EDITOR'S NOTE (Monday, July 15, 2024): This feature has been updated to clarify the route through Newtown used by Rochambeau and the French Army in 1781.

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Since the organization’s founding last summer, Newtown Conservation Coalition (NCC) has participated in various public meetings regarding urban development in Newtown. Recently, this work has focused on “holding accountability and justice,” but Founder Dave Ackert says NCC’s original goal was to protect “historically and environmentally sensitive properties.”

Ackert, a Newtown resident for 20 years, started the coalition out of care for the area’s natural sites and after plans to develop housing units on 6 Commerce Road emerged. Though his day job involves harvesting maple syrup as the owner of Maple Craft Foods of Newtown, Ackert had seen many other people wanting to “fight this,” he said, yet there was no organization to do so.

Within the past year more than 900 people have joined NCC through its Facebook page. A public group based on the social media platform, the mission of NCC is, according to its page, "to help Newtown become a leader in low impact development & building regulations, standards and practices, in order to protect and preserve our remaining natural resources, quality of life and historic places. "Think of the NCC as Mother Nature's Agents," its mission statement continues. "Like any good agent, we ensure that our client receives the best treatment possible. We are a non-partisan coalition of concerned residents and volunteer organizations who are committed to protecting and preserving Newtown's few remaining natural spaces from any development that would add significant strain to town services or roads and place our sensitive waterways, wildlife, or drinking water at risk."

The Coalition is not a Town affiliated board or commission, although its close similarity in name to Newtown Conservation Commission has confused some residents when they first read about or encounter Newtown Conservation Coalition messages.

Aclert said many of those who follow NCC online became involved because when it comes to Newtown, “everybody cares.”

The group promotes its goals by going door to door, displaying its messages on yard signs, online discussions, and more.

Reservoir Road

Most recently, the coalition has continued speaking out against the proposed discontinuation of Reservoir Road, part of the Rochambeau Trail, as a paper street. The NCC hopes that opposing these plans will protect the trail from harmful development.

According to First Selectman Jeff Capeci, if the road is discontinued, the property lines of 20 and 60 Castle Hill Road move in towards what was once the centerline of the paper street. The strip of land where the road exists was never considered town property, so no land needs to be transferred to the property owner.

A paper street is a road that exists solely on a map, and has never been established or maintained as a modern town road.

Reservoir Road was previously voted to be discontinued in September 2023 by the previous Board of Selectmen. However, Ackert had sent a letter to the town noting that a state statute concerning signs warning about a potential discontinuance being placed at the entrances to a road to be discontinued did not appear to be followed. The Board of Selectmen restarted the process for the discontinuance early last month.

Developer George Trudell withdrew his application for 117 cluster homes on 20-60 Castle Hill Road while the process of the discontinuance is ongoing. Trudell has during public meetings that he needs the road to be discontinued to develop the land the way his plans currently call for, on roughly 40 acres of the 132 acre property.

The homes will be built in a cluster using Town regulation 4.05.1, which allows residential open space developments. The proposed homes will be clustered in one area of the development to maximize the open space surrounding it and would be a “multi-generational” development with homes between 1,800 and over 3,000 square feet, according to explanations given during recent Town board and commissin meetings.

In a May letter to the editor, NCC member Sue Torrey said Reservoir Road had been the subject of conversations and letters between NCC, town officials, and the Office of the State Archaeology.

Ackert had spoken with State Archaeologist Sarah Sportman PhD, according to Torrey. Sportman “emphasized that not only is Reservoir Road on the National Registry of Historic Places, but its unique significance lies in the fact that this section of the Rochambeau Trail is one of very few that remain undisturbed, and where people can go to experience what Colonial troops experienced,” Torrey’s letter said in part.

NCC is also concerned with the proposed development at 20-60 Castle Hill Road, Torrey also wrote, because the land is “a documented site of at least four sensitive archeological sites.” She noted there are two Native American/Indigenous sites and one 18th-19th Century colonial site in addition to Reservoir Road and its inclusion on Rochambeau’s Road.

Torrey also noted the property additionally contains wetlands and “sited Bald Eagles, Eastern Cottontails, and other species that are either endangered or ‘sensitive.’”

Torrey's is one of a growing collection of letters to this newspaper by writers supporting Newtown Conservation Coalition's pushback against the proposed development.

The Revolutionary Route

The Washington–Rochambeau Revolutionary Route is a 680-mile National Historic Trail that describes a 14-week Continental Army campaign during the American War of Independence that concluded with a turning point battle in Virginia. The use of local land as camps and routes ahead of that campaign merit their historic importance.

French forces under the command of Jean-Baptiste de Rochambeau began marching from Newport, Rhode Island, in June 1781. According to A Mosaic of Newtown History by the late Town Historian Dan Cruson, Rochambeau's army began arriving in Newtown from Southbury on June 28, 1781, crossing the Housatonic River at Charleton’s Bridge (to the immediate southwest of today’s Rochambeau Bridge, which carries I-84 over the same body of water).

The French Army continued west, over what is now Riverside Road, reaching Sandy Hook. Divisions created camps along today’s Church Hill Road. When they departed, also according to Cruson’s book, the troops “began at what was then called Slut’s Hill and which was renamed Mount Pleasant in the 19th Century,” proceeding “along today’s Rt#6” toward Danbury and beyond. That march included surrounding land including at least part of today’s Reservoir Road.

The men crossed into New York on July 2, and combined with General George Washington's troops by the end of the month. The combined army then merged in September with troops commanded by the Marquis de Lafayette. In October a three-week siege in Yorktown, Virginia, led to the historic surrender of General Cornwallis, or as Cruson described it, “the last major action of the Revolution.”

The Washington-Rochambeau Revolutionary Route was designated in 2009. It travels through Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia.

July 13 Trails Tour & Public Event

It is that inclusion of Reservoir Road along The Washington-Rochambeau Revolutionary Route that NCC is working to protect.

In addition to attending public meetings and writing letters to First Selectman Jeff Capeci and other local officials, the coalition has planned a historic tour of the Rochambeau Trail from 10 am to 2 pm Saturday, July 13.

According to NCC's Facebook, this is a free community event for all ages and abilities. There will be guided walks and historic enrichment commencing at 10:30 am near General Rochambeau’s Revolutionary War encampment site, followed by an optional short guided hike on the local section of the Washington-Rochambeau Trail that is listed on the National Registry of Historic Places. Tours will all meet back near the encampment for a BYO picnic and more interaction with Revolutionary War historians, experts and special guests including Town Historian Ben Cruson.

For those using a GPS, the address is 1 Old Castle Drive. The Town Lot GPS address is 1 Cornfield Ridge.

Those interested may RSVP through NCC’s Facebook page at facebook.com/groups/newtownconservationcoalition.

The tour was largely organized by NCC’s recently formed Historic Preservation Committee, which is dedicated to providing educational experiences and events to the public. Chairman Gabe Ahmed, also a Newtown resident, hopes the committee’s work will let others learn more about the area’s unique history and gems.

Like Ackert, Ahmed also works a full-time job while dedicating his time to NCC. After following the group on social media, Ahmed said he thought, “if Dave can do it, and needs support, it’d be ridiculous if I didn’t.”

Ackert encourages residents to attend Saturday's tour of the Rochambeau Trail and visit the group’s Facebook page for more information about its cause.

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Intern Claire Baranovic can be reached through editor@thebee.com.