[CT Birds] Bad news for Griswold Airport

[Clay Taylor]

It's ALWAYS about the money - if the forces resisting have more, they win.

Is there any chance of finding an "expert" that can quantify the reduction
of Blue Crabs / Striped Bass / Bluefish that would be found in and around
the Hammonasset River as a result of the development, and thus affect
revenues from fishing tackle and bait sales, boat ramp fees, fisherman
visits to the Madison / Clinton area (gas stations, campgrounds, grocery
stores), etc.?

Clay Taylor
Moodus, CT
ctaylor at att.net

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Ross Geredien/Good Migrations" <goodmigrations at yahoo.com>
To: "Posting Bird List" <ctbirds at lists.ctbirding.org>
Sent: Thursday, January 17, 2008 1:53 PM
Subject: Re: [CT Birds] Bad news for Griswold Airport


> Will someone help me understand this?  If demand for housing, new home
sales, and new home construction is so slow amidst this "housing crisis", as
we keep hearing every single day, why is there such a need for so many units
near Hammonassett and Griswold Point?  What market demand are they
anticipating that will make this a prudent decision?  The answer in my book
must have to do with inside money-making deals that benefits a select few.
>
>   When does "Smart Growth" include smart site selection?  As far as I
know, "Smart Growth" never looks at that.  It's like the "Healthy Forests"
initiative = Greenwashing.
>
>
>
>
> "COMINS, Patrick" <PCOMINS at audubon.org> wrote:
>   Some people are having problems with the link I provided. Hopefully this
one will work:
>
http://www.courant.com/news/local/hc-ctmadlanding0117.artjan17,0,3923281,print.story
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: ctbirds-bounces at lists.ctbirding.org
[mailto:ctbirds-bounces at lists.ctbirding.org] On Behalf Of COMINS, Patrick
> Sent: Thursday, January 17, 2008 10:31 AM
> To: Posting Bird List
> Subject: [CT Birds] Bad news for Griswold Airport
>
> Since Hammonasset Beach State Park is among the top destinations in the
state for birders, I thought some of you might want to know about this.
While not the end of the story, it certainly isn't looking good for efforts
to prevent the high intensity residential development bordering the
Hammonasset River and Hammonasset Natural Area Preserve salt marsh according
to a story in today's Hartford Courant:
>
http://www.courant.com/news/local/hc-tmadlanding0117.artjan17,0,654448.story
>
> A quote from the story: "This project is going to be a model for coastal
development," said Howard Kaufman, an attorney and partner at Leyland."
>
> Oh great, high density residential development next to a fragile and
unique natural resource with no offset offered for the greatly increased
density is going to be a model for how we develop what isn't yet developed
along Long Island Sound.
>
> It has been a pet peeve of mine that the proponents of this project claim
that because the design allows higher than normal density for a subdivision
that it makes this project "smart growth". It is true that part of smart
growth is to encourage higher density development in appropriate areas, but
another part of the equation is to use the 'cluster' development as a tool
to avoid or reduce development impacts to ecologically sensitive areas. In a
hypothetical example, if you have a 1000 acre parcel that would normally
allow 1000 houses on 1 acre lots, you allow increased density on 100 or 500
acres in order to preserve the rest of the parcel. It is also true that
traditional planning and zoning solutions to limiting growth in rural areas;
increasing lot size to 2, 3, 4 acres... can be horrible for conservation,
particularly for forest resources, but to simply say that high density
development = smart growth to me is only half of the equation.
>
>
>
> Patrick Comins, Meriden
>
>
>
>
>
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> _______________________________________________
> This list is provided by the Connecticut Ornithological Association (COA)
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>
>
> Ross Geredien
> Good Migrations Photography
> www.goodmigrationsphoto.com
> 1-610-850-5035
>
>
>
> ---------------------------------
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