The Courant, 1/15/09

[The Fisherman]

Check out the letters to the editor. :-)

If you're interested in getting involved in this, you can contact Kirt Mayland. His email is his first name initial, his last name, at tu.org.

[Adam Taylor]

article in the courant

Yale Farm
A Blow For Foes Of Yale Farm Golf Course

By RINKER BUCK | The Hartford Courant January 13, 2009 NORFOLK — - Delivering a major setback to the well-financed and vocal opponents of the project, the state Department of Environmental Protection announced Monday that it has reached a tentative determination to issue vital water permits for the proposed Yale Farm Golf Club.

New York developer Roland W. Betts has been struggling for almost seven years to secure permits for his luxury, 18-hole course, which would be built in the heart of the Litchfield County estate country that straddles the Connecticut-Massachusetts line. The proposed development would take up about 300 acres on the 780-acre Yale Farm. Citizens groups and a raft of environmental organizations have opposed the project on aesthetic grounds and also because of the threat they believe the course poses to streams and wetlands in the Housatonic River (http://www.courant.com/topic/travel/housatonic-river-HPL8.topic) trout fishery.

Those opponents have stymied Betts' plans since he first proposed the course in 2002, and vow to litigate the proposed golf course if DEP Commissioner Gina McCarthy approves the permits after hearings and a period of public comments. The Yale Farm dispute is one of the longest-running land-use battles in the state. Environmentalists have called it a prominent test case for both the DEP and McCarthy, who is a vocal advocate of responsible development and protecting Connecticut's scenic landscapes.

In over 50 pages of documents released Monday, the DEP's Inland Water Resources Division argues that the extensive restrictions it is placing on the project justify both a water quality permit to discharge water into wetlands and a diversion permit to pump almost 150,000 gallons of groundwater a day to irrigate the course. These restrictions — over 40 in all — cover everything from buffer zones against building near brooks and wetlands to the hiring of a monitor who will report to the DEP on the developer's compliance with environmental rules.




Those restrictions, however, do not impress state Attorney General Richard Blumenthal (http://www.courant.com/topic/politics/richard-blumenthal-hpp4069.topic), who said Monday that he will file comments and appear at public hearings to oppose granting the permits. Blumenthal said he believes the golf course application is legally flawed because it does not include information about Betts' housing plans for the site. He also said the state has a strong fiduciary responsibility to protect the environment and waters in the area because the proposed golf course abuts an existing state resource, Campbell Falls State Park.

McCarthy, Blumenthal said, has much broader authority and discretion than the professional staff at DEP's Inland Water Division and can reject the project on a number of grounds.

"I will be allying myself with the opponents down the road from this project and the other groups, both on environmental and legal grounds," Blumenthal said. "This project has the same feel about it as the Broadwater gas proposal and the Islander East pipeline project on Long Island Sound (http://www.courant.com/topic/travel/long-island-sound-HPL9.topic). The objections are powerful because of the threat of overwhelming, permanent damage that this project poses to the environment of the state."

DEP's announcement surprised many environmentalists who expressed sharp disappointment with the agency.

"It's a horrible decision," said Roger Reynolds, the senior staff attorney for the Connecticut Fund for the Environment. "No one can understand why DEP would approve a project that disturbs these valuable headwaters and precious streams."

Betts' Hartford lawyer, Gregory Sharp, declined to comment. Requests for comment sent to Betts' New York office were not returned.

[The Fisherman]

My letter is in response to the granting of the permits.