A Legacy Of Open Space

To the Editor:

Last month, Gov John Rowland proposed the largest open space acquisition project in state history: the bargain purchase by the Department of Environmental Protection and The Nature Conservancy of 15,340 acres of natural land owned by the Kelda/BHC water company. Until recently, Connecticut has ranked very poorly compared to other northeastern states in its amount of publicly owned open space. Furthermore, Fairfield County ranks last among our state’s eight counties for amount of state-owned open space. More than 140 acres of this land is located in New Canaan. As preservation of open space in town has been a central issue for the past decade, I hope you and your readers will support this acquisition which has yet to be approved by the Connecticut General Assembly. These lands are beautiful, environmentally significant, and provide a multitude of public recreational opportunities. Future generations will thank us for setting them aside.     

The terms of the transaction are quite favorable to taxpayers. While the state and BHC recently appraised the value of the Kelda/BHC lands at $193 million, the total cash cost for the purchase only will amount to between $90 and $98 million, depending on the timeframe in which the money is paid. The participation of The Nature Conservancy will reduce the state’s cash cost per acre to $5,215, and BHC will donate the balance to conservation.

Thanks to recent efforts by Governor Rowland, Rep Moira Lyons, and Sen George Jepsen, Connecticut has started to catch up. During the past three years, Governor Rowland and the General Assembly have authorized a total of $96 million in bonding for two open space programs, the Recreation and Natural Heritage Trust Fund, which the DEP uses to acquire lands, and the matching grants program which provides grants to towns and land trusts acquiring open space. Last year, $10 million in additional funding was approved out of the state’s budget surplus for these two programs. Over 14,000 acres of land in 95 towns have been preserved with these funds. In the proposed two-year budget he presented to the legislature in February, Governor Rowland proposed $72 million in bonding for these open space programs. In addition, he proposed $30 to $60 million in other funds for the Kelda/BHC project.

At a time when development is occurring so rapidly across Connecticut, and particularly in Fairfield County, these are the kinds of aggressive steps it will take if we hope to pass a beautiful and livable Connecticut on to future generations.

Sincerely,

Peter Stalker

603 Smith Ridge Road, New Canaan      April 11, 2001