, which he called an ideal site for affordable housing, because
"it's close to the highway and to the commercially zoned areas of
East Lyme."
Russo didn't want to build affordable housing when he first approached
the Zoning Commission in 1999 with a development proposal. He pitched
a golf course and senior citizen community for the waterfront property,
but the commission denied the plan, saying, among other things, that chemicals
used to maintain the greens would seep into the Niantic River.
Russo returned with a second idea to establish an Affordable Housing District
in Oswegatchie Hills. He presented the commission with a plan for 894
homes, 30 percent of which would be so-called affordable units. Affordable
housing is available under state law to people who earn between 60 percent
and 80 percent of a town's median income.
The commission denied the proposal in June 2002, saying that the town's
sewer system could not be extended to the site and that the land could
not support such a high-density development.
Landmark's lawsuits charge that at least a portion of its property lies
within the town's watershed and is fit for sewers.
The failed attempts to develop the property frustrated Russo and the Matthews
family. William Matthews, of Boston, said during a public hearing in March
2002 that his family has the right to benefit economically from their
land.
"We have this valuable piece of land with which we can do little,
and with which the town feels we should do nothing," Matthews said.
"If its worth as much as its been made out to be, the town should
have acted more forcefully to acquire it."
Fraser said the town tried to work with Russo on a deal with the state
to preserve the land as open space. While the town maintained it couldn't
afford the property, the state pursued deals between 2000 and 2001 to
buy property from Russo for as much as $2.5 million.
DEP appraised 423 acres in the hills at $2.1 million. The land included
Landmark's 86 acres, the two Sargent's parcels, and 194 additional acres
that Russo used to hold options on.
Russo said the property was worth more than the appraisal. He countered
by offering the state 229 acres for $5.9 million. The DEP declined, and
negotiations frzzled. A DEP spokeswoman said the state is no longer looking
at the land.
As the battle over the hills heads for court, environmentalists like Grimsey
are working to raise awareness for their campaign. Save the River/Save
the Hills has been joined by the Friends of the Oswegatchie Hills Nature
Preserve, a group named for a vision of what should be built there.
On a recent evening, as he sat in his wood-paneled living room, Grimsey
thumbed through newspaper clippings and copies of documents about the
hills. He said he's saddened that an environmental issue has turned into
a fight over racial equality and affordable housing in East Lyme.
"I've seen some beautiful falls," he said, gesturing to the
window at the darkening landscape across the river.
September 10, 2004
The Day, New London, Connecticut
Judge Denies Appeal of El Zoning Ruling
Dismissal stops developer's 2002 Oswegatchie Hills plan
By Ethan Rouen
Day Staff Writer
East Lyme - A Superior Court judge has dismissed the appeal
of a 2002 Zoning Commission ruling that prevented Landmark LLC from developing
a housing complex in the Oswegatchie Hills.
In her ruling, Judge Barbara Quinn wrote that the commission's decision,
based on potential environmental damage, a lack of sewer and water resources,
and traffic problems, was correct, and that the potential harm to the
land outweighed the town's need for affordable housing.
"The commission properly concluded that these public interests clearly
outweighed the need for affordable housing at this location," she
wrote.
Landmark’s owner, Glen Russo, had argued that the commission used
false information about the town's water and sewer systems when denying
Landmark's application to build an 894-unit housing complex with affordable
housing in the hills. The commission said the town's water and sewer systems
could not serve the hills.
“The Commission has adequately demonstrated that there are limited
sewer and water resources for this site and that community systems are
not feasible," Quinn said in her decision.
Russo proposed using a community septic system, but the commission, backed
by the state Department of Environmental Protection, said the system would
create runoff that would pollute the Niantic River.
Landmark also has a federal discrimina-tion lawsuit against the town,
the Zoning and the Water and Sewer commissions and four town officials,
claiming that the Zoning Com-mission's denial of the proposed housing
complex which would have offered some af-fordable housing, was racially
motivated. Blacks and Hispanics dominate Connecticut’s affordable
housing market.
Russo, who plans to appeal Quinn's ruling, said it will not affect the
federal case, but First Selectman Wayne Fraser was optimistic about the
ruling's influence.
"We believe that this Superior Court ruling will have a major impact
on the frivolous federal case,” he said.
Landmark currently has another proposal before the Zoning Commission for
a scaled-down housing complex in the hills. The new plan calls for a phased
development of the area, starting with a 352-unit housing complex. Affordable
housing would com-prise 34 percent or 120 units.
Town and state officials have criticized the plan as almost identical
to the proposal now tied up in litigation.
"Exactly what is being applied for is not clear to us," Marcy
Balint of the Office of Long Island Sound Programs wote in a letter to
the Commission. "The current proposal is identical, except it is
being phased in."
In August, the commission heard more than 10 hours of testimony from Russo,
his lawyer, residents, environmentalists, and town and state officials.
A -common complaint from officials is that Russo has not provided enough
information about the environmental impact of the development.
Russo said he has provided enough information to prove that the development
can be built with minimal environmental impact and that the Superior Court
ruling will bolster the case for his current proposal.
Although he said he disagreed with the court's decision, Russo wrote in
a press release: "'We are encouraged by the court’s decision,
because the issues of concern to the court in the zone change application,
namely open space preservation and sewage disposal, have been thoroughly
addressed in the affordable housing plan application now pending before
the Zoning Commission.”
September 13, 2004
Op Ed Page The Day, New London, Connecticut
“Substantial Public Interest”
A judge shoots down a developer’s attempt to exploit affordable-housing
law and make a killing building high-density housing in Oswegatchie Hills.
Judge Barbara Quinn has clarified a crucial point in her
decision against the developer who wants to build high-density housing
in the Oswegatchie Hills section of East Lyme. Affordable housing is a
phony issue in the matter. Judge Quinn found after hearing from both sides
that there is "a substantial public interest" in preserving
the area as open space, and that this interest outweighs the public's
interest in introducing more affordable housing into East Lyme.Landmark
Development Group, in its most recent attempts to build in Oswegatchie
Hills, has been exploiting the state's affordable-housing statute by proposing
to build a third of the units as affordable rental housing. The remainder
of the 854 units on pristine land overlooking the Niantic River would
be, well, not so affordable. The law places the burden of proof upon the
town to show that its reasons for turning down an affordable-housing development
outweigh the public interest in affordable housing. Judge Quinn determined
that they did.
Would that land developers listened to reason more than money. But with
so much potential profit at stake, it doesn't appear that Landmark and
its principal, Glenn Russo, are going to let this substantial setback
drive them away. But Judge Quinn's decision does sharpen the handwriting
on the wall, and it clearly favors the town in its battle to thwart Russo's
plans to build hundreds of housing units above the banks of the Niantic
River. It ought to put to rest the developer's argument that the town
is using its zoning powers to keep poor people out of town, which is the
basis for a federal civil rights lawsuit the developer has sponsored against
East Lyme. First Selectman Wayne Fraser has properly characterized that
tactic as frivolous. It is a ridiculous assertion that the town dreamed
up its environmental. case against Landmark to keep poor, minority families
out of the town. The town has been campaigning for nearly 40 years to
preserve the land, and East Lyme has been joined by Waterford, the regional
Council of Governments and the state in that effort.
What Russo wants to do, even on a scaled-back basis, is contrary to the
state's Plan of Conservation and Development, which target the undeveloped
expanses of the Oswegatchie Hills for open space preservation. The state
once agreed to grant the town $1 million toward the cost of buying the
land for open space. Nobody could reach an agreement over price in more
recent negotiations (Maybe this most recent development will cause the
parties to rethink the asking price). "The lengthy history of preservation
efforts alone makes it apparent that the area has been under consideration
for conservation due to its unique features for a long time," Judge
Quinn wrote.
Revised plan doomed
Landmark has a revised plan before the Zoning Commission, a phased plan
beginning with 354 units. That plan doesn't have any better chance of
succeeding, given the town rationale for turning down the first plan,
which reasons were upheld by Judge Quinn: the town can't extend water
and sewers to the development because its capacity in both cases is limited;
it has obligations to already developed areas of town; because the state
disapproves of it; any such dense development would threaten the fragile
ecosystem, and state and local plans call for conserving the area as open
space.Mr. Russo may have unlimited patience, determination and money to
continue fighting. The prize in that quest is made all the more valuable
by the shrinking supply of undeveloped waterfront property and growing
market for it among the wealthy. But fortunately, there are protections
in place for the Oswegatchie Hills. And Mr. Russo isn't going to get away
with posing as a champion of social justice to make killing at the expense
of the environment.
September 17, 2004
The Lyme Times, Connecticut
Judge Rejects Oswegatchie Appeal; Development opponents pleased
but cautious
By David A. Brensilver
Times Staff Writer
'East Lyme - 'Two years after the East
Lyme Zoning Commission rejected an application that would have quite literally
paved the way for the development of 0swegatchie Hills a New Britain Superior
Court :Judge has dismissed the developers subsequent appeal.
In a decision handed down last week, Judge Barbara Quinn quoted David
Cini, then the First Selectman, who said in 1990, "If ever there
was a place that nature never intended to be developed, the east slope
of the Oswegatchie Hills is that place. Nowhere else is the land less
suitable for construction, the natural resources on and adjacent to the
land more susceptible to damage, and the public benefits to be gained
from preservation greater.” . .
Quinn, in her summary, supported the commission’s 2002 rejection,
citing the public interest of open space preservation, public health,
concerns with regard to "limited fa-cilities for water and disposal
of sewerage," adverse traffic conditions, potential runoff and the
protectionof the “fragile ecosystem”.
In a statement released following the decision, Glerm Russo, manager of
Landmark Development Group, LLC, indicated that his Company plans to file
a petition to appeal the. Comecticut Appellate Court.
In his statement, Russo said the court-supported concerns about open space
and sewage disposal "have been thoroughly addressed in the affordable
housing site plan application now pending before the Zoning Commission.”
Those in fierce opposition to devel-opment in the hills responded last
week to the court's decision.
Fred Grimsey, founder of Save the River-Save the Hills, said, "We’ve
won a battle., but we haven’t, won the war. It’s great news,
but we can t get complacent.
"I'm not going to rest" Grimsey said. "We're going to keep
fighting this guy.”
Others echoed Grims 's sentiments. Marvin Schutt, President of the Friends
of the Oswegatchie Hills Nature Preserve, said, “We still have a
long way to go. 'We're ready to take the march wherever we have to go
with it to make it come out right. We’re not relaxing, in other
words.”
Michael Dunn, the organization’s vice president, said, "Know-ing
the way this guy (Russo) oper-ates, he's not going to stop.” And
that “ We’re not opposed to affordable housing, we’re
trying to protect a natural treasure.”
First Selectman Wavne Frasers said, " "The land stands on its
own. It needed protection and the courtupheld us. We were confident we
were doing the right thing.”
Fraser too though, indicated that wasn’t the final word on the matter.
“I consider this the first home run in a game that (Russo’s)
making us play,” Fraser said. “There are other lands that
can be developed.”
Zoning Commission Chairman Mark Nickerson talked about Judge Quinn's decision,
saying, "Four out of five get overturned in the appeals process,”
indicating the strength of the commission’s defense.
Town attomey Ed O’Connell concurred with Nickerson’s assessment,
saying the law”reverses the burden of proof, and requires the municipality
to demonstrate why affordable housing is not appropriate.”
Paul Geraghty, a New London Attorney representing the opponents, said”This
is a big victory.”
Last month, at the third-but not last- public hearing on Landmark’s
current application before the Zoning Commiaaion, concerns that Russo
said have been “thoroughly addressed in the affordable housing site
plan application now pending before the Zoning Commission” were
scrutinized.
Landmark’s current application includes a plan to develop affordable
housing and condominiums in four phases.
At the last public hearing, Russo said, “affordable housing, I believe,
is just as much a resource to the state of Connecticut as the environment.”
His lawyer, Mike Ziska, said, “I’ve yet to hear anybody, including
the DEP, say – specifically- what we’re hurting,” with
regard to the environment.
Ziska said,”We are not impacting any coastal resources with this
plan.”
A letter read into the record from DEP’s Bureau of Water Management’s
Dennis Grici, said that the “large majority” of the plan is
“outside sewer service” and that any extension would “very
likely be disapproved” by the DEP.
The Office of Long Island Sound Program wrote that the application should
be “denied without prejudice.”
The next public hearing before the Zoning Commission will be September
29.
October 4, 2004
Op-Ed Page, The Day, New London, Connecticut
"Motives in Oswegatchie Hills"
Environment, not social justice, is what’s threatened
by high-density development proposal
Landmark LLC has done a superb job at clouding motives in
its plan to build hundreds of units of waterfront housing in the Oswegatchie
Hills section of East Lyme.
The worst example is its attempt to pass itself off as champion of social
justice. When a member of the Zoning Commission asked Glenn Russo, the
principal in the company, why the firm didn't merely build single-family
houses, which would conform to the existing zoning, he explained that
various parts of the state needed affordable housing.
It looks more to us as though the firm could make a lot more money on
the hundreds of units sold at market rates rather than dozens of single
family houses on three-acre lots. One of the values of the state's affordable
housing law is the leverage it gives developers to alter zoning to increase
the density in scarce waterfront areas.
To this end, the firm has brought in the state NAACP to help make its
case that East Lyme's motives in -opposing his plans have been to keep
minorities from living in East Lyme by standing in the way of affordable
housing. A lawyer for the NAACP pointed out at a hearing last week that
other towns have used the argument that they can't sewer areas to turn
down affordable housing proposals.
There is much more history and many more reasons why East Lyme, Waterford,
the state of Connecticut and this newspaper have opposed building in the
Oswegatchie Hills and none of them have had to do with affordable housing.
The effort has been underway at least since 1975. The land is on one of
the last large stretches of pristine waterfront land in Connecticut. It
strains the runoff water that flows into the Niantic River, serving as
a filter for this valuable ecosystem. It is unspoiled beauty, which is
precisely why Mr. Russo wants to build high density housing there -- and
precisely why there is such vociferous opposition to his plans.
It has nothing to do with social justice and affordable housing.
October 29, 2004
The Lyme Times, Connecticut
A Regional Push for Preservation
By David A. Brensilver
Times Staff Writer
Waterford - A consortium of local, state and federal officials gathered
at Sandy Point Beach last week to announce a major push to preserve East
Lyme's Oswegatchie Hills through open space acquisition.
The 702-acre area is threatened by development, most notably by Landmark,
LLC, which has an application pending with the East Lyme Zoning Commission
to develop a portion of the land.
East Lyme First Selectman Wayne Fraser announced he would seek $2 million
from East Lyme voters toward open space acquisition.
"This winter," Fraser said, "I'll put up a proposal that
we put $2 million into our capital fund for land preservation.
"I'm hoping that the voters will support that," Fraser said.
"East Lyme has to make this our commitment.
"The development pressure is pushing us to partner," he said.
Fraser was flanked by the first selectmen from Waterford, Old Lyme and
Salem, as well as representatives from non-profit environmental groups
such as the Friends of the Oswegatchie Hills Nature Preserve, Inc., Save
the River, Save the Hills, the East Lyme Land Conservation Trust, and
The Nature Conservancy. They are collectively calling themselves the Partnership
for Preservation.
State Department of Environmental Protection Deputy Director David Leff
said, "If a picture is worth a thousand words, the view we have today
is worth a thousand pictures. "It's not just about what we see here
and now, it's about our future." He urged those groups present to
"advocate with your elected officials" to go after funding for
land acquisition.
Rep. Rob Simmons (R-2nd District) said, "When I return to Washington,
D.C., I will enter into the process any figure you recommend to me to
enter into the process ... to protect and to preserve these hills."
He said, "I'm willing to request $3 million for this project."
Simmons talked about becoming a lifetime member of the Sierra Club 30
years ago "to protect land slated for development," specifically
talking about a 400-acre parcel that "is now a certified tree farm
in Vermont."
Simmons also talked about the Route 11 Greenway Act of 2003 as an example
of his dedication to environmental protection.
With regard to any legislative efforts concerning the Oswegatchie Hills,
Simmons said, "We need to know more about the different parcels (in
the hills), and what they bring to the table."
Simmons talked about the threat of development now, as compared with the
past. "With the right equipment, you can reconfigure any piece of
property in the world," he said.
The issue, Simmons said, is offering landowners fair market value for
their properties. "If we're not willing to step up to the plate,
we lose," Simmons said. "It's called altruism."
He warned, "The issues of sprawl are not going to go away."
But he also talked about the complexity of land preservation. "The
federal government does not want to be the only player. ... When I make
my presentation to my colleagues, I have to show interest from other parties."
Waterford First Selectman Paul Eccard pointed to the natural resource
that divides East Lyme and Waterford. "Truly, the river does run
through it," Eccard said. He talked about the partnership and the
knowledge many organizations such as The Nature Conservancy bring to the
table.
Eccard said preserving the hills is something many, albeit separately,
have talked about for a long time. He said the partnership would "bring
those voices, bring that knowledge together."
Michael Dunn, vice president of the Friends of the Oswegatchie Hills Nature
Preserve, said, "With that kind of commitment from Wayne (Fraser)
and from Rob Simmons, to get some money, that's awesome."
The first selectmen from Old Lyme and Salem, Timothy Griswold and Larry
Reitz, respectively, echoed Eccard's thoughts.
Reitz said the consortium would allow for a "little bit of cross-fertilization
of ideas," and Griswold said, "If we can know what's going on
in other towns, we can combine our objectives."
November 8, 2004
The
Day, New London, Connecticut
East Lyme
–– The Friends of Oswegatchie Hills Nature Preserve Inc. has
elected its board of directors for 2004-05.
Officers elected were: Marvin Schutt, president; Michael Dunn, vice president;
Judith Layden, treasurer; and Karen Kari, secretary. Other directors elected
were: Robert Garofalo, Gregg Hutchins, Pat Sher, Carl Stamm and Paul Whitehouse.
The nonprofit organization seeks to raise public awareness and money for
the purchase of the remaining privately owned, undeveloped land in Oswegatchie
Hills. For more information, visit the Web site www.oswhills.com
November 23, 2004
The Day, New London, Connecticut
Appellate Court Won't Grant Landmark Appeal Of Superior Court
Judge's Ruling
By KARIN CROMPTON
Day Staff Writer, Lyme/Old Lyme
East Lyme — The state Appellate Court will not grant Landmark Development
Group an appeal of a Superior Court judge's ruling that upheld a decision
by the town's Zoning Commission.
In a decision issued last Wednesday, the court rejected the company's
petition for a certification to appeal.
The decision essentially closes Landmark's lawsuit against the town for
its denial of the developer's first affordable housing application, in
June 2002.
A federal discrimination lawsuit, alleging that the denial was racially
motivated, is still pending.
“We just a hit a home run,” First Selectman Wayne Fraser said
by telephone Monday afternoon, minutes after receiving the news from the
town's attorney, Edward O'Connell.
Fraser said the town spent close to $150,000 defending the lawsuit.
“We were confident that the court system would uphold us,”
Fraser said. “Hearing the ruling is just tremendous news for us.”
The first application by Landmark's owner, Glenn Russo, was to build an
894-unit housing complex with a number of affordable housing units in
the Oswegatchie Hills. Landmark owns 85 acres in the Oswegatchie Hills
and has an option to buy two adjacent parcels that comprise the remaining
151 acres where the company wants to build houses.
Russo's attorney, Michael Zizka, said Monday that he was not surprised
by the Appellate Court's decision. Zizka said that because the state law
on affordable housing says an application is not bound by the town's existing
zoning regulations, the court likely determined that an appeal was unnecessary
for the applicant to continue.
Russo currently has a second housing application pending before the town.
The new plan calls for phased development, starting with a 352-unit housing
complex, of which 120 units would be deemed affordable housing.
The zoning commission closed the public hearing portion of the application
Nov. 9 and has 65 days to render a decision.
Russo had argued in the lawsuit in Superior Court that the commission
used false information about the town's water and sewer systems when denying
Landmark's first application. The commission said the town's water and
sewer systems could not serve the hills area.
Russo said on Monday that he was disappointed the Appellate Court would
not hear the case, but that his second application addresses the issues
that the commission used in its denial. Specifically, he said, he addressed
the issue of whether the land falls within the town's sewer shed and whether
the land was designated for open space in the town's Plan of Conservation
and Development.
“The denial of the last application and the ruling of the (Superior
Court) judge against us was based on false information, which has subsequently
been corrected,” Russo said, “and we think the second application
will be approved either by the town or by the court.”
December 1, 2004
The Day, New London, Connecticut
EL Group Buys Option On Oswegatchie Hills Land - 65-acre parcel
borders land earmarked for condos by developer
By KARIN CROMPTON
Day Staff Writer, Lyme/Old Lyme
East Lyme — A local nonprofit group announced Tuesday that it
has signed an option to purchase a 65-acre tract of land in the Oswegatchie
Hills, kick-starting its effort to piece together a nature preserve in
the area.
The announcement came at a directors' meeting for the Friends of the Oswegatchie
Hills Nature Preserve, held at the home of board member Patricia Frank
Sher in Saunders Point, Niantic.
“It's a huge first step,” said Michael Dunn, Friends vice
president, who negotiated the deal and signed the agreement early Tuesday
evening. “It gives us some incentive.”
The group launched membership and fund-raising campaigns in early November.
Dunn said Tuesday that membership has grown since then from a dozen people
to 165 and that the group has raised nearly $12,000.
In attendance Tuesday night were state Senator-elect Andrea Stillman,
D-Waterford; state Representative-elect Ed Jutila, D-East Lyme; state
Representative-elect Betsy Ritter, D-Waterford; and East Lyme First Selectman
Wayne Fraser.
The land that the group plans to buy belongs to Benajah Farms Limited
Partnership of Waterford, of which Alan Gardiner, moderator of the Waterford
Representative Town Meeting, is the principal. Dunn said the purchase
price would be $290,000.
The Friends plan to put down a deposit of $3,000 by Dec. 15. The option
agreement calls for the group to close on the property by the end of March,
he said.
“(Dunn), along with a great number of other people, have been trying
to keep the Oswegatchie Hills area as open space,” Gardiner said
by phone Tuesday afternoon. “Mike Dunn approached me and suggested
that our parcel would be well suited for that task, and we agreed.”
The parcel abuts property owned by developer Glenn Russo, who has an application
pending before the town's Zoning Commission to allow him to build condominiums
and affordable housing. Russo also has a federal lawsuit pending against
the town in which he alleges that the commission's denial of a first housing
application was racially motivated.
Gardiner acknowledged that Russo, owner of Landmark LLC, had approached
him “several years ago, but not recently” about buying his
land. Gardiner turned Russo down.
“It's not that we were against anybody, but it was more like we
were in favor (of preserving the land),” Gardiner said.
Gardiner said an appraiser told him the fair market value of the land
is about $5,000 an acre. The Friends' purchase price comes out to $4,454
per acre.
“The whole idea of keeping the Hills as open space is a great idea,”
Gardiner said. “It's a privilege to work in a small way to make
that happen.”
The Friends group plans to actively participate in a preservation partnership
that Fraser formed in October. The partnership's goal is to purchase almost
700 acres in the Hills and preserve it as open space; the 65 acres is
one of the targeted properties.
The legislators present Tuesday night each vowed to support the partnership's
efforts, though they cautioned that state funds are scarce.
Also Tuesday night, the Friends announced the start of a $2 million land
purchase capital campaign, which was launched with a $25,000 donation
from chiropractor Chris Connaughty and his wife, Lynn, of Niantic.
“I don't necessarily feel like I have time to contribute, but I
do feel like $25,000 is a small contribution towards the greater effort,”
Connaughty said. “I couldn't be more pleased. My house borders the
Oswegatchie Hills and I've spent a lot of time there. ... I love the area
and would love to see it preserved.”
December 3, 2004
Op-Ed Page, The Day, New London, Connecticut
Preserve Oswegatchie Hills
Land purchase on Niantic River a hopeful sign in efforts
to save a unique asset.
The report that a non-profit group plans to buy 65 acres in the Oswegatchie
Hills is good news for the preservation of this beautiful Niantic River
estuary. The Hills are a unique geographical asset that cannot be replaced
and deserve to be kept as pristine as possible to protect the river and
the unusual character of the terrain.
Friends of the Oswegatchie Hills Nature Preserve intends to buy the property
from Alan Gardiner of Waterford, who, like the buyer, has an interest
in saving this beautiful area. If this parcel can be protected, it will
add substantially to the 130 acres in trust there under the East Lyme
Land Conservation Trust.
The trust has received gifts of 118 acres from George Mitchell and 14
acres from Norman Peck Sr., both of East Lyme. The group also is seeking
additional lands for the trust.
There is a third conservation group, called Save the River, Save the Hills,
led by Fred Grimsey of Waterford.
All these groups should be cooperating and speaking in a common voice
about preserving the Hills and the Niantic River.
In the same fashion that the Lower Connecticut River valley deserves aggressive
conservation management, so, too, do the Oswegatchie Hills and the Niantic
River. The notion that those who are opposed to housing there are guilty
of trying to shut out low-income residents is pure fiction. People in
the region are rallying to the cry to save the Oswegatchie Hills because
that is the right thing to do. Since when did development of unique natural
areas for housing become a sensible policy?
Too many Eastern mountains have been scarred by excessive ski development
in the same fashion that McMansions have ruined the scenery along the
banks of many great rivers in Idaho, Montana, Colorado and Wyoming. Take
a ride outside Denver to see what obtrusive home development can do to
pristine foothills.
In Southeastern Connecticut, the region has the opportunity to do better.
Smart growth means putting housing and commercial development where they
make sense and fit the terrain. Saving for posterity those areas unique
to a region or state is just common sense. It amounts to saving people's
heritage.
This is very important when dealing with the beautiful river and stream
valleys in Eastern Connecticut that are particularly sensitive to environmental
degradation.
East Lyme has a conspicuous local example of development run amok where
it should have been planned better, smaller and more intelligently. That
is the Latimer Brook valley along Route 161 in Flanders. Bad planning
decisions have created a mess from just south of Silver Falls on the north,
through the meadows and woods where houses were located too close to the
stream banks and flooding regularly occurs, to the Flanders Four Corners.
A gravel bank operation coupled with the housing led to severe silting
near Interstate 95 and into the cove at Golden Spur.
East Lyme managed to plop down shopping and office centers on top of Latimer
Brook at the Flanders Four Corners in a conspicuous disregard for the
laws of nature and the vulnerability of wetlands. Intelligent planning
ought to place needed commerce where it makes sense and not where it will
cause a heavy cost to the environment.
Heightened by the past mistakes, a growing chorus of residents and town
officials in Waterford and East Lyme have raised their voices in opposition
to developing the Oswegatchie Hills. Their concern is genuine and their
cause is just.
Preserving the Oswegatchie Hills ought to be a priority for the region
and the state.
December 5, 2004
The Day, New London, Connecticut
‘Friends' Raise Funds To Preserve The Hills, Oswegatchie Development
Plan Drives Volunteer Partnership'
By Karin Crompton, Day Staff Writer, Lyme/Old Lyme
‘Is it going to take $8 million to buy it? We don't know. But
is $8 million a fair price to negotiate with people and make them offers?
We think so.' East Lyme First Selectman, Wayne Fraser
East Lyme -- For the generations of hikers who scrambled along the ledges
and explored the trails of Oswegatchie Hills, one assumption prevailed:
The Hills would never change.
So when developer Glenn Russo came to town with plans for a development
of hundreds of condominiums and then challenged the Zoning Commission's
denial of his application in state and federal courts, it sent a jolt
throughout the community.
Now, the lovers of the Hills are racing to acquire some 700 acres of undeveloped
land along the Niantic River before developers do.
“The town has taken it for granted,” said Michael Dunn, vice
president of the nonprofit Friends of the Oswegatchie Hills Nature Preserve.
“People have hiked it for decades and decades and never even thought
anything of it. The public's general thought has been, ‘It's undevelopable.'”
“I never knew,” said Friends President Marvin Schutt, “who
owned those hills.”
Several public and private entities have come together to form Partnership
for Preservation. Conceived by East Lyme First Selectman Wayne Fraser,
the partnership seeks to pay “fair compensation” for nine
targeted parcels in the Hills and preserve them as open space.
Included are one owned by Russo and two others for which he has options
to purchase. Russo is head of Landmark Development LLC of Middletown.
Two properties already acquired by the East Lyme Land Conservation Trust
— a group not affiliated with the town — and a town-owned
parcel at the southern edge of the Hills could potentially form a network
of 12 properties connected by trails and forest that could be preserved
as open space.
Initially, the partnership wants to raise $8 million.
“Is it going to take $8 million to buy it? We don't know,”
Fraser said. “But is $8 million a fair price to negotiate with people
and make them offers? We think so.”
“I hope it happens. That's a tall order,” said Fred Grimsey,
president of Save the River—Save the Hills, a nonprofit advocacy
group. “If he can make that happen, it's wonderful. I'm interested
to see how he proposes to do it, because I don't have it.”
Fraser said he plans to ask town residents to approve allocating $2 million
as early as January, which would match $2 million in open space grant
money he will seek from the state. He hopes the federal government will
provide $3 million, which U.S. Rep. Rob Simmons, R-2nd District, agreed
to seek. Fraser would then aim to get another $2 million from outside
donations.
“In three years or less, we should be 90 to 95 percent secured on
this land,” he said at a Friends meeting last week.
So far the preservation partnership consists simply of a group of like-minded
people. It has no legal status.
The members' idea is for the component groups to pool their skills and
to stay in communication.
“When we target a piece of property,” Fraser said, “we
don't want three different entities going in there negotiating.”
Last Wednesday, 16 people gathered at East Lyme Town Hall to discuss the
partnership. They included members of Friends and Save the River—Save
the Hills; recently elected state Rep. Edward Jutila of East Lyme and
Sen. Andrea Stillman of Waterford; Old Lyme First Selectman Timothy Griswold;
representatives from the offices of the governor and Simmons; a deputy
commissioner of the state Department of Environmental Protection; and
representatives from the Mashantucket Pequot tribe and the Trust for Public
Land.
Their first priority, which the group has already set to work on, is purchase
of properties adjacent to parcels that have already been preserved. That
is expected to help in obtaining grant money, because it gives evidence
of intent to form a large green parcel.
For now, the partnership has determined to ignore Russo's land, which
is tied up in a federal lawsuit that claims the Zoning Commission's denial
was racially motivated because it perpetuates a lack of affordable housing
in East Lyme. Fraser said it is time to put Russo's properties “on
the back burner and focus on the remaining land.”
“What the real focus is, is that there is other land involved, and
that the other land is under development pressure,” he said.
It is nearly impossible to put a price tag on the Oswegatchie Hills.
The town assessor's office lists assessment and appraisal values for each
parcel, but the last revaluation was done in 2001, before real estate
prices skyrocketed. Also, each property carries with it the unknown variable
of a landowner's incentive to sell or not to sell.
Badge Blackett, of the Trust for Public Land, said Thursday that the best
initial approach is as a representative of a charitable organization,
appealing to an owner's desire to preserve the land.
The Friends have already had success with that approach. Last week they
signed an agreement to purchase an option on 65 acres in the Hills owned
by Alan Gardiner of Waterford, who agreed to a price somewhat below fair
market value.
With Glenn Russo it will likely be different.
Five years ago, the state DEP tried to buy Russo