Environmental Activist Honored

Long time Conservation Commission member Katchen Coley was honored Thursday night at the City Council chambers by having 50 acres of land in the Maromas section of town named the Katchen Coley Mountain Laurel Preserve.

The above video captures a few of the many, many people who attended to thank Katchen for her years of service on behalf of the people of Middletown.

A Wildness For Christmas, From 1909

The Eye wishes all a Merry Christmas, with a reprint of an article published in the Hartford Courant on December 27, 1909 (long-time Eye readers might recall this as a "This Date in History piece in in 2009). This is a glorious description of a wild and beautiful landscape which still today has pockets of primeval character, it would make a wonderful afternoon hike today or on New Year's Day.

Unfortunately, the article's author is not identified; if I didn't know better I might attribute it to John Muir, as it has the same breathless worship of a desolate wilderness characteristic of so much of his writing about the Sierra Nevada.

The magnificent photographs are all by Barrie Robbins-Pianka.

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Enjoyment from a Day's Tramp Down River

Wild country to be found South of Middletown

Long Walk a Panacea for many troubles

An open winter has its own particular joys, and among them are the true delights of the woods, for strange to say, the latter make a better tramping ground than in the months when the foliage is thick. The woodsy places up and down the Connecticut River are veritable delights for those who love a tramp in the open. The true joy in living is only for those who are willing to get into the

open, the further away from the haunts of man the better, and if possible to reach a place where an occasional woodchopper's ax is the only discord in nature's harmony of breeze and underbrush.

The air has a crispness and tinkle and smells clean and wholesome and, what is more, there is a call in itself in the short noon sunshine. Really one is very responsive to the various moods of nature during this season of the winter. It is true there is more fun going to the square inch in the woods at this time, with the leaves under foot, and the sapless branches crackling and the frost crunching and the thick moss and groundpine yielding under boot like a thick carpet, minus the dust and the steam pipes.

From 1909: The Delights of Woods in Winter

This article is from 100 years ago today, published in the Hartford Courant on December 27, 1909. This is a glorious description of a wild and beautiful landscape which still today has pockets of primeval character. Unfortunately, the article's author is not identified; if I didn't know better I might attribute it to John Muir, as it has the same breathless worship of a desolate wilderness.

The magnificent photographs are all by Barrie Robbins-Pianka.

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Enjoyment from a Day's Tramp Down River

Wild country to be found South of Middletown

Long Walk a Panacea for many troubles

An open winter has its own particular joys, and among them are the true delights of the woods, for strange to say, the latter make a better tramping ground than in the months when the foliage is thick. The woodsy places up and down the Connecticut River are veritable delights for those who love a tramp in the open. The true joy in living is only for those who are willing to get into the

open, the further away from the haunts of man the better, and if possible to reach a place where an occasional woodchopper's ax is the only discord in nature's harmony of breeze and underbrush.

The air has a crispness and tinkle and smells clean and wholesome and, what is more, there is a call in itself in the short noon sunshine. Really one is very responsive to the various moods of nature during this season of the winter. It is true there is more fun going to the square inch in the woods at this time, with the leaves under foot, and the sapless branches crackling and the frost crunching and the thick moss and groundpine yielding under boot like a thick carpet, minus the dust and the steam pipes.

The delights of wood travel are now akin to those received from tramping in the forest during the hot days of the summer; only it is better, keener and more inspiring. To be sure it is no lazy man's job. To travel right it is necessary to travel light, even in the middle of December, but the joy is in the poetry of motion, if one is in good health, and endowed with a determination to go fast enough to keep warm.

The first question, of course, that interests the native of Hartford or Middletown or any of the larger centers of living is where to find the best spot for this sort of an outing, and answer in most cases to be any place or stretch along the Connecticut River. There's no doubt that the scenic beauty of the Connecticut is neglected. Expecially in the winter a river seems a sort of cold and dreary spot. The question is--is it?

When the sun is out in mid day, and there is just frost enough to make the footing good and a ripple in the stream that defies the faint hearted attmepts of the lagging season to convert it into ice, then a river has a certain charm of its own.

It isn't always that a stream, robbed of its vernal splendor, will captivate the imagination. The roll of the Connecticut seems to do this, as it wends its way, now from north to south, now running almost east and then southeast while the high tide from the Sound forces the thin plates of new ice steadily upstream.

Of course there are other rivers dear to the hearts of those who have the forest wanderlust. There is the Farmington for instance, but the Farmington lacks grandeur. The Connecticut shows more plainly the marks of a gigantic struggle with the titantic [sic?] forces of the past, and the earth crust has been rippled and burst in scores of places that mere picturesque scars on the landscape.

It is from the top of these that beautiful views can be had that will be a lasting delight to the mind. It is along the tops of many of these wooded cliffs and banks, running high into the air that the venturesome traveler will be amply repaid by the view of stream and forest and of cliff and watery vistas.

To ramble properly it is necessary to get as far from the haunts of mankind as possible. It''s rather difficult to place civilization so very far in the rear, but there are stretches along the river that only the spot-light of the night boat touches during the journey from the island of Manhattan to Hartford. These are a joy to the eye during the summer, but there is as much joy in being on the very place in the winter and possessing the wilderness all to yourself.

Above Higganum and Maromas the river takes a bend and in the bend there is a little forest of wild land that is rapidly getting back to the time when the Indians paddled up and down in birch bark canoes. The top of the tract is near the high bluffs that mark the entrance to the narrows where the beacon light swings all night to keep the boats in the channel. Along the river on the south bank this land has become almost primeval. The ridges run for hundreds of feet above the river, and the outcroppings stand right up against the sky line on the journey to the Sound for several miles. Ending in them or having their start at the river are numerous north and south ridges that parallel each other through the section at distances of not more than a quarter of a mile. Each is crowned with its own particular cap of weatherbeaten granite, atop of which the scrub pines and hemlocks struggle for a living with the blasts of winter.

Geologically, the country is interesting and it is picturesque as well. A rough triangle or tetragon, including the bend of the river and the necessary hinterland might, possibly, include twenty-five or thirty miles. Within it the old workings of the granite quarries and the switchbacks stretch their abandoned and grades along the sides of the mountains [sic].

If the state wanted a natural hunting ground or game preserve it could not do better than to acquire this land. The ground is nearly devoid of human habitation and the rocks are full of caves for sheltering all sorts of wild animals. The thickets of laurel are green the year around and the dense underbrush protects numerous grouse and wild rabbits that scurry across the wood paths. Back in isolated spots are cellars that were once topped by dwelling places. Now all is as desolate as the traditional deserted village. Here and there is a clearing, where crops were grown years ago and a small part of it would still afford pasturage. The roads that wind through this reverted wilderness have been filled up by a steady growth of wood and the

houses have their windows boarded up or else all open to the weather. Ruins of barns and outbuildings and small patches of cleared space

about show where a truck garden was that farming was done. What impresses one most of all is the utter desolation of it, and probably the state would be put to it to find a wilder spot. It is certainly pleasant to ramble through. On one side the road stretches to Higganum and Middletown. On the north and the east the river forms an ever interesting boundary. It is into just some such spot as this that a winter tramp in the woods is most enjoyable. Shun the highways and lanes and wood roads and take right straight across country wherever there is a good climb and good prospect for an extensive view. The cross country jaunt, through the underbrush, with the leaves rustling under your feet and the brambles scratching on your puitees or leggins is part of the joy. The climb up every crag or cliff that looks worth while is a panacea for every known ill that afflicts mankind and the view from the summit where possibly you can smoke your pipe in the lee of a granite ledge is the reward.

There is about everything in a climb of this nature that goes to the uttermost joy of living. There is variety and variety is the spice of life as we all know. There is scope for ingenuity in getting to the top of the rocky outcroppings and there are caves all along the other side, where the frost has cropped the granite off in masses as big as a small house.

Nearly every cliff has one or two caves. Sometimes the particular ridge will abound in them and lead to unusual explorations, where one can crawl through passages that go up and down.

From the entrance to the narrows the riverside of this little natural park gives a view of the country for miles to the north and west. Portland, of course, and beyond, up what looks like an illimitable distance, is Glastonbury, and still further north, in a nearly direct line, is Hartford. The mountain formations that form the setting of the city of Rockville are easily seen, and further down are all the hills so familiar to those traveling over the Air Line. Opposite, the bluffs are full of small cottages, whose steps lead down to the edge of the river. Just back of the jaws of the narrows, one can distinguish the pot-holes and cylinders left by the ebb and flow of the mighty ice torrents of centuries past. The scars in the face of the rock, just above the present level, are easily discerned as well as the rock cylinders and grindstones that wore the holes.

Here and there in the forest, is the sound of an ax and once or twice a day the sound of blasting above Benvenue. The outcrop skirts along the river and following it one can secure a beautiful panorama. In the bold, clear sunshine everything and every natural feature stands out in silhouette and there are beautiful vistas up and down stream of the heights above, crowned with scrub oak and pines and darkening to a dull slate color the running water that during the summer reflects the brighter hues of that season.

In the base of the rock that affords the best view of the Capitol you will find an extensive fox cavern. Near the entrance and further in are bones, some of them evidently from a sheep. Down further, still following the hight, is a beautifully graded and grass grown highway along the face of the mountain. This is part of the old switchback that, years ago, carried the granite to the landing several miles below. The site of the old stone workings are not very far away and by following the path you can see them. All through the woods are traces of old boundary lines. Fences have long ago been turned to pulp, and stone walls have been overtopped by the frost and separated by strong young saplings. Now and then is a relic of a former survey, a pile of stones surmounted by a flat rock and near it the three trees, or the stumps of them, used as reference marks. Down below in the gulleys and ravines are swamps and water courses, sometimes flag swamps, and sometimes small ponds that, in seasons of the year, must be excellent cover for waterfowl. Indeed it would be difficult in any portions of the state to find such excellent cover for game and such an abundance of human habitations. Not for several miles is there an inhabited house and the prospect is as wild and desolate as could be wished.

Through all this is it possible to tramp for all day or half a day, noting the excellent cover for grouse and, scaring up plenty of them. There are gray squirrels, that haven't learned to be afraid of their biped enemies, and which will chatter empty nothings from a branch over you head.Berries are abundant, especially wintergreen which spreads out like a thick carpet. Acorns, hazelnuts, and hickorynuts [sic] furnish a good living for many of the wild inhabitants. After skirting the river, the switchback turns abruptly south and leads over to the new granite workings, also abandoned. Houses are here, but none of them have occupants, save chipmonks [sic] that run in and out of the eves and scamper along the roofless stone sheds.

Consult your pocket compass now and go due north for a half-mile. Overlooking the quarry and about three-quarters of a mile away is a steep ledge of rocks. As a matter of course climb it to get your bearings and running into the base is a big cavern, not unlike the sort the regicides occupied. The sides of the rock seem to have been hard and soft alternately and several of the soft layers have melted away. At all events a hole runs into the earth and the large aperture merges into a smaller one about which are the ashes of the last fire that threatened the serenity of the poor reynard. Over at the other opening, for there usually is another, are faint signs of a forest tragedy. The ground is scratched up. There are bits of fur adhering to the fragments round about and all things point to the passing of a forest wandered. Another squint at the compass now, for you have varied from the west line by the distance of the ledge to the north, and a line run over rock and valley, through gulch and thicket, will if run due west, strike an abandoned road leading to civilization.

Thus you will return, glutted with pleasure, redolent with woodcraft, and at peace with all the animal kingdom. Your hands are free from blood guilt; your face is flushed with the sting of the frost, and your frame exercised from toe to crown with those stiff climbs and agile sidesteppings to get away from the rebound of parted underbrush.

All overhead your ears have been soothed all day by the whisper of the winds through the tree tops and the gentle rustle of the leaves under foot. The crackle and snap of dried twigs has been a pure enjoyment to your senses. The smell of the hemlock and pine is in your nostrils, lending a balm and fragrant peace to your conscience and you have five times the true joy of living that can be gained in any other way.

Loffredo Calls for Movement on Riverfront Plan

Councilmen Bibisi, Bauer, Santangelo, Daley, and Loffredo at Monday's EDC

South Cove Riverfront Development

The newest member of the Economic Development Committee, Vincent Loffredo, called on the EDC to play a more active role in moving a long-stalled riverfront development plan forward. The EDC agreed to ask Mayor Seb Giuliano and Water and Sewer Director Guy Russo to

update the committee at their February meeting.

The riverfront development plan known as South Cove was created over 5 years ago. It proposes a mixed-use waterfront district including national retail, entertainment, housing, and professional office uses, on an 85 acre parcel of land south of Harbor Park. The plan requires the involvement of the State DOT, for changes to Route 9, and an agreement with the Mattabessett District Wastewater Treatment facility, to replace the Middletown treatment facility in the area of the proposed development.

Gerry Daley, Chair of the EDC said that the EDC had not been involved because an agreement first had to be reached to move the sewer treatment plant, "We have a plan for developing South Cove. Until the sewer plant is relocated we can't go forward." Committee member Joe Bibisi concurred, "We're at the mercy of the Mattabesett Commission." Loffredo was insistent, however, "This thing's got to move," and all agreed that an update from the Mayor and the head of Middletown Water and Sewer would be appropriate.

Ordinance to regulate Sexually Oriented Businesses

Director of Planning Bill Warner opened the discussion of a proposed new ordinance with the comment that it was a "Belt and Suspenders" situation. He said that existing Zoning regulations had prevented many business dealing in adult material from opening to Middletown, but the new ordinance would provide further restrictions. The proposed ordinance would allow a business to devote no more than 10% of their floor area to sexually oriented business.

Maromas business proposals

Warner updated the EDC on two of the six proposals to lease city-owned land in Maromas. The

deed restrictions on the land allow "active recreation" but do not allow residential development. He said that Artfarm co-founder Dic Wheeler had informed him that the Artfarm vision for an arts and agriculture center required interns to live on the property, and said the mayor had written to Attorney General Blumenthal asking for a legal interpretation on the issue of whether the deed restrictions prevent residency by Artfarm interns.

The EDC also heard an update on the proposal to build a 9-hole golf course in Maromas, to be called Arawana. Warner and the golf course proposer, Tony Pioppi, said they have been holding intensive negotiations on the terms of a possible lease. Pioppi was at the meeting and he explained that he needed a long-term lease to justify the $3M investment for building the course. Pioppi and Warner are discussing a 10 year lease with eight 10-year extensions possible only if all conditions of the lease are upheld.

The EDC grappled with the City's need to maintain control of the land until the time when it could ensure that there would be appropriate and productive development, and Pioppi's need to gain "control of the land" before he could convince investors to support his project. Before moving forward, EDC members wanted to know what kind of lease might be negotiated. Warner and Pioppi mentioned a rent of 2.5% of gross revenue, based on the model for the Pin Oaks Golf Course, which was proposed off of Newfield Street.

Negotiations are ongoing over the issue of taxes. Arawana would own the improvements to the land, including the greens, and taxes on these improvements could easily top $60k per year, far more than Pioppi hopes to pay in the rent. Warner indicated that the city could offer tax abatements and other incentives to reduce the tax burden for Arowana.

The EDC voted to review the two Maromas proposals again at its January 11th meeting.

Happy Halloween Middletown Style

So I guess you could call this piece an editorial or a personal account. I don't really know which, or the purpose, but I grew up in Middletown and now in post-college years have found myself back here again. I suppose this town and experiences here have influenced my observations of the darker side of life, or should we say the lighter side of death? Today is Halloween, which has brought about a flood of memories for me.

I think it was when I was about 7 or 8 when, back in the mid 1990's, my dreams of what my adulthood would became a little more realistic and a lot less fantastical: I was not going to grow up magically be a movie star, turn blonde and be given a pink corvette by a boyfriend who looked like "Ken." I think this is when I became gravitated toward people who didn't travel with the pack, and who were a little out side of the norm, and thus the attraction I have always felt to the unique. At the time m y best friend and I started a "Mystery Club" because we were obsessed with the PBS show "Ghostwriter;" granted we were the only members.

I was never a brave kid. I spent days with my grandmother in the house my grandfather built. After someone broke into the home in the middle of the day when no one was home, that's probably when I became aware of malice. The idea that someone or something could be present when you were not expecting it, that invasions of my sense of safety were possible. What if the robbers weren't really gone but hiding in or watching the house? If unwanted persons could come into my bubble then why not other more scary things? I remember being too scared get up at night when I slept at Grandma's to go to the bathroom alone; she finally got a little upset and said, "Trust me there are no such thing as ghosts, If i died tomorrow and you stood on my grave and cried for me to get you a glass of water, you would die first waiting." This made me laugh and things were good for a while.

I went to Sunday school for a few years growing up, right on Main Street at First Baptist Church. Mostly because Mom thought I should be "well rounded", herself a Protestant, and because it was a great baby-sitter for a few hours. I mostly stopped going when we started going camping weekends, and when I realized other kids' parents usually went with them, not just dropped them off. Plus they stopped doing arts & crafts in the upper grades, bummer for me. The main issue was my parents unique conflict of beliefs, something which I now am proud of, and has made me be more open minded . It was the 1990's when the show "The X Files" began, which revitalized my Dad's interest in conspiracy theories. I suppose this too fueled my desire to be with the "out" crowd rather than the "in." He began taping documentaries on the JFK assassination, accounts of UFOs, and Nostrodamus. I think for the first time I saw my Dad read a book. I remember at night being upstairs and hearing the strange sounds from the TV show coming from the living room, and being scared. A teacher in 2nd or 3rd grade also watched the show and one science class discussed what our world would be like if there were other beings other than just us. This resulted in a week of me not sleeping, and a visit to school by my parents. I think to let the teacher know about how scared I had gotten and so Dad could meet another person who believed "the truth is out there." One night after not sleeping again and thinking I was hearing the hum of a spacecraft outside my window, I cornered my parents and demanded the truth: "Were there aliens? Would they take me?" Being an only child you are raised between being over protected and treated as a mini adult in a lot of ways. Mom said of course not. Dad said well yes, anything is possible, but if they took me they would bring me back. After more tears and waking them up, I think my parents got together and came up with the conclusion that if there were aliens, they only abducted people who wanted to go for a ride; and never took kids, and that it took a lot of gas to get to earth so they really didn't come too often.

Getting my license brought new freedom and places to explore. My '87 Delta Oldsmobile took to the roads around Maromas and Connecticut Valley Hospital many nights packed with friends ( car fit 7 can you believe it?) hoping we would see something. Well, we saw nothing. I got an slr camera and began taking pictures in black and white of the buildings hoping to capture an orb or a face in a window. Nothing. But I did get very artistic shots and started noticing the architecture and began falling in love with it, but just didn't know it yet. This strange magnetic attraction, and desire to feel a buildings essence pushed me towards my major in college, and the field I am in today.

I still drive around the CVH campus. I got plans of some of the torn down buildings from the state. One day home from break I drove through campus and saw that some of the buildings were being demolished.

I swear to this day I saw a building completely cut in half vertically, cross sectioned. From the car I thought i could see the exterior skin maybe 2 feet away from another interior concrete structure; each exterior window looked as if was false, with 2-3 small rooms behind it. I'd never seen a building from any of my field trips in college or text books that was being demolished quite this way; in pieces like a dissection. Was I seeing cells where the patients were held in secret areas behind a seemingly innocent fascade made to look like a brick Victorian? I planned that I would come back with a camera when it was brighter out. I went back the next day to take pictures and much to my dismay the building was leveled, a pile of rubble. I will never know if my childhood beliefs about the hospital on the hill had gotten the best of me, or I had seen something I was not supposed to. Either way I think I like not really knowing. During a lecture I recently attended I got the chance to ask Lorraine Warren, famed demonologist, about CVH, and she gave a clear answer of her never finding evidence of anything strange on the campus.

I waited 22 years to find MY answer to what happens to the human spirit when it passes over. I still don't know what the real explanation is, if I am crazy or somedays if I even believe my own memories of what I think I experienced. With time memories become ghosts themselves, traces of the true event. I watched my grandfather die of lung cancer over a 2 month period 3 years ago. He went to church every week. He never smoked. I watched a lively healthy person leave this world breath by breath day by day. I now know the body is only a shell of something else, what else I don't know. He waited to die a week so my younger cousins could visit from across country. He waited an half hour to die so that I was well on my way home from his home, and I wouldn't have to watch the final painful moments. His brain was consumed by cancer, doctors said he didn't know where he was anymore, he lost the ability to speak 3 weeks into the end, but his last words whispered to me the night he passed were "I'll see you tomorrow little one."

My grandfather had a passion for gardening. 2 weeks after his death I went outside to deadhead the roses in my parents yard. Again I have no idea why I felt compelled to do this at all. It was the summer. That day i saw more bumble bees than ever. Chipmunks. 4-5 squirrels. A robin, in August? Ok odd. But i didn't think anything of it until I was attacked, yeah attacked by a monarch butterfly. Usually butterflies tumble through the breezes just out of reach, but this one swarmed around my head, followed me through the yard, landed on my arm. I swatted and it kept at me like a wasp. I said "Ok! Ok I know you're here." The monarch flew off, gaining in height until it was out of site.

Happy Halloween.

Maromas Proposals At EDC

(Plans for the proposed Arawana Golf Course.)


Normally sparsely-attended, the Economic Development Committee meeting in Room 208 in City Hall was filled today as presenters, interested residents and commission members gathered to hearpresentations by three groups hoping to sponsor "open-space recreational" developments on former state property in Maromas.

Among those presenting were The Connecticut Forest and Park Association represented by Eric Hammerling and John Leshane.

Hammerling explained that the group, which plans and maintains the 825 miles of blue-blazed trails in Connecticut, that the loop proposed on the property would offer a spur that would be accessible to downtown Middletown.

"If there is to be a blue-blaze trail," Hammerling said. "We want it to be compatible with the area but also in a beautiful place."

(ArtFarm's proposed post and beam barn headquarters.)

ArtFarm directors and advocates Dic Wheeler and Marcella Trowbridge described a low-impact development for their organization on a piece of the former state property identified as parcel 5. On the wooded parcel, with two beautiful meadows, ArtFarm proposed to build two post and beam barns. One barn, the larger of the two, would hold a small performance area for an audience no bigger than 80, rehearsal space, meeting space for weekly or weekend retreats, and bunkhouse lofts for those retreats. The other barn, labeled the agricultural barn, would house small farm animals, and be the site of nature programs for school children and visitors.

"What we'd like to do is get 200 people together for a barn-raising, to put up the frame," Wheeler explained. "And then you have 200 people with a sense of ownership."

Tony Pioppi, a local golf writer, ended the presentation with a proposal for the nine-hole Arawana Golf Course.

The proposed course, which winds through the hills on the property, would feature Integrated Pest Management, (meaning curative and not preventive spraying of pesticides and herbicides), a hardy grass blend which is not water sensitive, and standards which would Pioppi hoped would give it Audobon Sanctuary Status.

Piopi explained that the course designed by well-know golf course architect Brian Silva, harkened back to the Golden Age of Golf Architecture (1910-1935). Piopi foresaw a three and a half year planning and construction timeline if the golf course plan is accepted.

Members of the public, and some from the Conservation Commission expressed concern with the affect that the course would have on the environment. Neighbors to the proposed golf course, Councilman Earle Roberts, and local attorney Ralph Wilson came down on opposite sides of the issue. Both claimed longtime status in the hills above town, but Roberts urged the EDC to consider abandoning development and preserving the land for future agricultural use. Wilson, who indicated a cynicism toward the State's promises, and urged the EDC to support a golf course which would occupy the land and prevent the state from building any further unwanted development on the site.

EDC Tours RFP Proposal Sites in Maromas

(The Economic Development Committee listens as Dic Wheeler describes his vision for a new home for ArtFarm in Maromas.)



The last portion of the town Economic Development Committee meeting took place outside of the dreary (but air-conditioned) confines of Room 208 in City Hall.

Members of the Economic Development Committee took to the road to tour the sites of five proposed outdoor developments in the Maromas section of town.

Six proposals have been submitted, one for a 9 hole golf course, one for home for ArtFarm, one for a trail system, and three for existing uses including a tree farm, haying and model airplane flying.

The proposals submitted in the RFP will be formally considered, with presentations by those who have submitted proposals, at next month's meeting of the Economic Development Committee meeting.

The tour took a convey of committee members, and members of the public from River Road to Brooks Road, in the Maromas section of town to examine sites for the nine holes of the proposed golf course, and the site for the clubhouse and a practice ranges, which is being touted as the state's largest. The group also toured the tree farm, hayfields and drove by the model airplane landing strip. The final stop was at the proposed site of he new home for ArtFarm.

Dic Wheeler, director of ArtFarm, emphasized that the development and extension of ArtFarm is only possible if land, like the proposed site, is granted. City planner Bill Warner noted that the golf course is also affordable because of the nature of the land grant, and that competing courses in other cities would be envious of the low cost of development, and potential low greens fees.

(At the site of what would be the first tee of the proposed Arawana Golf Course. The building in the background is a CVH building deeded to the city and slated for demolition because of deed restrictions.)

Before the EDC departed City Hall, the committee approved a proposal to send a recommendation to the Common Council to purchase development rights to the Brook Farm property along South Main Street and Brush Hill Road. The 46 acre parcel which has been farmed since 1651 is one of the country's oldest farms. It has the distinction of once being a dairy farm with the third highest milk production in the nation. Currently it has the highest per acre corn and hay yield in the state. The purchase of development rights, with a DEP grant of $500,ooo, a USDA grant of $450,000 and $500,000 of open space dollars from the city would allow the owners to continue agricultural production and expand into blueberry farming and a possible vineyard .

Warner reported that negotiations between the city and the lessee of Harbor Park Restaurant, Frank Marotta, had been abandoned and that the dispute between the city and Marotta would be going to trial in November.

The committee also approved of a new method to pay for emergency expenses at the city-owned Remington Rand building allowing the building manager to make expenditures of $2000 or less with approval of the planning office.

Artfarm looks to put down roots

Marcella Trowbridge and Dic Wheeler think they may have finally found land perfectly suited as the home to their vision of "creating high quality theater with a commitment to simple living, environmental sustainability and social justice." The long-time city residents, founders of the ARTFARM organization which produces Shakespeare in the Grove every summer, have submitted a proposal to the City to build an arts and agriculture center on part of the city-owned land near Connecticut Valley Hospital.

The ARTFARM Developers
Wheeler and Trowbridge are in Middletown because of a long connection with The Oddfellows Playhouse Youth Theater, Wheeler starting in 1978 and Trowbridge in 1996. Among other things, Wheeler was responsible for developing the highly successful Children's Circus of Middletown, and Trowbridge brought classical stage training to local youth with the Summer Shakespeare Academy.

Trowbridge and Wheeler founded ARTFARM as an independent, non-profit organization in 2001. Their vision was to combine farm and open space preservation with a facility for performance, workshop, and retreats. Leaving Oddfellows in 2005, they devoted their full-time energies towards Artfarm. The most significant ARTFARM productions have been the annual Shakespeare in the Grove, held at Middlesex Community College. ARTFARM artists have also participated in environmental education and theater productions at Wesleyan, Middlesex Community College, and other public and private schools in the area, as well as teaching for the Hartford Stage Company and Long Wharf Theater.

While performing, teaching, leading workshops, and raising their four children, Trowbridge and Wheeler have continued to look for a farm which could serve as a home to ARTFARM. Although they have been offered attractive land in such places as Maine and far upstate New York, their roots in Middletown are too deep for them to leave, "Our community is here," said Trowbridge. However, the land they have found available in Middletown and surrounding towns was too expensive, unsuitable, or both.

Wheeler said that they looked at all of the city-owned open space when the city solicited proposals to develop the land for recreation or agriculture, but were drawn immediately to the southern-most, parcel 5. Saturday I biked out to the land to meet the Trowbridge-Wheeler family on the land, and we walked its full extent, talking about their plans for the land.

ARTFARM's use of the land
Parcel 5 is a spectacularly beautiful property, without any question the most natural and unspoiled of the 5 parcels under consideration for development, and perhaps one of the most beautiful in all of the city. The north-western half consists of 2 long hayfields separated by a narrow stand of trees on a bit of a rise. Often farmers leave these small ridges forested because there are too many large rocks to make mowing safe, they also help to prevent erosion of the fields. The south-eastern half is an old forest sheltering a streambed. The most remarkable feature of the land is obvious to anybody who has tried to maintain a field. Unlike most forest/field edges, here there are virtually no invasive vines climbing the trees. Even the forest between the fields is open, with cedars, oaks, mountain laurel and a moss-covered floor, it is a magical enclave.

When I cycled up onto the upper hayfield, a hawk immediately took to the air from the trees between the hayfield. While waiting for Trowbridge and Wheeler to arrive, I watched the hawk circle the fields, screaming constantly, perhaps because I was intruding on his/her space, or perhaps because it was a juvenile looking for parental help.

The ARTFARM proposal is to build two barns near Brooks Road, one for Arts, and one for Agriculture.Wheeler said the Arts barn would fit a theater seating 60-90 people, somewhat bigger than the Green Street theater, but not as big as that of Oddfellows. He thought an unpaved parking area with about 30 spots would suffice.

Trowbridge wants ARTFARM to work with children who don't normally encounter the natural world, sort of a natural world counterpart to KidCity. She envisions a "Children's EcoArt Trail" in the forest between the fields, and other trails in the larger forest near the stream.

The large hayfield could be the site of large, outdoor performances during the summer time. They said that theatergoers for a large production could park at Middlesex Community College, about 1/2 a mile away, and walk or take a shuttle bus to the performance.

The agricultural aspect of the proposal has a barn for small livestock, including chickens and goats. They also would like to plant fruit trees and berries, along with vegetables. However, both Trowbridge and Wheeler were cautious about proceeding too fast, and said they planned to work with consultants with expertise in agriculture, native species, and land use to determine the best way forward:

Realistically, as stewards of the land, we would need to proceed step by step. We want to be mindful and do what would benefit the land.

What is clear is that Trowbridge and Wheeler are not interested in commercial farming, they do not want to raise one crop for cash, she told me, "Artfarm in general, we're polyculture."

The Economics of ARTFARM
A lease of city-owned land would be a solution to the dilemma that ARTFARM has faced in acquiring land for the Trowbridge and Wheeler vision, because it removes the major cost of acquiring the land. ARTFARM is a small non-profit organization, with a budget of $113,000 in 2008, according to the proposal. Wheeler told me that he envisioned spending over $500,000 to develop ARTFARM on the parcel, but that the expenses will be spread out over at least five years, "We are not expecting to raise and spend and build it all in a year or two, nor do we have the resources to do that at the moment."

ARTFARM's business plan includes a substantial amount of community involvement in the project. For example, the barn would be constructed as a community barn raising, and most of the supporting labor for the theater and the agriculture would be provided by interns eager to play a part in ARTFARM's vision, and to work with trained theater professionals. Trowbridge cited a number of organizations worldwide who every year have a flood of young interns happy to spend their summer doing a combination of farming and theater in exchange for little more than food and a place to sleep.

Wheeler said that they would seek grants to make capital improvements, but he emphasized the role that earned income would play in ARTFARM's operation. He envisioned afternoon theater workshops, as well as longer retreats ("A 4-day Shakespeare retreat, with walks in the woods."). He said that most comparable theater retreats are quite far north, either in northern Vermont or far up-state New York, he felt that many people in the big cities such as Boston, New York, and Philadelphia would be very happy to be able to attend a workshop in a country setting without having to drive as far.

The Artfarm proposal does not directly provide money to the city, they have requested a 99-year lease at $1 per year.

Other Benefits to the City
Trowbridge and Wheeler hope that their proposal will bring something valuable to the community, through ARTFARM's work with both adults and children in theater and environmental education. Trowbridge was hesitant to claim that Artfarm would be an "economic engine", because for her the arts should not be judged on the basis of dollar generation. However, it is clear that if ARTFARM brings small groups of people to Middletown for theater workshops and retreats, other Middletown businesses will benefit.

ARTFARM's continued connection to Middlesex Community College would also provide benefits to both ARTFARM and the college. Wheeler teaches there, and he pointed to benefits to students in the arts as well as in biology, "Having a small theater studio just down the road could be useful for the college, and potentially Biology Courses might access the space for research projects, fieldwork, etc."

This parcel is in a very quiet and undeveloped part of Middletown, even by Maromas standards. Most of the neighboring land consists of state-owned reservoir land, there are at most half a dozen privately owned neighboring parcels. Louise Petroka has lived in a house on Tollgate Road, since the mid-1980s; her land shares a long border with the city-owned parcel. She intercepted us when we were touring the land on Saturday, thinking that we might be lost (we were). She was somewhat alarmed at hearing about a possible theater on the land, I think envisioning extensive building and parking lots replacing the natural woods and hayfields she and her husband have enjoyed as neighbors. However, Petroka brighted considerably upon hearing that there would be nature trails and children's activities.

For Petroka and other neighbors, the major concerns will likely be how much traffic will be generated, and how much impact the use will have on the natural beauty of the land.

Wheeler said that the ARTFARM use of Parcel 5 "would have a very low impact on the land." Trowbridge said that their goal was to "Keep the land intact but create a way for people to experience it."

Disclosure: I am a member of the ARTFARM board of advisors.

Not your typical golf course developer

Anthony Pioppi is not the kind of person one would expect to find behind a proposal to build a golf course on city-owned land in Maromas. He's a free-lance journalist living in Middletown, a self-described "hack guitarist", a blogger, a fan of Artfarm, and not connected to past efforts by politicians and businessmen to build a golf course in Maromas. Pioppi's proposal, Arawana Golf Course, is the most ambitious of the 6 received by the city for use of parts of the 256 acres of city-owned land near Connecticut Valley Hospital.

The Developer
Pioppi lives in Middletown, arriving here in the late 80s to work as a sportswriter, covering the Hartford Whalers for the Middletown Press, working there until 1995, and then for the Middletown Bureau of the Courant and briefly for the Record-Journal in Meriden. The Whalers have left Connecticut, and the Press has downsized, but Pioppi has remained. He continues to work as a journalist, now freelance, writing mostly about golf courses for trade magazines such as Golfdom. He has published two books about golf, one of which celebrates the memorable 9-hole golf courses in the United States, To the Nines (published in 2006 by Sports Media Group).

Pioppi told me he has no connection whatsoever to the previous attempts to put a golf course on land near CVH, "I never realized there was one until I saw the drawing that Michiel Wackers (deputy director of planning, conservation and development), came up with based on a Zikorus original drawing."

I met Pioppi on Bow Lane, near where he envisions the start of a 9-hole course for Middletown. We were joined by Brett Zimmerman, a friend of Pioppi. Both play out of Hunter Golf Course in Meriden. Pioppi came with a 2 foot machete, and he wielded it with abandon, slashing a path for us through the overgrown hay fields and thickets of vines as we toured the entire route of the Arawana course.

The Course
The course itself uses only parcels 1 and 2 of the five which are available, for a total of about 113 acres. These two parcels currently consist of hay fields which have been invaded by poison ivy and non-native weeds and vines, a tree farm managed by Millane's Nurseries which has terrible erosion problems, tangled webs of vine covered trees, a stand of 20 year old cedars, and a large paved staging area for the Kleen Energy power plant. About one-third of Parcel 3 would be used for a small club house and parking lot, a large practice area for driving and a short game practice area.

The course has been designed by Brian Silva, who in 1999 was Golf World Magazine's Architect of the Year. Pioppi told me that when Silva viewed the land, he was impressed by how easy it was to fit a golf course onto it. Very little earth would need to be moved, and most of the clearing specific to the course would be of vine-entangled trees and of hayfields encroached by poison ivy and invasive plants (the oil pipeline installation for Kleen Energy will clear a long stretch of trees on the edge of the property, much of which will be used for a golf cart path).

As we toured the land, Pioppi discussed the advantages of the site for a golf course. He pointed to the very local variations in the terrain, which he said was exactly what architects try to create in each golf hole. He also said that the swirling winds and micro-climates created by the Connecticut River would be very appealing to golfers.

Silva's style of golf course design is predicated on maximizing the variation available on each hole. Pioppi writes in his proposal, "His design philosophy is predicated on options, offering multiple routes along each golf hole to acommodate all levels of play." Each golf hole at Arawana will have multiple places to tee off, allowing people who want to play 18 holes to repeat the course, using a different tee shot on the second round.

A profile in Golf World magazine highlighted Silva's connection to the classic golf architecture era of the early 1900s:

Fact is, Brian Silva is now doing some of the most interesting work out there. Nothing outlandish or revolutionary. Just the opposite. It's retro design, very much reflecting the features and philosophies of grand old architects whose courses Silva has reworked over the years: Ross, Tillinghast and, especially, Raynor.

Environmentals of Golf
Parcels 1, 2, and 3 are at least partly in the City's aquifer protection zone, and concern has been raised by the Conservation Commission and others about the impact of farming by Millane Nurseries on the water quality (the photo to the right, by Robbins-Pianka, shows a pesticide sign from Millane between a city aquifer sign and an out-of-date State Property sign).

Golf courses in general are, from an environmental perspective, a monotonous manicured monoculture that requires an unsustainable application of pesticides, chemical fertilizers, and enormous amounts of water. They are frequently an irresponsible use of land, especially near rivers and aquifers. From Thursday's New York Times:

Tom Bancroft, chief scientist with the National Audubon Society, says that for all the progress golf has made, it remains a deeply problematic industry. Many courses “use fertilizers that can run off into fresh water, and many use pesticides in lawn and grass,” Mr. Bancroft said.

However, most of the proposed features of the Arawana golf course are environmentally friendly, and will result in a golf course which is unlike many others in the area. Minimal land movement and tree clearing will be required, and the hayfields demonstrate that the soil is rich enough to support vigorous grass growth without extensive use of fertilizers. Pioppi proposes to use grass species for the fairways which require less water and fewer pesticides, and which will not maintain a bright green color in the warm summer months. Out of play areas will be mowed only a few times per year, just to keep out the invasive and unwanted species. The result will be a course with pale green and even light brown fairways, edged by the whispy brown of mature poverty grass and tall fescues.

Audubon International (a group that is separate from the National Audubon Society) has a Cooperative Sanctuary Program for golf courses, and Arawana's proposal vows to seek certification under this program. Thirteen other courses in Connecticut have achieved this status. Linda Snow, who manages the program at Audubon International in Kentucky, told me that some golf course developers speak with her about their plans prior to designing the course. Pioppi has not yet spoken to Audubon International, but said that through his contacts in the industry he is "familiar with what needs to happen."

Arawana will use Integrated Pest Management to minimize the use of pesticides, according to the proposal. Pioppi told me that a golf course like Arawana, which will not be kept lush and deep green, "can be much more environmentally friendly than farms. Where farmers try to 'grow' a crop, golf course superintendents try to 'maintain' a crop."

Economics of Golf
Pioppi is focused exclusively on golf, he said that there would be no restaurant, just a small clubhouse that closes when the course closes, just enough for golfers to get a "burger and a beer." He is also not interested in any real estate development around the course, although he acknowledged that neighboring properties would increase in value if a course was built.

Pioppi estimates the cost of course and clubhouse construction to be $4 million, which is quite low compared to other recently built courses due to the minimal earth moving that is necessary. He hopes to draw water for irrigation out of the well currently being built to supply the Kleen Energy power plant, which would negate the need to drill a well on site and construct a holding pond.

Pioppi is convinced that Middletown can and should have a profitable golf course, despite the national indications that the number of golf rounds is declining, and the presence of two 18-hole courses in Portland and two 18-hole and one 9-hole course in Middlefield. He said Middletown residents "who golf out of town will turn around and golf here." He said the practice area, with a 50,000 square foot grass tee, will be one of the largest of any public golf course in Connecticut.

The course would be considered a public, or "daily fee" course, but not a municipal course, because it will be owned and operated by a private corporation, with a long term lease on the land from the city. Pioppi said that an investor has expressed an interest in providing half of the capital. He said the investor could not be named until after a deal was agreed to with the city, but said that it was a company not based in Connecticut. Pioppi told me he is also very interested in local investors, "It is important to me that the Middletown community be a part of this project."

Pioppi did not provide an estimate of how much revenue the City might expect to receive from the course, and said it was premature to say what greens fees might be. However, other municipalities which lease land to a golf course receive a minimum annual payment between $10k and $100k, and a percentage of the greens and cart fees. For example, a "Ground Lease" from the county government to a private corporation in Orange County, CA, was set at 7% in the first year and increased to 14% after 10 years.

Using rough numbers, one can make an estimate of what Middletown might earn from a ground lease to Arawana. The nine-hole Indian Springs course in Middlefield charges $17 for the greens fee, other area courses charge $21 to $29 for 9 holes of golf. The cart fees range from $7.50 to $10 per round. A typical number of rounds for a modest 9-hole course is 25,000 rounds per year. With these kinds of numbers, Arawana might gross $750,000 per year on golf, which at 10% would generate $75k for the city. Clubhouse sales might generate further income for both Arawana and the city.

Other Benefits to the City
Pioppi did not want to commit to any specific amounts for a contract with the city, saying those numbers would be determined in negotiations later. However, he said that the course would foster youth golf, giving the high school golf teams a place to practice in their own town. He also said that a golf course would eliminate invasive species and prevent further erosion, while providing access to the land to more residents than currently are able to use it.

Pioppi called the Artfarm proposal to use Parcel 5 "intriguing, there could easily be a trail connecting the golf course to that part of the property." He said hiking trails on golf course land were typically not permitted by insurance companies, but expressed a hope that the adjacent land would be used by hikers. Small sections of Parcel 2, around the golf course, could continue to be hayed by local farmers.

Pioppi also touted the benefits to local businesses of the golf course. He envisioned having lists of Middletown restaurants at the clubhouse to hand out to golfers, sending them from the course down to Main Street for lunch or dinner, two miles away.

Six Proposals for City-owned Open Space

A wide variety of ideas for developing 256 acres of open space in Maromas have been submitted to the Planning Department in response to their Request for Proposals (RFP). Three of these proposals are for the continuation of uses which have been ongoing for many years, while the others propose new uses for the land.

1. Millane Nurseries proposes to continue farming on a small portion of Parcels 1 to 4. Millane has been raising Pines and Spruces on the land since the 1980s, first under an agreement with the state. They currently farm 34 acres under a 5 year lease from the City, with an option for the City to terminate the lease with 180 days notice. Millane proposes to extend this lease for another 5 years.
   
2. The Middlesex Aero Modelers proposes to continue their use of Parcel 3 as a landing strip for model airplanes. They have been using this Parcel also since the 1980s, also under an agreement first with the state and then with the city.
3. The Hills Farm, on Brooks Road, also proposes to continue farming on the parcels. They have been harvesting hay for over 35 years to feed to animals they keep on their own land.
4. The Connecticut Forest and Park Association has put in a "placeholder" proposal, pending final approval by their Trails Committee. The CFPA proposes to build a trail on all 5 parcels which would connect to the Mattabessett trail, which passes through several adjoining properties, and is part of the recently designated New England National Scenic Trail.
5. Artfarm, the non-profit theater group which every year produces Shakespeare in the Grove, proposes to use Parcel 5 to create a center for performing arts classes and small productions, as well as for agriculture. Artform proposes to build two barns, one to support community-based agriculture and the other to support the theater. Their big productions of outdoor theater would continue at Middlesex Community College, which is near to Parcel 5.
6. Arawana Golf Course, LLC, proposes to develop a 9-hole golf course on portions of Parcels 1, 2, and a small amount of 3. Arawana Golf Course is a company created by Anthony Pioppi, a noted golf journalist living in Middletown. The proposal includes an extensive description of the course, which has been designed by golf course architect Brian Silva. The proposal emphasizes environmental issues in presenting the design and maintenance of the course.

The Middletown Eye will examine several of the proposals in more detail in the coming week. For previous coverage of the city-owned land in question, see the last of a 4-part series on public land in Maromas.

The Economic Development Committee, at their June meeting, anticipated that they would consider these proposals at their August meeting.

An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated that Arawana Golf Course would use parcels 1, 2, 3, and a part of 4. It will actually use most of 1 and 2, and a portion of 3. 4 would remain untouched.
Full disclosure: I am on the Board of Advisors for Artfarm. I also played the part of a proofreader and delivery person on portions of the CFPA proposal.

Maromas: Land of Opportunities, Part IV

This is the final installment of a 4-part series on city and state actions which have the potential to affect undeveloped land in Maromas owned by the Connecticut Valley Hospital (CVH) and by the city. Part I covered the Mayor's action to stop the Department of Environmental Protection from owning conservation easements on the land which protects the CVH water supply. Part II covered a proposal by the city to supply water to CVH. Part III covered the Governor's directive to CVH (and all other state agencies) to identify properties which could be sold to generate revenue. Part IV will cover the city-owned open space land stretching from the shore of the Connecticut River to the other side of watershed land (Thanks to Barrie Robbins-Pianka for two of the photographs).


The state transferred five parcels of land from CVH to the City on June 21, 2005, with the restriction that it would remain open space or revert back to State ownership. This land conveyance has been portrayed by elected city and state officials as a "compensation" for the imposition of the Connecticut Juvenile Training School on other CVH land. The City is currently considering how to use this land, and has released a "Request for Proposals" (RFP) to develop it. The RFP suggested a variety of possible uses for the land, but emphasized "active recreation" possibilities.

The Land
All 5 parcels of land abut state-owned land that is either used for state facilities or for watershed protection. Parcels 1 and 2 wrap around Riverview Hospital, the State's only mental health facility for children and adolescents. Parcels 3, 4 and 5 abut the state land around 4 reservoirs which supply drinking water to CVH and Riverview.

• Parcel 1, between River Road and the Connecticut River, contains a mixed Larch and Pine forest, and includes a rail line which runs from Middletown to Pratt and Whitney (and further) along the river. There is a long-abandoned mine which provided lead for cannonballs early in the Revolutionary War (helping to defeat British Gen. John Burgoyne), and silver in the mid-1800s. Passing by the mine is a picturesque small stream which empties into a small sand delta in the Connecticut.
• Parcel 2, wrapping from River Road all the way to Bow Lane, contains open fields and a swath of secondary tree growth. Duck Hill (elevation 221ft) is in the center of this parcel, and contains Native American Holly and Black Cherry trees. Millane's nurseries leases part of this land to grow trees and bushes.
  
• Parcel 3 goes from Bow Lane to the top of Indian Hill (elevation 335ft), at Reservoir Road. There is an extensive stand of 20-50 year old cedars with moss and fern glades, and high bush blueberries in the understory.
• Parcel 4 is the smallest of the parcels, and is composed primarily of fields along Reservoir Road and Cedar Lane.
• Parcel 5 has a remarkable mature forest of Tulip Trees, Big-Toothed Aspens, and Chestnut Oaks, with an understory of Mountain Laurel, Ironwood, and Striped Maple Trees. Along the eastern border of the property is a breathtakingly beautiful stream which in places flows through a deeply cut ravine. Just before the stream approaches Brooks Road, the stream flows for about a hundred yards in a man-made channel made of cut stone, flowing in places as waterfalls over steps of hand-cut granite. This masonry may have been the handiwork of patients committed to CVH. In addition to the mature forest, there are two large hay-fields in parcel 5.

The Legislation and the Deed restriction
Residents in and around Maromas have long sought to reduce the number of state instututions in the area, or at least to prevent the imposition of new ones. There have been various attempts to wrest control of the CVH land from the State, including a 1995 bill (HB6537) to transfer over 800 acres from CVH to Middletown, which was introduced by Reps. Joe Serra and Susan Bysiewicz, and Sens. Tom Gaffey and Billy Ciotto (their bill did not make it out of committee).

In the late 1990s, activist groups such as Residents Against Institutional Dumping (RAID) unsuccessfully tried to stop the relocation of the Juvenile prison from Long Lane to CVH land. One of the outcomes of the decision to site the CT Juvenile School on CVH land was apparently a commitment by the state to compensate Middletown for the prison by giving the City other parcels of CVH land.

In the 2005 session, the legislature finally approved the transfer of CVH land to Middletown, in bill HB6909 (AN ACT CONCERNING THE CONVEYANCE OF CERTAIN PARCELS OF STATE LAND). Representative Serra, who played a critical role in this, told me that his goal was to remove as much land as possible out of state control, "The more you take out of state hands, the better the city is."

When the State gives land to a municipality, there are usually restrictions on the use of that land (for example some parcels might be required to be used for a municipal building). In this case, HB6909 stated that the land was to be used for "agriculture, parks, natural areas, forests, camping, fishing, wetlands preservation, wildlife habitat, swimming, hiking, other active recreational, educational, and other purposes that further state and municipal policies."

Serra is proud that his efforts went further than just securing the land for the City. He said that when the legislation was being written, he made sure that "Active Recreation" was one of the allowed uses for the land: "I always thought a golf course would be great [on the former CVH land]."

Buzzy Levin and his Dream of Middletown Golf
Efforts to build a municipal golf course in the city go back many years, probably to at least 1940, when the Highland Country Club on Atkins Street closed. The 1965 Plan of Conservation and Development (POCD) said, "One city-wide facility which is now lacking in Middletown is a golf course." The 2000 POCD agreed, "The city also needs ... a golf course to bring its recreational facilities up to SCORP [Statewide Comprehensive Outdoor Recreation Plan] standards."

One of the most ardent proponents of a municipal golf course in the 1960s and 1970s was Jerome "Buzzy" Levin, owner of Malloves Jewelers on Main Street. Levin was a member of the Common Council from 1963 to 1971, and worked tirelessly first to get authorization and then funding for a course on Newfield Street, and later to get authorization for a course on what was then state-owned land in Maromas. In an article about the Maromas golf course proposal, The Hartford Courant described Levin as "the moving force behind the plans for a golf course."

Levin spoke with me at length about his time on the Common Council and as chair of the Park Board, and his efforts on behalf of a golf course. He reminisced fondly of his early days on the Council, when many of the meetings to discuss city business would take place at the kitchen table in his house, before the enforcement of the right-to-know laws made that impossible, "The first 5 years on Common Council were the most enjoyable." He also said that during this time there was virtually no partisanship, and he worked closely with both Democrats and Republicans.

In the 1967 session of the State Legislature, Levin and Mayor Kenneth Dooley lobbied state officials for the city to be allowed to build a golf course on the CVH land. The Hartford Courant of April 22, 1967, reported:

The Committee on Humane and Welfare Institutions hears the local bill Tuesday morning in Hartford. It will have strong support from city officials and golfing enthusiasts. The proposed golf course would cost an estimated $300,000 if the land were secured.

Levin brought a petition with 1200 signers supporting the golf course, and endorsements from the town committees of both parties, labor unions, the Chamber of Commerce, and a variety of civic groups. The State Board of Mental Health was initially opposed to a proposal for Middletown to purchase the land from CVH, but did not directly oppose an agreement to lease the land. The efforts of Levin and Dooley were successful, and HB 4720 (Authorizing Middletown to enter into lease agreement with trustees of Connecticut Valley Hospital for use of state land for municipal golf course) was passed on May 16, 1967. The total land under consideration was 175 acres.

Levin told me that he was working with the same team that built the Tunxis Plantation golf courses in Farmington, the Tomasso Companies. He lauded their work, saying they were wonderful partners to work with. For the state land in Maromas, the noted local golf course architect Albert Zikorus laid out a 6607 yard, par 72 course (the accompanying photo is Zikorus' plan). The Courant reported that the city would probably apply for Federal open space funds to pay for the construction of the course.

In July of 1967, Levin told the Courant that a target date for opening of the course would be July 4th, 1969. However, Levin's dream of a course on CVH land did not survive another summer. The Board of Mental Health decided in April of 1968 to reject the city's proposal for a golf course, according to The Courant, they "favored the saving of hospital land for future hospital or related mental health needs rather than for golf course use." CVH had also been authorized to give some of its land to the new Middlesex Community College for a campus, when CVH did so, it removed a key piece of land from Levin's proposed golf course.

[Levin told me in great detail, and with pride and regret about the other golf course project that he pushed, in Newfield Meadows. He said that he arranged for the city to purchase 278 acres for $250,000 in about 1963, using Federal and State open space funds. The land was mostly wetlands, but Levin told me a golf course is a permitted use, "When you build a golf course, you increase the beauty of the streams." Some of the city land was used to build Woodrow Wilson Middle School in the 1960s (and Middletown High School this decade). The golf course bond referendum narrowly lost in 1964, "37 votes! That's all we lost by."]

Levin now lives most of the year in Florida, returning to work at Malloves only in the summer and the holiday season, and he said he has no involvement at all in city politics, "The only time I've been to City Hall recently is to pay my taxes." However, he has not lost his passion for the cause he championed for so long, "It's a shame that the City of Middletown doesn't have a golf course."

A Golf Course in 2009?
The pace of golf course construction nationwide has slowed considerably since the 1960s and 1970s. Most of this cannot be attributed to the economic difficulties of the past couple of years--the number of rounds of golf played in the U.S. has consistently fallen since 2000. Joe Perillo, of the Connecticut State Golf Association, told The Eye, "Building a golf course is not a profitable thing right now." Mike Colandro, a PGA tour professional who lives in Cromwell, said that to make it feasible, it needed to be a year-round facility, with indoor practice facilities, "That could be beautiful if done right... It's definitely something that should happen."

Mike Milano, who owns Quarry Ridge Golf Course in Portland, said it would be extremely difficult for anybody to build a new golf course. He had heard that "city hall and the state rep were interested in building a golf course up there," and that there had been a proposal a few years ago. However, Milano said that golf courses are overbuilt right now, and the ownership of the land by the city would be problematic for any developer. He also told me that the Chamber of Commerce is dead set against any municipal golf course because it would be at a competitive advantage over private courses, since it would not pay property tax, "The Chamber and all the other golf courses would fight this to the tooth." Larry McHugh, president of the Chamber of Commerce, did not return my phone calls about the city-owned land.

A Request for Proposals
The RFP issued last month suggests many possible uses which would be appropriate for the city-owned land, including baseball and soccer fields, dog parks, golf courses, playgrounds, and boat ramps. Any proposals are to include extensive financial information, including a business plan and a demonstration of financial capacity. The RFP "is designed for income generating uses which can develop the land," according to City Planner Bill Warner, although he said that other proposals would also be considered.

Warner told me that the RFP was not targeted towards a specific proposed use such as a golf course, but rather, "I thought this was an opportune time to see what interest there is." Deputy Director of Planning Michiel Wackers said the RFP was advertised in the New England Real Estate Journal, the Hartford Courant, and a CT Park & Recreation listserv. Wackers told the Hartford Courant (July 22) that proposed ideas include the creation of a playground, a golf course, agricultural use and continued use by a local airplane club. The agricultural use is likely to be a proposal from Millane Nurseries to continue their lease of land for growing trees.

When I spoke to Mayor Giuliano about the State-owned reservoir land, he mentioned only one of those possible uses, "We're looking at a golf course in that end of town." He confirmed that the city would be receiving a golf course proposal in response to the RFP. During my conversation with Rep. Serra about the conservation easement, he too brought up the RFP, referring to it as an "RFP for a nine-hole golf course." Serra pointed out that when a golf course is built, the value of neighboring properties rises. Neither man could tell me which company might be putting in a proposal, but Giuliano indicated it was not from a group known for building courses in the area.

Councilmen Gerry Daley and David Bauer both serve on the Economic Development Commission, which will be evaluating the proposals. About a golf course, Daley said to me, "Personally I think it would be a challenge to build a course up there... [but] I'm not opposed to a golf course if it's done in an environmentally responsible way." However, both Daley and Bauer said they did not have any preconceptions about what should be done with the land, and both spoke of not only the financial value of using the land, but also the non-financial values.

Bauer was cautious about developing the land, saying that the benchmark for any development should be quite high. He noted, "This is some of the best farmland around." He said he would put a very high value on doing nothing, because "when we do nothing, the potential is for the future." Daley on the other hand, was a proponent of developing the land, "I don't think the best use is to leave it totally undeveloped. You need to find ways to get people to use the land."

Decisions made and decisions to come
Middletown and the State together own an enormous, uninterrupted tract of land that stretches from the banks of the Connecticut River for over two miles. The land abuts Middlesex Community College, CVH, and large tracts of land owned by Connecticut Light and Power; it is in close proximity to lots owned by the Kleen Energy Power Plant and by Pratt and Whitney. This land is valuable by almost any measure: it is a very short distance from downtown, is easily accessible from Route 9, it contains what the U.S. Department of Agriculture considers to be "Prime Farmland", and it has spectacular old forests, ravines with waterfalls, pristine watershed and reservoirs, and beautiful vistas.

The last two fiscal years have been challenging for both Middletown and the State. In Middletown, the Common Council has used sales of city assets to balance the budget each of those years (Remington Rand last year, and Cucia Park this year). It would not surprise me if the Council evaluated proposals for use of the city land primarily on the basis of their ability to maximize city revenue. In Hartford, the state's budget woes are even worse than Middletown's, and both political parties support the sale of state assets to balance the budget. With these pressures, it would not surprise me to see a proposal that the state offer to sell some of its Middletown land holdings.

I have been struck by the way that apparently small decisions by elected officials can have dramatic effects on the value of these city and state lands. These decisions, even when they relate to public legislation, are not always obvious at the time. For example, Rep. Joe Serra's 2005 insertion of the phrase "Active Recreation" into the deed restriction for the city land vastly increased the possible uses to which the land could be put, and led directly to the form which the RFP has taken. As another example, a few interested residents worked with Rep. Gail Hamm to generate conservation protection on the state lands, but even the elected officials of the City were not kept fully informed.

Other important decisions are made administratively, usually with the consultation of elected officials, but also not necessarily noticed by the public. An example of this would be the proposal by the Director of Water and Sewer to sell city water to CVH, so that the State would no longer need to manage its own water supply. Another example, possibly forthcoming, will be the decision by the senior management of CVH about what assets CVH might consider selling. Finally, city administrators can influence decisions by the manner in which they solicit proposals and the manner by which they present them to elected officials.

The other thing that has struck me as odd is the way that some ideas seem to persist for decades, even if virtually everybody first involved in them has moved on. 40 years after Buzzy Levin gave up on a Maromas golf course, the opening of the CJTS gave Middletown the possibility of finally acquiring most of the land that he wanted for it. When the City got the land, the Planning Department's RFP was for developing the land in any sort of manner consistent with the deed. But somehow, despite all the intervening decades, the thoughts of two of the most important elected officials (Serra and Giuliano) turn to an idea that was championed by Buzzy Levin, who last held public office over 30 years ago.

The next decisions on the city lands will be at the August meeting of the Economic Development Committee, when it evaluates the proposals which the Planning Department receives.

The state land is subject to largely administrative decisions, at least in the short term. The first one will be whether any CVH land is listed as a "salable asset."