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Johnson Farm Vote on Way

by Diana Stricker | Jan 3, 2011 8:22 am

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Posted to: Environment

Diana Stricker Photo Branford may begin the new year with a salute to its agricultural past if the Representative Town Meeting approves a unique proposal to preserve 34 acres of farmland along Queach Road.

In addition to purchasing the agricultural easement rights to the Johnson Farm, the town would also make an outright purchase of 3.96 acres at the northern end of the Johnson property. The connector links two vital open space preserves—the Pisgah Brook Preserve and Supply Ponds Park, an area the town has been working to protect for more than 40 years.

After months of discussion, the proposal was unanimously approved by a joint vote of the Administrative Services and the Ways and Means committees last month. The committees waited until contracts were signed before making a decision. The RTM is expected to vote on the issue at its Jan.12 meeting. It has previously approved the idea in concept. 

Three entities will actually buy the easement rights: the town of Branford, the Branford Land Trust, and the Connecticut Farmland Trust. The proposal was approved by the Board of Selectmen in May.  The easement is forever.

Local environmentalist Bill Horne said the Land Trust and the state’s Farmland Trust have approved their contributions to the purchase. “Everything is poised and ready once we get approval from the RTM,” Horne told the committees last week.

Horne, long involved in the Branford Land Trust and the town’s Select Committee on Open Space Acquisition, said after the meeting: “One hundred years from now, this will still be here.” The farm, he added, may not always be a hay farm, but “it has to stay agricultural.” 

The RTM is being asked to authorize $580,000 in bonds to help finance the deal and also approve using $200,000 from the town’s Open Space Fund.  In addition, a $508,000 grant for the project was announced several months ago by the Natural Resource Conservation Service, which is part of the federal Department of Agriculture.

Town attorney William H. Clendenen Jr., who also addressed the committees in the past, said the town has the right to act independently if there is an enforcement action. “I felt that was pivotal,” he said.

At that meeting, Republican RTM member Peter Black said in regard to the contract, “Is the land more protected than it is otherwise? The answer is yes.”

“The investment is one time, but the benefits continue into perpetuity,” Ainsley Highman told the committees at a previous meeting.

Horne and Highman, who chairs the Parks and Open Space Authority, have been working to make the deal a reality for more than a year. They have addressed the committees on several occasions in recent months.

The property at 134 and 143 Queach Rd. is owned by William “Bucky” Johnson III and his sister, Stephanie Page. The family would retain ownership of the land, which Page has been using to grow hay for her cattle at her Maple Farm dairy operation in North Branford.

Horne said Page will use her share of the proceeds to buy out the brother’s ownership because he is not interested in farming. Johnson will retain his home and a few acres so that his children may use the land to construct their homes. Horne said the only way Page can continue to farm the land is to sell the development rights so she can buy out her brother’s share.

“I’ve been told if this deal doesn’t go through, it will be sold to a developer,” Horne told the committees.

At a meeting in late November, Horne said specific language was included in the contract in regard to the uses for about a half-acre around the existing farmhouse. The house could be increased in size, and sheds or a gazebo could be added, but tennis courts or swimming pools would not be permitted. Additionally, the family would be permitted to use all-terrain vehicles or snowmobiles on the property.

The contract addresses how the farmland can be used but it does not prohibit the owners from selling the land at some point. However, any new owners would have to abide by the easement contract and could not use the property for non-agricultural purposes.

“This is a little bit unusual situation in that there are three different easement holders,” Horne told the committees.

Horne said the Connecticut Farmland Trust will hold the main responsibility as overseer, but if any one of the three entities opposes a request from the family, then it will not be approved. Horne said either the state or the town or the Land Trust could take legal action if there is a suspected infraction of the contract.

“We tried to coordinate the actions of the easement holders,” Horne said.

The town must reach a decision before the federal grant expires. “If this project doesn’t go, then the town leaves half a million dollars on the table,” Highman said previously.

If the project is approved, it would mark the town’s first collaboration with the Connecticut Farmland Trust. The CFT estimates that Connecticut is losing 8,000 acres of farmland a year when land is converted to residential and commercial uses.  According to the Website, the state has lost 21 percent of its farmland in less than 20 years.

The outright purchase of 3.96 acres is important because it will serve as a connecter between the Pisgah Brook Preserve and Supply Ponds Park.

The town and the Land Trust have been working for 40 years to protect the Pisgah Brook-Supply Pond watershed. The efforts began in 1969 when the town purchased the Supply Pond property from the New Haven Water company.

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