Podcast: Bristow Centennial Celebration Set for Sept. 7-8

This week on 0684-Radi0, our free podcast (subscribe here in the iTunes Store), we talk to John Winter, executive director of the New Canaan Land Trust, about the Sept. 7-8 centennial celebration of Bristow Park, New Canaan’s bird sanctuary and wildwood preserve (register here for free events). The centennial includes a silent auction (now live) and sale of limited editions of the new book, “A Songbird Heaven: The 100 Year History of Bristow Park.”

Here are recent episodes of 0684-Radi0:

New Canaan Land Trust Acquires ‘Grupes Homestead’ on Valley Road

The New Canaan Land Trust has acquired a long-disused property on upper Valley Road, guaranteeing preservation of an antique structure once slated for demolition and providing a first-ever headquarters for the esteemed local nonprofit organization. 

The acquisition of 1124 Valley Road, final as of April 19, ends years of enmity between the town and 2.23-acre property’s former owner, the First Taxing District of Norwalk. 

The town in 2018 had offered to acquire what was then a full four-acre parcel for $1.2 million. But the Taxing District rejected that offer. After applying for a demolition permit and then withdrawing it, the Taxing District later rejected the town’s offer to purchase just the house with .8 acres carved out around it, for $250,000—a figure New Canaan had arrived at following an appraisal of the property. Then former First Selectman Kevin Moynihan (a retired lawyer who routinely overspent the town’s legal budget) threatened to take it by eminent domain. The property abuts the Grupes Reservoir connects directly to the Browne Preserve, one of the first properties to come under the protection of the Land Trust.

Planning & Zoning Commission Approves Special Permit for Newly Purchased Land Trust Property on Valley Road

The Planning & Zoning Commission on Tuesday approved a special permit for 1124 Valley Road that will enable the New Canaan Land Trust to establish its headquarters in the circa-1750 farmhouse located on the property, which abuts the Grupes Reservoir. The approval of the special permit follows the Land Trust’s purchase of the antique home from the First Taxing District (FTD) of Norwalk, which acts as a municipal water company. The town contributed $150,000 toward the purchase. In terms of acreage, the Land Trust and FTD are two of the largest land owners in New Canaan. Under the terms of the private land deal, 1.82 acres of the four-acre property will be deeded to the Land Trust by FTD.