News

Letter: Town Must Act Quickly To Help Land Trust Acquire Fowler Property

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We’re writing to support a special appropriation for the New Canaan Land Trust’s acquisition of the six-acre Fowler property in Silvermine. The town would fund a relatively small share of the overall cost. But if it fails to act quickly, other commitments would lapse, and the deal could collapse. The main concern of some town officials is setting an unwanted precedent for the budget process. But wouldn’t it be an even worse precedent to allow the deal to die?

Government

‘A Lane To a Beautiful Nature Park’: Finance Officials Hear Land Trust Request for Funds To Acquire Fowler Property

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Saying it would preserve unique natural habitat and expand an important open space greenway, members of a nonprofit organization dedicated to land conservation in New Canaan on Tuesday night urged town officials to help their group with the timely purchase of a 6.35-acre property. The would-be “Silvermine Fowler” preserve—a private property long owned by award-winning zoologist Jim Fowler and available to the New Canaan Land Trust right now in a $1.3 million deal—is accessible from Silvermine Road just below the intersection with Route 106. An east-west oriented parcel that climbs a wooded hill toward a natural pond, the property is contiguous to a 41-acre sanctuary that the Land Trust already owns (see map below). Among privately raised funds, pledges and grants, the New Canaan Land Trust and Trust for Public Land—a national nonprofit organization headquartered in San Francisco—already have secured all but $365,000 needed to acquire the property. At this time, the organization has first right of refusal, though the offer is to expire in the first quarter of 2017, according to Land Trust officials.

Around Town

Did You Hear … ?

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Planning officials on Tuesday night approved the site plan for a proposed new Post Office on Locust Avenue. Following concerns about traffic circulation around the proposed structure at 18-26 Locust Ave., the applicant updated the site plan so that one-way traffic comes in from the east side of the building and goes out on the west side. Conditions of the Planning & Zoning Commission’s approval include changes to lighting in front of the proposed building and looking into ways to create more parking spaces than the 27 currently approved (some nine of which would serve Post Office customers, officials say). It isn’t clear just when construction would start on a new building—the Post Office has sent a 10-year lease to the project’s developer that now is under review. ***

Congratulations to NCHS trainer Diane Murphy on being recognized by the Connecticut Athletic Trainers Association as “Secondary School Athletic Trainer of the Year” 2015.