Easton residents vote to sell South Park property to land trust
EASTON — A town-owned piece of land on South Park Avenue will be sold to the Aspetuck Land Trust, after residents voted in support of the transaction in a referendum on Tuesday.
First Selectman David Bindelglass said it was great the sale was approved by residents, especially by such a large margin — with 1,058 residents voting in favor and 574 voting against.
“It’s the first time that the town got to exercise its new power under our land use ordinance, which says the sales and leases of land are town decisions,” he said. “I think the people made it very clear about their desire to preserve the South Park property.”
Bindelglass said the 18.7 acre parcel will be preserved by the land trust while the town continues to look for ways to do the same with an adjacent 10 acres it also owns.
The town bought the 29 acre property in 2008 for $6 million with the goal of preserving it from development and keeping it as open space. The Aspetuck Land Trust is buying the majority of that space for $470,000, with the help of a state grant that covers $188,000 of the purchase.
Bill Kraekel, the president of the Aspetuck Land Trust, said the organization is dedicated to preserving open space, adding it has more than 2,000 acres of land under its stewardship in Easton, Weston, Westport, Fairfield, Wilton, Redding, Bridgeport and Monroe.
Many residents voiced support for the sale of land during a town meeting on April 25, but shared concerns that the remaining property would be used for development
While residents have all voiced support for preserving the land, many are worried that an adjacent parcel the town owns will be sold for development.
such as affordable housing.
“There should be a deed restriction,” Easton resident Jeff Becker said at the time. “Then, we can stop the games of Mickey Mouse and everything else that’s going on. There’s absolutely no reason why we just don’t do it and get it done so we can stop all the acrimony — the idea that maybe somebody’s going to come and try and buy it.”
Officials from the town and land trust said Aspetuck is interested
in buying the other parcel, but needs time to come up with the funding to do so. Some residents said they wanted to deed restrict the property as soon as possible and then allow an entity that wanted to preserve it to buy it down the line.
“In the affordable housing (plan), in the POCD, it does say they want to put some kind of housing on South Park,” Easton resident June Logie said in the meeting. “We bought this land to save it from development. Now, 14 years later, we’re back in the same position again. We don’t want to have to keep voting and voting and voting. Can we just decide the fate of this land once and for all?”
Bindelglass said the selectmen or Plan and Zoning Commission could deed restrict, although it might be possible to put it as a ballot question.