Madison News Roundup

The referendum on whether the town of Madison should purchase the former Griswold Airport property generated a lively debate and, by Madison’s standards, a very large voter turnout of more than 5,700 people. The measure passed by 831 votes, with more than 57 percent voting in favor of the acquisition.

Properties like Griswold, Hammonasset, East and West Wharf, Bauer Park, the Town Campus, and the Surf Club are all part of what makes Madison such a special place. But we have always thought that the town’s people make it special, too

That’s why we were disappointed to see so many insults and personal attacks in letters and in comments posted in response to articles about the Griswold purchase. Just because passions run high does not mean that the discourse has to sink so low. Emotions on both sides of the issue were fueled by a common love for the town and the desire to do what is best for its residents. Because someone disagrees with you does not make them “stupid,” “ignorant,” “pigs,” “drunken sailors,” etc. It simply means they disagree. And in our experience, facts delivered in a calm and rational way carry the day far more often than exaggeration or epithets.

The voters have spoken. It’s time to move on. Joined by our common love for the town of Madison, InsideMadison hopes that we all can work together in a civil and cordial fashion to help make the Griswold property the best asset it can be for our town.

After a long and emotional debate that capped nearly a decade of controversy over the future of the former Griswold Airport, Madison residents voted overwhelmingly on Tuesday to purchase the property from the developer who had approval to build a 127-unit development on the environmentally sensitive lot.

More than 57% of the unusually large turnout of 5,719 voters supported the purchase, which commits the town to paying $9 million to buy and upgrade the property. The town has said it plans to use the 42-acre parcel on Madison’s eastern border, much of which consists of tidal wetlands, for open space, sports fields, playgrounds, and hiking and nature trails.

Opponents argued forcefully that the $9-million price tag was too high, particularly in a depressed economy and real estate market, and would unjustly enrich the developer/owner; that the town could have bought the property for much less money on previous occasions; that the tax burden would be too high, particularly on fixed-income seniors and other residents; that the town would lose $2.7 million in new property tax revenue over the next 5 years; and/or that the property owner, Leyland Alliance, was not in a position to proceed with the development, and that the town could buy the property for less money in the future.

The property is adjacent to Hammonasset Beach State Park and includes prime wetland habitat, upland forest, and significant frontage along the Hammonasset River. The parcel was sold to Leyland Alliance in 2007, and permits to construct 127 units of housing on the land were subsequently granted.

Proponents of the purchase said that the conservation goals for the property are to maintain the land as natural open space with walking trails and viewing areas along the river, with the potential to restore a portion of the grasslands to accommodate a variety of birds. On the front portion of the property, closest to the Post Road, town officials potentially envision several recreational fields for use by Madison families and possibly a small area reserved for future commercial use compatible with a park.

Under the terms of the purchase (and the wording of the referendum), the town will “appropriate $9 million for acquisition of the Griswold Airport property for open space, recreational, and other municipal purposes and for costs of decommissioning and land reclamation, and authorize the issue of bonds and notes to finance the appropriation.” The Trust for Public Land (TPL), which negotiated the purchase, has committed to pay the remaining $1.7 million to complete the purchase and improvements.

The measure passed by a margin of 831 votes and carried in both District One and District Two, as well as among the absentee ballots that were cast. The breakdown of the vote was as follows:

Editor’s Note: We have not previously taken a public stance on Tuesday’s referendum on whether the town of Madison should spend $9 million to purchase the former Griswold Airport property, but we do so today. We heartily endorse the purchase, and we urge our neighbors to vote “yes” on Tuesday.

We are well aware of the arguments against the purchase, and they are not without merit. The $9 million price tag sounds very high, particularly in this economy. We know that the town could have purchased the property on previous occasions for a lot less. Madison taxes already are high, particularly for people on fixed incomes. It is true, too, that the town would lose the additional property tax revenue that would be generated by the Madison Landing development.

But consider:

• Yes, $9 million is a lot of money, but the two appraisals the town got for the property were $9.65 million and $10.5 million.
• Yes, Madison could have have bought the property for less money but, as they say, that was then and this is now.
• Yes, the town would lose property tax revenue from the housing development, but that’s a somewhat simplistic view. The 250-350 additional residents will place their own demands on the town’s infrastructure. In addition, because the proposed development is to be an active adult community, many of those people will be empty nesters selling their 3-4 bedroom homes in order to move in — homes that will be bought by families with children who will put additional demands on the town’s schools and resources.

The bottom line is that we feel the town simply cannot afford NOT to buy the property. It is one of the largest remaining tidal marshes in Connecticut, a vital breeding ground for fish and shellfish, and an important migratory stopover area for many species of birds. And, as has been pointed out by much wiser people, salt marshes act as huge sponges that absorb the incursions of the sea and thus protect real property along the shore.

On top of that, the purchase would provide for much-needed sports fields and playgrounds, as well as nature and hiking trails. While even that level of development will have some impact on the sensitive salt marsh, a daytime-only, recreational use will have much less of a harmful impact than a housing development, no matter how environmentally friendly the design.

Buying the Griswold property is not an either/or proposition with such other projects as the Scranton Memorial Library expansion. The library will be there tomorrow and next year. Once developed, the tidal marsh (at least as we know it now) will be gone forever. We hope the current economic crunch doesn’t blind residents to their responsibility as guardians of the natural resources that make Madison the very special town that it is.

Again, we urge everyone to vote “yes” on Tuesday.

Editor’s Note: The following is a slightly edited letter originally sent to residents of the Seaview Beach area. The author is the editor’s father.

Dear Friends and Neighbors:

This is a very personal statement from one who is fortunate enough to be highly taxed because of the increasing value of the virtual waterfront location of my residence. As I write this in my 90th year think I have some perspective on the ecological problems now under active discussion which are to be subjected to a referendum on January 26 of this new year. I also bring the perspective of one who has spent his life in science. I am a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the Connecticut Academy of Science and Engineering and the American Philosophical Society. I have held professorships of Public Health, Medicine and Microbiology and have published a textbook on Human Ecology and Public Health. My research has been principally in infectious diseases, virology and genetics as well as in clinical medicine.

I also know nothing about a lot of things.

Many of you know my wife Joy and myself from our long year-round residence in Madison at 23 Willard Ave. Those who do not yet know me may have seen an old codger with orthostatic hypotension and ataxia weaving his way to my mailbox on Fairview.  (The old codger retired from the tennis courts at the end of last summer because he was hitting more partners than tennis balls).

(Why am I writing this, do I want money or am I running for public office?)

Of course I want money, but not from you. In fact Joy and I have just given you money in the form of yet another gift for the protection of our common love – Seaview Beach. As for politics, I write this coming neither from the right nor the left, but straight down the middle.

I am a yankee. An ancestor, Thomas Norton was a co-founder of Guilford before it split in two to become Guilford and Madison. In the interest of full disclosure, as they say, Thomas not only facilitated the development of Guilford with his Tide Mill, but was among the first to fill in a small part of the salt marsh there. (Shame on you revered ancestor). More than 80% of New England’s salt marshes have since disappeared. (More about salt marshes in a minute.)

In 1931, at the age of 11, I first wiggled my toes in the mud banks of Fence Creek as I hunted bait for fishing in the form of small fiddler and green crabs with the warm summer sun on my face and back. These early depredations caused no profound ecological harm as I competed with the more successful herring gulls and raccoons. The only harm done was to those of my skin cells that later morphed into basal cell carcinomas that are now supporting a team of dermatologists.

In my first teaching and research job as an Associate Professor of Medicine at Tulane School of Medicine in New Orleans I met a southern belle named Joy whom I persuaded to come back north. So we took the diapers off the elegant filigree iron railing in our French Quarter apartment and I thus returned to my alma mater of Cornell University Medical College and New York Hospital and Joy became more of a yankee than I. In the northern winters we fought the battle of the thermostats, with Joy turning them down and I, who love warm weather, turning them up. (Joy wins.

We have raised four sons and played with eight grandchildren on the sands of Seaview Beach as they swam in the pristine waters of that inland arm of the Atlantic Ocean known as Long Island Sound – an area scooped out by glaciers 18,000 years ago leaving the big boulder known as Tuxis Island behind.

Alright, everyone loves the beach. Why should we care about the fate of the salt marshes on our eastern border?  There are many reasons:

• We have been lucky with respect to hurricane visitation and damage in recent years.  Salt marshes act as huge sponges that absorb the incursions of the sea and thus protect real property along the shore. The sand under the marshes at Hammonasset is 50 to 70 feet deep.  Quite a sponge!
• I am not a tree hugger. The last time I hugged a brittle Norway maple in my yard a huge branch came down and hit my garage.
• Marshlands promote species diversity. Opponents of marshland preservation joke about the sparrows that they harbor. Although I love the twitter of birds I am basically a big mammal guy who sends checks to preserve the tigers of Indonesia and the ice bears of Alaska. This year the lions and tigers and bears (oh my!) will have to get along without my help as I increase my yearly financial aid to the ecologic crisis close at home.  I am appalled by the rate at which entire species are disappearing from this planet. My recent reading and Google explorations remind me that extinction of species has always occurred but currently is proceeding at an accelerated rate. Marshlands are a home of species diversity and hence the evolution of new species.

What legacy will we leave behind?

Even in these parlous economic times we hope to leave real property and financial assets to our children.  But if we wish to retain the value of our property in Madison by the sea, we must act now and take action in the coming referendum of January 26.

In conclusion, I would like to quote from a letter I published in the Shoreline Times 6 years ago.  I can say it no better now:

I feel that as residents of the environmentally blessed community of Madison we should be ashamed to risk the precious resources that make our town unique and instead that we should vigorously oppose further endangerment of these irreplaceable sites and act as their guardians.


– Edwin D. Kilbourne

Madison residents are invited to a special town meeting tonight (Jan. 19) to discuss the Jan. 26 referendum on the town’s purchase of the Griswold Airport property for use as recreational and open space and other municipal purposes. The meeting, which starts at 7 p.m., will be held in the Brown School Auditorium.

The referendum question sounds simple enough:

“SHALL THE TOWN OF MADISON APPROPRIATE $9,000,000 FOR ACQUISITION OF THE GRISWOLD AIRPORT PROPERTY FOR OPEN SPACE, RECREATIONAL, AND OTHER MUNICIPAL PURPOSES AND FOR COSTS OF DECOMMISSIONING AND LAND RECLAMATION, AND AUTHORIZE THE ISSUE OF BONDS AND NOTES TO FINANCE THE APPROPRIATION?”

But that seeming simplicity belies the years of controversy that have surrounded the proposed 127-unit residential development on the site, the fierce opposition by environmental groups, and, finally, the proposed sale of the 42-acre property from the developer to the town and the Trust for Public Land (TPL).

Under the proposal, TPL would pay $1.7 million of the sale price and the town would pay $9 million in the form of bonds and notes, which includes the developments costs of the project.

Proponents of the purchase say the land consists of prime wetland habitat, upland forest, and significant frontage along the Hammonasset River, and is vital to the state’s fish, bird, and wildlife populations. Opponents balk at the town’s $9 million share of the project and say the proposed development would add desirable active adult housing units and contribute to the town’s property tax revenues.

For more information, see:

• The Madison Landing website
• Stop Griswold Over Development website

The Madison, CT Police Department has joined Nixle, a new Community Information Service designed to deliver important and timely information to residents of our town using the latest technology. The Nixle system delivers  important neighborhood level public safety and community event notifications by Web, email, and cell phone. Examples of information the service posts are Crime Alerts/Advisories, Traffic Advisories, Special Event information, and more. The Nixle service is free, and residents of Madison can now take advantage of Nixle. Learn more and register at http://www.madisonct.org/Police_Dept/nixle.htm . You can then share this service with friends and neighbors to spread the word. The Madison Police Department says this service represents another effort on the part of the department to maintain contact with its citizens and provide them with timely crucial information.

After 38 years of producing the Shoreline UU Society Flea Market on the Madison Green, SUUS is sponsoring the first Shoreline Spring Festival, May 15, on the Madison Green.

Vendor space is available for artists, artisans, crafters and fair trade vendors, as well as locally grown farm producers and food vendors. Reserved space is $60 for vendors or $35 for non-profit or community organizations.

Details and applications are at the SUUS website at www.shorelineunitarian.org; call the SUUS office at 203-245-872; or e-mail suus@juno.com. You may also write to Shoreline Unitarian Universalist Society, 297 Boston Post Road, Madison, CT 06443, ATTENTION Shoreline Spring Festival.

Madison residents will have a final chance to tour the Griswold Airport property from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday. The rain date is Sunday. The tour is the last before residents vote at a January 26 referendum to decide whether the town will spend $9 million to purchase the 42-acre site.

There will be guided walks offered at 11 a.m. and again at 1 p.m. The 11 a.m. walk will be guided by Patrick Comins, Audubon Connecticut’s director of bird conservation, and Jerry Connolly, owner of The Audubon Shop. George McManus, chairman of the Conservation Commission, will lead a guided walk at 1 p.m.

The Trust for Public Land (TPL), a national land conservation non-profit, announced last fall that it had reached agreement to purchase the property from Madison Landing Company, LLC, a subsidiary of Leyland Alliance, LLC. The 42-acre property is adjacent to Hammonasset Beach State Park and includes prime wetland habitat, upland forest, and significant frontage along the Hammonasset River. The former airport property was sold to Leyland Alliance in 2007, and that company acquired permits to construct 127 units of housing on the land.

There is a special town meeting scheduled for 7 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 19, in the Brown School auditorium to discuss the possible purchase. The meeting will be adjourned to a town-wide referendum one week later. Under the terms of the agreement reached between TPL and Leyland, the property would be purchased for $9.7 million, with a closing scheduled for April 1. The town will be asked to bond for $8 million of the $9.7 million purchase price, with the balance to be privately fundraised by The Trust for Public Land and its project partners, Audubon Connecticut and Stop Griswold OverDevelopment.

The town will add $1 million to cover demolition and renovation costs, which would fund the initial conversion of the airport into a park and bring the town’s total costs to $9 million. The town has said it will use the property for football, soccer, and baseball fields, along with walking and bird-watching trails and a play area for children.

Proponents of the purchase have created a brochure, “The Campaign to create a Coastal Park: Griswold Airport Land,” which you can view here.

The Madison Zoning Board of Appeals on Tuesday unanimously approved an application that paves the way for work to begin on the Madison Senior Center on Bradley Road. The ZBA had previously denied a request for height, front, and side yard variances at the center. The board had expressed concerns about the apparent bulkiness of the building. The new plan eliminates the need for a height variance by lowering and flattening the roof line and doing away with 1,000 square feet of attic space. Officials had said they were concerned that a second rejection by the ZBA could have jeopardized the $5.5 million project, which calls for the Madison Senior Center and ambulance garage to swap properties. Read Amanda Pinto’s story in the Register.

The venue for tonight’s (Jan. 5) appearance by Mika Brzezinski and her “Morning Joe” co-host Joe Scarborough has been moved from RJ Julia Booksellers to the Scranton Memorial Library, 801 Boston Post Road (diagonally across from the store). The time (7 p.m.) remains the same. Tickets are available but limited; you are advised to call or e-mail the store. Brzezinski and Scarborough are slated to discuss Brzezinski’s memoir, All Things at Once, in which she talks about the challenges of being both a professional woman and mother. More information here.