Oswegatchie Hills Preservation
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SAVE THE OSWEGATCHIE HILLS!!
Save The River-Save The Hills continues to advocate for the preservation of ALL of the Oswegatchie Hills. 420 acres of The Hills has been preserved to date. STR-STH has supported the Town of East Lyme and The Friends of the Oswegatchie Hills Nature Preserve in this effort. We continue in our legal battle with the developer who owns the last 238 acres - the acres on the Niantic River. We believe this stretch of land is the last mile of salt water frontage that is not already developed or preserved in all of CT. Let's Save the Last Mile!!
In January 2016 we were happy to become a Founding Member of the "Save Oswegatchie Hills Coalition"
along with The Friends of the Oswegatchie Hills Nature Preserve and Connecticut Fund for the Environment/Save the Sound. The Coalition has been very active these past 2 years gaining members and educating the Region about the importance of saving the Hills to the Niantic River and thus, the LI Sound.
See our latest newsletter for more information on this outstanding development in our focus to Save The Hills!
Our latest efforts have been to support the Town legally on the Water-Sewer Commission's decision to grant a fraction of the amount that the developer asked for - our grounds are about saving the ecosystem that supports the Niantic River and thus the Long Island Sound.
In our role as "legal intervenors" we have assisted the Town of East Lyme in winning 2 of the 5 court cases the developer has brought against the Town. For a detailed look at the case made for preservation, the East Lyme Town Hall has copies of over 100 exhibits (letters, reports, etc.) submitted for the zoning Public Hearings.
STR-STH supports the Town's decision to deny the developer's applications and has been raising money and awareness through fundraisers and grassroots events. We will continue this fight until the last acre of the Hills is preserved.
Legal Defense (This is still accurate as of June 2018): Below is a the explanation of where we stand in our legal battle to Save the Hills, specifically about the latest Application for development, written by a Board Member of The Friends of the Oswegatchie Hills Nature Preserve:
“You may have read the article in The Day about the conditional approval of Landmark's preliminary plan for an affordable housing development (read the article here) and wondered what it means for The Hills.
The conditional approval granted by the Zoning Commission on 8/20 came with significant teeth. It stated that only a portion of the proposed development site is eligible (the portion within the sewer service district) and it stated that a project must meet very strict environmental thresholds, the very same thresholds that our engineer said this project does NOT meet.
So, stated another way, this particular proposal is in essence denied, but the applicant can come back later with a scaled down project. Importantly, because the preliminary phase is done, the next proposal needs to be a Final site plan and will, per the regulations, be subject to much more stringent requirements. A Final site plan is required to show in detail how the project will be built and those details will allow our engineer to show precisely how and why the plan will not adequately protect the environment, and should therefore be denied.
All that said, the commission did not address all of our concerns or take full advantage of the strong record we submitted. We will consult with counsel and then decide whether we should appeal this conditional approval, possibly for failure to adequately address traffic and sewer/septic design. The traffic issues will have a huge impact on residents of Golden Spur and the environmental impact can not be properly evaluated until the developer shows a feasible plan for septic/sewer. In fact, the application should have been denied for failure to properly delineate wetlands and for failure to apply to the Inland Wetlands Agency as well. One thing is for sure... we will keep our eye on the ball and continue to 'speak for the trees'.”
History: The Oswegatchie Hills have been part of the Town of East Lyme's plan for open space for over 20 years. The Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection has listed it for preservation and actively tried to purchase the land for over four million dollars. The Stewardship Committee of the Long Island Sound Study has placed it on its list of parcels that should be preserved to protect the sound.
Fred Grimsey, Save the River-Save The Hills Founder and President, has been appointed to the Citizens Advisory Committee of the Long Island Sound Study (LISS). He will provide liaison, as needed, for any interested party. As a member of the Stewardship Committee of the LISS he will provide assistance and communication. Fred is also a member of The Niantic River Gateway Commission which was created by the State Legislature to prevent destructive development of Oswegatchie Hills.
Please help us continue the fight by becoming a member or donating to our Legal Defense Fund.