Podunk, Connecticut

05/29/2014

Topic: Toxic Athletic Playing Fields

Griswold Airport opened in 1931, located between Route 1 and the Hammonasset River, and adjacent to Hammonasset State Park. Now owned by the Town of Madison, the former airport property abuts the Hammonasset River as well as Long Island Sound salt marshes and contains a small coastal forest area.

In 1985, the Griswold family offered to sell the airport to the town of Madison.

In November 2000, Leyland Development Corporation obtained an option to purchase the land, and submitted plans for a 260-unit housing development, which was approved by the towns' Planning and Zoning Commission (PZC).

A lawsuit against the town to stop the development failed, but local opposition was so strong that Leyland withdrew its original proposal. In the fall of 2003, the developer (renamed LeylandAlliance), submitted a revised proposal to build 131 units. In May 2004, the new proposal was approved by the PZC. LeylandAlliance completed the purchase in February 2007.

In January 2010, residents of the Town of Madison voted to buy 42-acre former airport property from the developer.

Assisted by the Trust for Public Land, the town completed the purchase in May 2010 and in 2011 signed a conservation easement to permanently protect 20.6 acres of the land from development.

05/29/2014

Enforcement of Connecticut’s environmental laws has fallen behind the rate of environmental violations.

Also, the state is failing to meet its goals in preserving open space, but some improvements have been made in air quality. That’s according to the Council on Environmental Quality’s 2013 annual report.

Flooding along Connecticut’s rivers and streams is becoming “more frequent and more damaging” than in the past, researchers stated in the report.

The report also found that the state hasn’t been as aggressive as it has in the past in enforcing environmental laws. More than 1,000 violations were found, the most in more than a decade, according to the report.

Much enforcement was aimed at preventing future spills and discharges, especially of petroleum, according to the report. The exact relationship of enforcement to compliance and environmental quality is a subject for future investigation.

The report also found that the state’s preservation of farmland, open space, parks, and forests requires a greater level of commitment from the state.

The goal is to conserve 10 percent, or 320,000 acres, of Connecticut’s land as open space by 2023. In 2012 the state preserved 341 acres and in 2013 it preserved another 467 acres. It’s still unknown how many acres are being preserved by municipalities.

Extending for 1,000 acres on the shore of Long Island Sound and the mouth of the Connecticut River, and containing a mix of unspoiled woodlands, wetlands and Atlantic White Cedar Swamp, the magnificent tract known simply as The Preserve represents, as Gov. Dannel P. Malloy said last week, “the last…

05/25/2014

There is no one paying attention to the environmental cleanup in progress at the Madison, CT salt marsh site.

Last week, the town's park development committee abruptly disbanded without a plan with which to continue with the town's fiduciary responsibility to maintain and manage the public property.

Last week the Madison Park Development Committee officially disbanded after three years of work overseeing the planning and early development stages of Salt Meadow Park. Members hoped their ad hoc committee would be replaced seamlessly and almost immediately by a new permanent governance committee.…

05/25/2014

Several stressors have been associated with Sudden Vegetation Die-Off including heavy metal toxicity from pesticides and toxic waste dumping.

Some of these SVD sites may have been destroyed by toxic substances discarded from residences, recreational fields, roads, or intentionally dumped at the sites.

See sick or dead salt marsh? There may be a toxic dump nearby.

05/16/2014

There is much at stake in preserving New England's shoreline salt marshes, because salt marshes are hugely important. They shield up hill property from flooding, pull pollutants from water and are nurseries for many fish species.

The salt marshes of New England are dying. An experiment finds that removing predators allows herbivores to denude their marsh habitat in a flash.

05/16/2014

Madison Park Development Committee officially disbanded after three years of work overseeing the planning and early development stages of Salt Meadow Park.

Last week the Madison Park Development Committee officially disbanded after three years of work overseeing the planning and early development stages of Salt Meadow Park. Members hoped their ad hoc committee would be replaced seamlessly and almost immediately by a new permanent governance committee.…

03/11/2014

On March 10, 2014 The Town of Madison changed the name of the park. Podunk is the Native Algonquin name for the people and the salt-marsh, in which they lived, during summer.

03/11/2014

The Town of Madison officially dedicated the new Constitution Park on Sunday, November 24, at 2 p.m. at the park’s natural grass amphitheater, weather permitted.

MADISON >> Eight acres of land will be added to Constitution Park to be used for open space and recreation, local officials said at a Monday press conference.