Please Sign Petition

[Todd K]

To: CT Department of Environmental Protection We hereby oppose the proposed development of the Yale Farm Golf Club in Canaan and Norfolk, CT. The project is unprecedented both in size and in the irrevocable environmental damage it would cause in the unique and federally-recognized highlands region of northwest Connecticut.

The proposed private golf course, clubhouse, recreational facilities and eventual residential subdivision would be located in a small, fragile watershed at the headwaters of two Class A coldwater streams containing native brook trout run. Presently the water is pure enough to drink. The development would cause irreparable damage to 780 acres of pristine farmland, fields, woods, streams, and wetlands in order to create a closed, exclusive resort for wealthy members –– virtually none of them local – to visit, play golf and leave.

Connecticut recognizes that its waters are a precious, finite and invaluable resource that it holds in public trust for the good of all its citizens. It is our opinion that allocating such an immense amount of this resource from such a unique area of the state so that a few out-of-staters can play golf on weekends and then leave is perhaps the worst possible use of this public resource.

We urge the DEP to follow its water resources policy and preserve and protect this property and pristine watershed instead of permitting its massive development.

Sincerely,
The Undersigned (http://www.petitiononline.com/yalefarm/petition-sign.html?)


Related Story:
http://www.courant.com/news/local/hc...,7466667.story (http://www.courant.com/news/local/hc-yalefarm07.artaug27,0,7466667.story)

[The Fisherman]

Proudly signed by your humble moderator. :-)

[The Patriot]

Ditto......

[pvansch1]

Signed !! :)

[MuddlerMinnow]

Signed! Thanks for making us aware of this.

[Flyone73]

Done...................

[The Fisherman]

If anyone is a member of any other local fishing site, please post the link to the petition if it has not already been done. The brook trout thank you. :-)

[Adam Taylor]

I will get this over to the CVTU site....

[leszek]

#641 done

thanks for the opportunity

[phishhead]

644- done. This is good stuff. One of the up sides to the internet!!!!

Jeff

[BRK TRT]

Brk Trt. has signed. More wild trout, less development.

[Ghostrydr]

#647.

With all the taxes in CT, I have no idea why anyone would want to start a business or move here anyway... :confused:

[bassrag]

Signed and sent-649

[paddy]

signed, 653

Paddy

[SloNDeep]

I couldn't sign, but my Dad could, and did - 657

[Kirt Mayland]

Great Opinion piece in the Courant this week:

The Wrong Course
Robert M. Thorson

September 6, 2007

It's not nice to kick a man when he's down. But I have no alternative. The proposal by New York developer Roland W. Betts to build a "world class" championship golf course in northern Litchfield County is such a colossally stupid idea that I feel compelled to say so in print.

For the past five years, Betts has been planning, permitting, designing and lobbying for a 780-acre, high-end luxury course on the highlands of North Canaan and Norfolk, just south of the Massachusetts line. In response, local residents, environmental groups and state and federal agencies have become alarmed by the potential negative impacts to wildlife habitat, groundwater aquifers, Class A trout streams and the sense of community. Sometime this month the state Department of Environmental Protection is expected to rule on this classic case of private interest vs. public benefit. I look forward to the DEP's disapproval.

I have no vested interest in the project. I'm neither rich enough to own nearby land or play at the proposed course. I'm neither a technical consultant or day-tripping tourist. In fact, I don't know anything about the project beyond what I read in a front-page, feature article in the Aug. 27 Hartford Courant by Rinker Buck. My purpose is to reinforce the words of state Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, who reportedly said, "The developer can always walk away from an economic failure. ... But the state of Connecticut can't walk away from an environmental disaster." Beyond supporting his position, I also wanted to share with readers what I found most intriguing.

I'm delighted to read that the golf industry is in recession. Apparently, golf widows are less tolerant than a generation ago. Apparently, golf orphans draw more sympathy and are more demanding of daddy time. According to Buck's article, a high-end course near the proposed Yale Farm development has recruited only 185 members in four years, far below its goal of 300 members.

The pro at another nearby championship course refers to "stagnant growth in the industry." Nationwide, more courses are now closing than opening. To recoup their investment in real estate, "out-of-business" golf courses typically subdivide their links for condominium developments and oversized house lots.

Don't get me wrong. I like golf well enough to play it every other year. I even have a new set of low-end clubs - given to me by my sons last year as a Christmas present - my first set since high school. (I forgot to play this summer.)

What I don't like about golf is that it's tough on the environment. In the case of the Yale Farm proposal in Litchfield County, there will be the obvious problems associated with clear-cutting trees in a repeat of hillside deforestation two centuries ago. There will be runoff problems associated with the estimated 24,000 truckloads of earth to be moved.

If fertilizer is used to keep the fairways green, then some will become nutrient pollution to streams, stimulating algal growth and gumming up what would otherwise be clear-flowing, cobble-covered stream beds. If herbicides are used to ensure a grass monoculture, some of that will leak away, too.

The water needed during dry spells can only starve aquifers that would otherwise feed babbling brooks. The fossil fuel needed to transport golfers to this remote rural location - some of which will fuel corporate jets from afar - can only come from a dwindling global supply of petroleum and will only add to a climate warming. Yet, for me, these pedestrian problems pale behind the greater threat of yet another unnecessary development with oversized houses in "one of the state's last undivided grand estates ... between two state parks and ... a National Heritage Forest Area."

I do like two things about the Yale Farm proposal. It's a bold idea rather than a timid one. And Betts sets a good example by working tirelessly for what he believes in. But why should stopping one man and his minions take the combined effort of four state agencies, three federal agencies, four town commissions, two ad hoc citizens groups and three environmental groups? Wouldn't it be simpler and less expensive if we shifted our legal system to emphasize the rights of the commons?

Robert M. Thorson is a professor of geology at the University of Connecticut's College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and a member of The Courant's Place Board of Contributors. His column appears every Thursday. He can be reached at profthorson@hotmail.com

[The Fisherman]

The course developer responded with a letter (printed today) that has at least one gross factual error. This is my response:

To the Editors:

Golf course developer Roland Betts states in his letter to The Courant on 9/12 that, “Hollow Brook is in fact dry in the summer and supports no fish life.” That should come as quite a surprise to the hundreds of wild brook trout that were living there when I visited last fall.

With the kind permission of a landowner, I fished Hollow Brook on November 16, 2006 (I know the exact day because it’s logged in my fishing journal) along with my son and a friend. We saw numerous pods of healthy wild brook trout, ranging from small young of year to much larger fish. How did they get there if the brook is unable to support fish life?

For someone who claims to be so “environmentally sensitive” to have this basic fact wrong makes me wonder what other bad information he’s working with — or worse.

[Adam Taylor]

would love to see his response....

[The Fisherman]

Your humble moderator's letter appears in the editorial page of this morning's Hartford Courant. :-)

[Jon]

Great stuff Steve. Nice response.

K

[stonefishin]

Thanks for this important info. Signed 839

[AaronS]

849........

[Salter]

Any updates on what is going on with the effort to stop this project?

Michael

[HuckFinn]

987-signed!

[Kirt Mayland]

Everything is on hold right now until the developer can prove that he did a proper "phase 1" survey to demonstrate that viable bog turtle (a federally endangered species) does not exist on the property (or as he claims - does not exist on the property). It is fairly clear to everyone, including the feds and the state, that there is nice habitat up there, there actually have been sitings of turtles near the property, and that the survey the developer initially did was inadequate. Therefore he will probably have to do a "phase 2" this spring/summer and perhaps next year also to prove that the bog turtles themselves (as opposed to just their habitat) do not exist.

Kirt

[TROUTI]

Signed, sealed, delivered!!