Moccia, Duff Thank Norwalk Land Trust

Last night was a busy night at City Hall, which explains the filled parking lot. The Norwalk Land Trust held its annual meeting and received thanks and support from Mayor Moccia and State Senator Bob Duff. The Hour reports:

“The expression goes: You can build things and you can knock things down, but you can’t create land. Open space is so important,” Moccia said before adding jokingly: “When you’re done fundraising for the Hart Property (Farm Creek), I found another piece of land we have to work on. I won’t mention where it is yet.”

It was a night to reflect on recent accomplishments such as preserving 16.2 acres at Farm Creek and 5.5 acres at the White Barn Theatre.

“We have 16 acres of shorefront property on Farm Creek. It’s just a miracle,” Marny Smith, president of the Land Trust, said. “We have some challenges that have been making us put our shoulder to the wheel more than ever.”

Duff, an advisory board member of the Land Trust to whom Smith referred as “one of our staunchest supporters,” appreciates the formidable challenges the Land Trust faces. He pointed out that Norwalk is 98 percent developed and preserving the other two acres is not an easy, or inexpensive, task.

“We’ve seen over time how working together we can do so much,” Duff said. “It takes the loud voice of our citizens to stand up and say we want to save the open space in Norwalk. We need to work together to save this. If land is developed, it’s gone forever.”

The Norwalk Land Trust has 25 properties comprising 83 acres, 67 of which it owns and 16 of which are conservation easements. With a successful year behind it, Smith could not elaborate on what the Land Trust has in store for next year, but she promised: “We have a couple things that are quite exciting.”

Preserving the land is only half the battle, Smith said. Maintaining it and acting as the land’s steward follows the acquisition. Some of the challenges in maintaining open space, Smith pointed out, include: controlling invasive species such as oriental bittersweet, removing oil tanks and asbestos from existing houses on the properties, removing fallen trees, and dealing with the issue of deer overpopulation. The price tag associated with Farm Creek ($4 million for parcel obtained in March) also put the Land Trust in another financial category and the organization faced its first audit, which cost $4,000.

“These are things that come up that you don’t expect when you think of these bucolic open spaces,” Smith said, adding she is grateful for the pro bono work and donations the Land Trust receives. “These things just happen and they amaze me. It’s simply amazing to me how many people care.”

source: The Hour, Land trust gets official thanks from mayor, lawmaker, By CHRIS BOSAK, October 28, 2008

  • Old Timer

    The Mayor is right, you can’t create land, but there is land that was created by filling in parts of the harbor or nearby wetlands. There are projects currently permitted that allow land owners to add area to their waterfront property by taking area from the harbor. There is property in Norwalk where the land area has been increased considerably by filling and moving the water line further out into the harbor. Look at the story about Tweed airport. Wetlands are being filled there to create 13 acres more usable land, and it is being permitted, as long as other wetlands on the property are re-established.

  • Anonymous

    Dick tator and a real estate agent must of been a great meeting.Too bad I missed it I was waiting for one of my kids arriving at the Sono train station where I now spend a lot of time.The place is not safe anymore the walk home could kill him so we now have to sit at the train station and wait in no parking zones for our kids.Norwalk has become a very nice place to bring up children.just read the Advocate they now carry all the news just look at the blog for its headlines ,has the Hour folded?

  • Not again!

    Oh please spare us-CRIMEGUY is back!
    Watch the recent blog traffic disappear again!

    And #1, not all wetlands are created equal. If the feds and the state approved the expansion, the quality of the new wetlands will be assured by frequent and strict inspections. CT has the strictest regulations in the country. The state doesn’t permit wetlands projects frequently or easily, but when they do it is highly regulated. Remember the guy who dredged through the Oyster bed to get to his dock on his island off calf Pasture? He was fined several hundred thousand, had to restore the area, and went to jail.

    In West Haven, they are most likely filling in Phragmites-choked marsh-an invasive species that destroys saltmarsh with sediment and decaying biomass, and has destroyed more saltmarsh around Long Island Sound than any human filling in recent decades. When people see acres of these tall reeds introduced from Asia, like at the head of Wilson Cove, most of them don’t realize they are looking at a wetlands in its final death phase, choked with sediment, and with few native species and diminished wildlife. Re-establishing viable saltmarsh with healthy spartina grass is a priority of environmental groups like Save the Sound. Tweed is most likely replacing a phragmites wasteland with a spartina saltmarsh, and the result would be better than watching the existing phragmites destroy whatever is left.

    And what permitted projects are you referring to in Norwalk? There are no harborfront filling projects going on right now.

  • John Frank

    The guy (Robert Nowinski) at Calf Pasture Island was fined $500 and then sued for damages by the CT DEP and had to pay another $40,000 in damages after a trial. His associate(Walter Gardella), also paid a $500 fine and was sued, but his insurance paid $20,000 in damages before the trial. That is far from “several hundred thousand”. He was also NOT forced to restore the damaged area because nobody knows an effective way to restore an oyster bed after such damage.

  • John Frank

    Nobody involved with the damage to the shellfish bed at Calf Pasture Island went to jail.

  • Anonymous

    Not again! I’ve been trying to plant ideas and flowers on the old police station thread .You seem to be versed with restoring land what can you suggest for the mansion?

  • Not again!

    #4, thanks for the correction. I remember the press coverage before the trial ended I guess, when a fine of something around $250,000 and a jail sentence were mentioned. Guess he had good lawyers,and I remember some weak defense that his wife had cancer at the time (sad, but no excuse to dredge illegally) but it is surprising restoration was not demanded by the state. They usually make blatant violators pay for restoration efforts. Maybe this is still in litigation. Does Gardella still get contracts to work in the area? It would seem the state should have banned him from any future marine work after such a blatant criminal act that destroyed part of a public natural resource.

    And #6, thanks for your arboretum ideas, but we know you aren’t serious. Why, muggers and prostitutes would be hiding in the peonies, wouldn’t they? Your pathological cynicism about anything good in Norwalk, including publicly trashing the good efforts of Al Raymond and Diane Witkowsky earlier this year to spearhead interest in a new much-needed park in their neighborhood is just one example of your regressive tactics. The lasting damage you have caused to them and to this blog, with your incessant negative blather will not be fixed with one phony positive idea. You owe us a lot more than that.

  • John Frank

    It was Walt Gardella, not a member of the family that owns Rex Marine and Cove Marina and several other business including Norwalk Dock & Dredge. He is not in the marine construction business.
    The judge considered compelling restoration and nobody we could find knew how. There was a real concern that any restoration effort could do more harm.
    The press frequently talks about worst possible limits on damages or fines, based on statute language, but it never happens. I think the maximum civil penalty for marine construction anywhere in CT without a permit is $1000 for each day the unlicensed work exists. For example, if you build a dock without a permit, the staute says the DEP can ask for up to $1000 a day for every day you own the dock without a permit. A year later, that could be a lot of money.