Attorney General Blumenthal joins the opposition

By Veronica Burns

The Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) breathed new life into the Yale Farm Golf Club project, issuing a “tentative determination” on January 12 to approve two permits needed for construction of the golf course. One of the approved permits is for Water Diversion, the other for Water Quality certification. The first falls under the auspices of the state and is necessary because the golf club will be diverting a daily maximum of 149,305 gallons of groundwater. The water quality certification is part of the federal Clean Water Act permit process. “We see this as a starting gun,” says DEP spokesman Dennis Schain, “not the finish line.” A formal public comment period has now begun on the diversion permit, with a deadline for submissions of February 13. State Attorney General Richard Blumenthal is “disappointed and somewhat surprised” at the decision, “because the legal and environmental merits are on the other side.” Blumenthal now plans to submit written comments and to also appear at an expected public hearing. In his opinion, the application is “legally flawed, because it fails to include any housing and,” he adds, “housing is an inevitable part of this application.” Schain says that the issue of housing is “a question that can be raised, but our staff saw their charge as dealing with the application in front of them. They saw that as their jurisdiction.” Blumenthal disagrees. The DEP, he says, has the obligation to consider everything together. “The environment will be effected by this total development, not just one piece of it.” To the claim that the housing issue was not before the DEP and therefore not their responsibility, the Attorney General responds that it should be or alternatively, deny the application. David Tewkesbury, project manager for the golf course declined to comment on what Blumenthal has said to the media. But he is happy man. “We are delighted that the DEP has taken this action.” Tewkesbury maintains that the applicants for the golf course made a point of concentrating on issues of water quality and both science and nature in their course design. In a press release, Deputy Commissioner Amey Marrella said that the role of the DEP was “limited to evaluating the permit applications before us to determine if this golf course can be built and operated in a manner consistent with our existing laws and regulations that protect the state’s natural resources.” Schain agrees that the staff did a lot of work and analysis “to make sure our natural resources are protected. A good deal of land has come off the table.” What may or may not indicate the agency’s concerns is the fact that the recommendation has a list of “stringent conditions.” These include environmental mitigations, buffers around streams, the creation of a new wetland, the protection of grassland habitat and the hiring of a third party to monitor the construction and operation of the golf course. These conditions do not alarm Tewkesbury. “Most are consistent with the Norfolk and Canaan approvals.” The Canaan Conservation Coalition (CCC), a group of landowners who oppose the golf course project, got together on hearing the news to plan their next move. Wheaton Byers of the CCC says, “We are going to continue the fight. We will get letters written for the public comment phase, and we will get a plan in place.” Vint Lawrence of the Coalition for Sound Growth (CSG), a Norfolk-based group also opposed, is disappointed but not surprised. “The DEP made it clear a long time ago,” says Lawrence, “that they were in favor. They followed a very narrow set of parameters, were highly bureaucratic. It is no surprise to me that they have made this announcement.” CSG will now regroup as events dictate. “We handled our opposition to the project honestly and directly,” says Lawrence, “and we are still sticking to our original position. Show us the whole plan and do the science right. That is what we always wanted and it hasn’t changed.” That whole plan would include the drawings for 61 residential homes, which, in the initial proposal, made a very brief but dramatic appearance, before being quickly withdrawn. Ever since, that real estate quotient has remained the elephant in the room. New York developer Roland Betts has always emphasized that his permit requests are for a golf course only while at the same time, maintaining the right to sell housing lots at a later stage. It now looks certain that the housing issue will return to the front burner. For now though, a Hearing Officer will be appointed by the DEP to handle the public comment period and he or she will review everything and make a recommendation to the DEP commissioner, Gina McCarthy, who Blumenthal says, “is an independent decision maker.” McCarthy can look at existing and projected uses of the development in her deliberations and she can request further information, ultimately approving, denying or modifying the application. Once that decision is made, the door to litigation will be open and, says Blumenthal, in the event of any appeals, he would assign lawyers in his office to represent the DEP, while he himself would maintain an independent stance. Since the initial application in 2002, there has been a considerable economic downturn, but Tewkesbury remains unfazed. “We are fully funded,” he says, “and we will continue to work through the permitting process.” As to when work is likely to begin on the golf course, Tewkesbury says that remains a guessing game. “By this time,” he says, “we had hoped we would have been playing golf for two or three years, but that hasn’t happened. Now we are ready to answer any questions if called upon to do so.” For more information on the decision and comment period, visit the DEP Web site www.ct.gov/dep