Funds for Lombardo Farm OK’d

Preservation fundraising effort enters final push

MANCHESTER — With $900,000 in local funding approved last week and $300,000 in state money granted earlier this year, the Manchester Land Trust now enters a final fundraising effort to purchase and preserve the town’s largest remaining parcel of privately owned land.

The 102-acre Lombardo Farm sits in the area where Manchester, Glastonbury and East Hartford meet. The purchase price is $1.7 million, leaving the trust (manchesterlandtrust.org) with the tough job of raising $500,000 by a June 30 deadline, trust President Malcolm Barlow said Monday.

The parcel at Hillstown and Bush Hill roads would be added to the trust’s Bush Hill Preserve, a 75-acre parcel that includes 62 acres of the former Botti Farm (57 acres in Manchester and the rest in Glastonbury) and 13 acres of the trust’s Manning-Ferris tract.

At its meeting last week, Manchester’s board of directors approved taking $900,000 from a $4 million open space and historic assets preservation fund that voters approved in 2016. The trust had sought $1 million.

In January, Gov. Ned Lamont announced grants totaling $9.1 million to purchase 2,466 acres in 24 communities, including $300,000 for the Lombardo property. The funding brought the total land in Connecticut designated as open space to 500,000 acres — about two-thirds of the way toward the state’s goal of 673,210 acres.

The preserved Lombardo land would be open to the community for passive recreation, including hiking, cross country racing, bird watching, picnics and nonprofit farming.

Manchester residents have proven steadfast supporters of open space funding, Barlow said. The trust will solicit donations from residents and from nonprofit organizations, including the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving, he said.

The farm would be preserved in perpetuity, with no development possible, Barlow said. That is not only good for the environment, but also would boost the value of nearby homes, he said.

The Lombardo land was cleared of structures and a waste pit in preparation for proposed development in the mid-2000s. A developer wanted to build 73 large houses on the property at Hillstown and Bush Hill roads, leaving 48 acres as open space, according to articles in The Courant in 2006 and 2007. The plans were dropped, probably due to the recession, Barlow has said, but the pendulum always swings back, and he said he feels a sense of urgency in preserving the land before another developer shows interest.