The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Voters to decide on $5M open space bond
Proposal focuses on purchasing undeveloped lands and farms
MIDDLETOWN — On Election Day, residents will be asked to weigh in on a proposal to earmark $5 million for future open space acquisitions throughout the city.
The referendum question on the Nov. 5 ballot pertains to the purchase of undeveloped land and farms. The measure was approved by the Common Council at its Aug. 5 meeting.
John Hall, executive director of the Jonah Center for Earth and Art of Middletown, is urging people support the proposal — even if they don’t now engage in passive recreation.
“Even if you’re not particularly into that, if you’re more interested in the financial health of the city, preserving open space is a financial benefit to the city. These open spaces, if they get developed into residential neighborhoods — subdivisions and so on — that is a loss to the city financially,” Hall said.
The tax revenue the city takes in from a residential development isn’t as great as the cost of the services those neighborhoods require of the city.
The late environmentalist Katchen Coley, who died in 2013, was instrumental in procuring 1,100 acres of open space in the city.
By 1990, the city had preserved 967 acres, according to Hall. Over the next 24 years, that total rose to 2,625 acres. In all, 27 percent of city land is protected in perpetuity. Middletown has spent about $9 million to preserve the land.
“We save about 30 cents on the dollar by conserving land. Once it’s conserved, the services it requires are very small compared to what’s required if there are roads and sewers and fire departments and police, schools — everything else that is required to meet the needs of that population,” Hall said.
Although Middletown has had a lot of success with open space, it hasn’t been able to earmark money for this purpose since 2007. Up until this point, city leaders drew from the general fund on ad hoc basis, according to David Brown, executive director of the Middlesex Land Trust.
His agency works proactively to preserve land on both sides of the Connecticut River in the county.
Since 1987, the land trust has preserved land in Cromwell, Durham, Middlefield, Middletown, East Hampton, Portland and Haddam Neck. The agency owns and manages more than 1,000 acres in 52 preserves.
In 1989, the Common Council first approved a $5 million open space bond, which allowed for the preservation of 209 acres. In 2002, a $3 million bond ordinance allowed for the purchase of 479 acre. In 2007, the third bond ordinance allowed the city to acquire a little over 400 acres, according to the minutes of the Aug. 5 meeting.
Kristen Winston, president of The Jonah Center for Earth & Art, explained the importance of biodiversity to councilors on Aug. 5.
“When there is open space, there is valuable habitat for animals and plants, including trees, which help take carbon dioxide out of the air. Bodies of water are kept clean and provide a hedge against drought and pollution. There are other economic benefits in addition to raising property values,” Winston told officials.
Jane Harris, chairwoman of the Urban Forestry Commission, spoke to councilors about preserving meadows, open fields, streams and habitats for birds.
“Everything that the city needs is found in open space. The environment is critical to our wellbeing,” she said during the meeting. “Studies repeatedly
“Everything that the city needs is found in open space. The environment is critical to our wellbeing.” Jane Harris, chairwoman of the Urban Forestry Commission
show that people who live near woodlands, who experience treeshaded streets, have better physical and mental health.
“Once a piece of land is developed, it is gone forever. We never get another chance to save it,” she said.
Even though it is a small state, Connecticut has 140 land trusts, placing it second in the nation, Brown said.
“It’s because of the Yankee nature of Connecticut and also the reactive nature of a lot of land trusts which are created. You save the old tree hole from the shopping center, now the developer doesn’t want it, the town doesn’t want it, nothing can be done, so you create a land trust,” Brown said.
The Planning, Conservation and Development office, in conjunction with its Commission on Conservation & Agriculture, has established a ranking of various properties for potential ownership based on their desirability and the urgency of acquiring them, Hall said.
“When a property becomes available, when a family is interested in selling, the city has a scoring system to justify that purchase,” Hall said.
“Some of them may preserve it on their own, just out of the goodness of their hearts, but if that family needs the money, they can at least sell the development rights so it can remain a farm, but it can’t be developed,” he added.
The list of properties and criteria for their acquisition “creates an objective way of choosing what the best properties to spend the money on are. It’s a great step toward working toward a reasonable approach to picking up property that is appropriate,” Brown said.
The city has received significant matching funds from the state.
“The city rarely bears the full cost of purchase. Of course, state conservation funds are rather scarce today compared to what they were 20 years ago,” Brown said.
It’s important Middletown continues these efforts, Brown said.
“It’s a matter of not one organization or one government — many hands make light work — but also, hopefully, partnerships,” he said.
“People who may be land rich and cash poor value the land more than they do money. Many people don’t want to see their property ever developed, and the way to guarantee that is to work with us,” Brown said. For information, visit thejonahcenter.org and middlesexlandtrust.org.