Senate bill aims to fund open space initiatives

By Veronica Burns

“This is the second swing of the pitch,” is how state Senator Tom Herlihy (R) describes an ambitious attempt in the General Assembly to lock in money for land acquisition.

Last year, a similar bill failed to clear the Appropriations Committee. Despite that setback, Senator Andrew Roraback (R) has introduced legislation to direct $100 million from the state budget surplus “to jump start statewide land conservation initiatives.” Roraback, who represents many towns that surround but do not include Norfolk, has criticized the General Assembly for woefully under-funding efforts to preserve farmland and open space. His  bill has the support of the majority of the Republican caucus, including Simsbury’s Tom Herlihy, whose district includes Norfolk.

Among the bill’s provisions is a plan to allow the state to be a full partner when local land trusts and municipalities try to fund conservation projects. It would also help farmers who want to sell development rights to the state.

The bill has numerous supporters outside the legislature. Tim Abbott, director of the Litchfield Hills Greenprint Project, feels that the time is overdue to make this kind of investment. According to Abbott, the state is several decades away from meeting the goal, set by former Governor John Rowland, to protect 21 percent of open space statewide by the year 2023.

The Connecticut Farmland Trust, a private conservation organization, reports that up to 9,000 acres of farmland are lost in the state every year. At that rate, it is possible that Connecticut will have no farmland left to conserve in 35 years. At the same time, both state and federal funding for land protection has declined.

So it is no surprise that politicians from both parties consider saving open land from development a priority. Herlihy points to the familiar scenario of towns trying to keep burgeoning property taxes in check by expanding their commercial tax base. As a result, says Herlihy, “we see pristine pieces of land go the way of the strip mall.”

Herlihy cited the former golf course on Route 44 in Canton as a “symbol of what could have been.” In his opinion, if the town had had the vision and the resources, that parcel could have remained a golf course or become open space, “rather than becoming one more shopping mall.”

Norfolk’s representative in the Assembly, Democrat George Wilber, whose passion is keeping dairy farms working, has a wait-and-see attitude about Roraback’s initiative. “My feeling is, let’s take care of our farmers,” says Wilber, a former dairy farmer himself. “We need to keep them in business so we don’t lose the land.”

Wilber is working on a bill with the Milk Regulatory Board and the Department of Agriculture to make sure dairy farmers get a fair share of the price for their milk.

With the state’s budget showing a surplus of $800 million this year, Herlihy feels this is the perfect opportunity to help protect farms and open tracts of land.  “We have the money now, we should spend it now,” he says. “This is an urgent need not just locally, but for the entire state.”