Friday, March 10, 2006

Another Big Development Proposed for the Sound's Watershed

The fight against poorly-conceived development is never-ending but one of the best weapons is money. If you have enough, and if the developer is a reasonable person, buying environmentally important land solves a lot of problems. (I'm definitely not talking here about The Preserve.)

Carolyn Hughes, of Audubon Connecticut, tells me that 600 acres along the East River in Guilford are proposed for development. The land is upstream of the Audubon Guilford Salt Meadows Sanctuary, which is home to a globally significant population of the saltmarsh sharp-tailed sparrow. Carolyn writes:

The marshes also support several other state and federal threatened, endangered or special concern bird, mammal and plant species. It is a truly gorgeous river/marsh system that flows directly into the Sound, and preservation of this area is a high priority for Audubon.

On Monday in Hartford there’s a public hearing on a bill to provide state money – up to $3 million – to help buy the land proposed for development. Carolyn writes:

… the Town of Guilford (working with the Guilford Land Trust, Audubon and others) is trying to negotiate the purchase of this parcel. As part of this effort, Audubon was instrumental in getting a bill raised in the CT Legislature's Environment Committee seeking state funding to aide in the acquisition. The bill is being heard in the Environment Committee on Monday, March 13th, and we are trying to round up as many people as possible to testify in support of this bill.

Here is the info on the Hearing:

MONDAY, MARCH 13, 2006
> The Environment Committee will hold a public hearing on Monday, March 13, 2006 from 10: 00 A. M. to 4: 00 P. M. in Room 1E of the Legislative Office Building, Capitol Avenue, Hartford. Please submit 50 copies of written testimony to Committee staff one hour prior to the start of the hearing in Room 1E of the LOB. Sign-up for the hearing will begin at 9: 00 A. M. in Room 1E of the LOB. The first hour of the hearing is reserved for Legislators, Elected Officials and Agency Representatives. Speakers will be limited to 3 minutes of testimony.

Here is the bill name and number:

> *S. B. No. 608 (RAISED) AN ACT AUTHORIZING BONDS OF THE STATE FOR THE PRESERVATION OF THE EAST RIVER PRESERVE IN GUILFORD.

1 Comments:

Blogger Bloggo said...

Tom, thanks for writing about this. I am maintaining a website for a group of concerned citizens that tracks developments of this issue:

http://www.06437.com/fbr/

7:00 PM  

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