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NORTH CANAAN — The Connecticut Farmland Trust (CFT) brought 2010 to a close on a high note with the preservation of Dutcher Hill Farm. Lucia Reynolds and her three brothers and four cousins donated a 33-acre easement to the trust at the end of December.
The farm is most visible from Route 44, just east of the Salisbury town line, and is near the 100-acre parcel just conserved by the Bok family (see story this page). It also fronts on Boinay Hill Road.
Several family members still own houses near the farm, including the Wells and Noble families. The farm is currently used as support land for Ford’s Farm in East Canaan.
The family was united in its desire to see the farm preserved. Reynolds coordinated their efforts to protect the land through the donation of an agricultural conservation easement to Connecticut Farmland Trust, according to a press release from the nonprofit organization.
The easement guarantees that the land is protected from development and will remain available for farming forever.
“The really wonderful thing about this particular farm is that these eight relatives who own the land came together from all across the country — California, Virginia, Idaho, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and of course Connecticut — to ensure that this property forever remains farmland. We at CFT are lucky to work with a family so dedicated to farmland preservation in Connecticut,� Henry Talmage, executive director of CFT, said in the release.
Dutcher Hill Farm has been owned by the same family for more than 100 years. The land has produced vegetables, corn and hay, and has supported cattle and horses. Those who pass by it today see a hillside pasture, where cows graze in a bucolic scene.
“The farm was given to my grandfather by his mother,� said Lucia Reynolds, in the release. “My mother was born on the farm and we lived there when my father was in the service during World War II. I remember my grandfather had this big draft horse that he used to plow the fields.�
When asked how it feels to have the land preserved, Reynolds said, “I’m very grateful to my family. I’m so glad to have come to this solution because it will now always stay open land and we can make sure it stays in farming.�
Katie Matus, communications associate at CFT, told The Journal that any agricultural uses will be allowed on the land. Proposals for the construction of buildings and other structures will be considered by CFT, to ensure they fit with the requirements of the easement. No residential or industrial uses will be allowed.
Dutcher Hill Farm is the 23rd farm to be preserved by Connecticut Farmland Trust.
Established in 2002, the trust holds agricultural conservation easements that protect 2,000 acres of farmland around the state, has assisted partners in the preservation of 602 additional acres and serves as a leading resource for conserving Connecticut’s working farmland.
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Telecom Reg’s Best Kept On the Books
When Connecticut land-use commissions update their regulations, it seems like a no-brainer to jettison old telecommunications regulations adopted decades ago during a short-lived period when municipalities had authority to regulate second generation (2G) transmissions prior to the Connecticut Siting Council (CSC) being ordered by a state court in 2000 to regulate all cell tower infrastructure as “functionally equivalent” services.
It is far better to update those regs instead, especially for macro-towers given new technologies like small cells. Even though only ‘advisory’ to the CSC, the preferences of towns by law must be taken into consideration in CSC decision making. Detailed telecom regs – not just a general wish list -- are evidence that a town has put considerable thought into where they prefer such infrastructure be sited without prohibiting service that many – though not all – citizens want and that first responders rely on for public safety.
Such regs come in handy when egregious tower sites are proposed in sensitive areas, typically on private land. The regs are a town’s first line of defense, especially when cross referenced to plans of conservation and development, P&Z regulations, and wetlands setbacks. They identify how/where the town plans to intersect with the CSC process. They are also a roadmap for service providers regarding preferred sites and sometimes less neighborhood contention. In fact, to have no telecom regs can weaken a town’s rights to protect environmental, scenic, and historic assets, and serve up whole neighborhoods to unnecessary overlapping coverage and corporate overreach. Such regs are unique to every town and should not follow anyone else’s boiler plate, especially industry’s.
Connecticut is the only state that has a centralized siting entity for cell towers. The good news is that applicants must prove need for new tower sites in an evidentiary proceeding and any decisions have the weight of the state behind them. The bad news is that the CSC used to be far less industry-friendly and rote in their reviews, which now resemble a check list. There is an operative assumption at CSC that if an applicant wants a tower, they must need it, otherwise why spend significant money to run the approval gauntlet? This reflects a subtle shift over the years at CSC from sincere willingness to protect the environment toward minimal tweaking of bad applications with minor changes. The bottom line is that towns really cannot rely on the CSC to do all the work for them.
What CSC issues telecom providers is a “certificate of environmental compatibility” after an evidentiary proceeding (not unlike a court case) with intervenors, parties, expert witnesses, and the service provider’s technical pro’s sworn in and subject to cross examination. Service providers get to do the same with any opposition from intervenor/party participants – like towns and citizens -- and their experts. It’s an impressive process whose ultimate goal is the fine balancing between allowing adequate/reliable public services and protecting state ecology with minimal damage to scenic, historic, and recreational values. They unfortunately often fall short of their mandate – like approving cell towers with diesel generators over town aquifers -- evidenced by CSC only rejecting about five cell towers in the past 15-20 years.
The CSC was founded in 1972 and clarified its mission in the 1980’s to prevent the state from being carved up willy-nilly by gas pipelines, high tension corridors, and broadcast towers. With the sudden proliferation of cell towers beginning in late 1990’s, it became the most sued agency in Connecticut by both an arrogant upstart industry if applications were denied and by towns/citizens when bad sites were forced on them. CSC gradually formed a defensive posture that drives their decisions toward industry with deeper pockets and attorneys on retainer.
For citizens, nothing can wreck one’s day like the CSC. It behooves towns to protect what little toolkit they have, and understand the legal parameters of the CSC’s playing field. The CSC is not a “normal” government agency where municipal/citizen redress is based on logic and local support. Their process is largely immune to everything but specific kinds of evidence – like town regs with setbacks/fall zones, radio frequency transmission signal strengths, sensitive areas identified, and detailed wildlife inventory, among others.
There is a current cell tower fight involving two intervening towns -- Washington and Warren; both with good cell tower regs – over a tower site within 1200’ of a Montessori School, near Steep Rock’s nature preserves with comprehensive geology/wildlife databases that include endangered, threatened and special concern flora and fauna, on established federal/state migratory bird flyways, within throwing distance to a historic site capable of being listed on the Underground Railroad, and with an access road on a blind curve entering a state highway that will permanently damage wetlands, vernal pools, and core forests. There are well credentialed environmental experts, including Dr. Michael Klemens, former chair of Salisbury’s P&Z, as well as the former director of migratory bird management at the US Fish and Wildlife Service, and an RF engineer testifying to alternative approaches, plus three attorneys representing intervenors. It is the most professional challenge I have seen at CSC since Falls Village successfully mounted one that protected Robbins Swamps several years ago.
The hearing is ongoing, with uncertain results. To see what it takes today to stop an inappropriate tower siting, see Docket #543 under “Pending Matters” at https://portal.ct.gov/csc before removing local cell tower regs – the lowest hanging fruit that any town can possess in case it’s needed.
B, Blake Levitt is the Communications Director at The Berkshire-Litchfield Environmental Council. She writes about how technology affects biology.