(Waterbury Republican-American) Sen. Kane, Rep. O’Neill: Southbury Farmland Preservation Bill Making Progress

Plan to keep farmland now ready for vote
BY CHRIS GARDNER REPUBLICAN-AMERICAN

SOUTHBURY — The legislature’s Environment Committee on Wednesday approved a bill that would permanently restrict development on 900 acres of farmland at Southbury Training School.

The bill now heads to the General Assembly for a full vote. It will go to Gov. Dannel P. Malloy for consideration if it passes both chambers. Malloy has said he supports the legislation.

“I’m very pleased that this piece of legislation is moving along so smoothly,” First Selectman Ed Edelson said. “I am optimistic that the bill will pass, and when it does it will be a major step forward for Southbury in terms of reinvigorating our agricultural activities.”

The farmland, which extends into Roxbury, is the largest tract of state-owned agricultural property in Connecticut, and the largest parcel of undeveloped land in Southbury.

Preservationists have tried for years to get the land preserved, and this latest attempt appears to enjoy bipartisan support across all levels of government.

Rep. Arthur J. O’Neill, R-Southbury, and Sen. Robert J. Kane, R-Watertown, testified in favor of the legislation, as have Southbury selectmen, Roxbury First Selectman Barbara Henry and members of the Southbury Land Trust.

The bill would require the state Department of Developmental Services, which operates the training school, to transfer control of the farmland to the state Department of Agriculture.

The agriculture department would then grant a nonprofit organization a permanent conservation easement on the property. That would prevent the land from being developed, and would ensure that it is used for agriculture.

According to the bill, the mission of the nonprofit would include protection of agricultural lands for agricultural use. The bill would allow for the “lease, permit or license by the commissioner of agriculture of any portion of said farm to one or more persons or entities for the purpose of engaging in agriculture.”

The land, concentrated in the center, north and west sides off the campus, has been farmed off and on since the late 1930s, when the training school opened.

The training school, the state’s only institution for developmentally disabled men and women, was once considered a national model of client care.

Its population peaked in 1969, with 2,300 clients, but admissions were closed in 1985 in an agreement between the state and U.S. Department of Justice, which challenged the adequacy of services for clients.

Now, fewer than 400 people live on campus, and local leaders have begun a dialogue with the state to prepare for the inevitable closing of the institution.

Edelson said in written testimony that the land can be preserved without any impact on the operation of the training school and its residents.