Letter to the Editor - The Lakeville Journal - 1-28-21

Responding to land-use letters

I share Messieurs Keenan and Abbott’s disappointment with my Lakeville Journal interview — it was heavily edited, qualifying statements were struck, making me sound definitive and accusatory.  The LJ attempted to correct these deficiencies; it was too little too late sparking a vitriolic letter to the editor. 

In response, it is an elected official’s decision, in consultation with colleagues and legal counsel, when to recuse. Weaponizing recusal to intimidate and bully local officials is unacceptable. Is conflict requesting that land-use plans be supported by various and diverse scientific opinions?  Is the only science that matters the studies commissioned by Mr. Keenan?  Is calling for transparency, respect and inclusion a bias?

 The Twin Lakes Management plan is undated, sampling ended in 2015, and recommendations for 2017 were prospective. This report has six citations concerning the Taconic Road dam’s clogged outflow. This report was never mentioned until I brought it up and was difficult to find — having disappeared from various web sites.  

The problem plaguing this “big idea” is these Zoom meetings are conducted by an individual with a distinct point of view (= bias). They are well-orchestrated PR events. Mr. Keenan is angered that over 70 people have signed a petition requesting an open public dialogue on this matter, as is customary in Salisbury. He penned offensive letters to town officials and to certain petitioners demanding public apologies, referring to them as pitchfork-wielding blue bloods and complaining to their employers.  

Mr. Keenan has a group of friends and neighbors supporting him. He seems oblivious that there exists an entire town of Salisbury caring about all our lakes and natural resources, not to mention affordable housing, traffic, open space, historic preservation, food pantries and a whole host of community issues.  He should not be surprised when it comes to light that a major land use plan has been ongoing for more than two years, with the knowledge of but a select few, the public response would be swift and forceful, advocating for the interests of the entire town.   That’s called free speech, a strong New England tradition, protected by the First Amendment.

Twice in his letters Mr. Keenan has accused those differing with him as Trumpian. Mr. Keenan is not an elector in Salisbury, voting elsewhere, so his party affiliation remains unknown.  He should look into the mirror as regards bullying, disregarding regulations, ridiculing and belittling those who disagree or even question him. 

Editorial license creates problems — “may” was removed — as in “MAY find the view.” Mr. Keenan was clear (check the tape) at the Zoom meeting that boats were zooming by his property. The closing statement of his letter says it all: “those who live on and/or use Twin Lake deserve an honest and constructive dialogue.” That dialogue needs to be far more inclusive than a select group of individuals living around West Twin. It’s not your lake, it’s owned in public trust by Connecticut for its ecological values, and the prudent use and enjoyment of all its citizens.   

Michael W. Klemens, PhD

Lakeville

Defending Mary Alice White’s legacy

Editor’s note: This letter (a slightly longer version) was sent by the signatores to Sarah Pellegrino, land protection and strategies manager at The Nature Conservancy in New Haven, on Jan. 22: 

We are the children of Mary Alice White, whose conservation easement on a causeway and surrounding land on Taconic Road is the subject of some dispute in Salisbury, Conn., because the current owner wishes to remove 400 feet of the causeway. We are writing to you because we are concerned that continued silence of The Nature Conservancy (TNC) not only casts our mother’s easement in doubt, but private easements everywhere.

You are quoted saying it’s premature for TNC to take a position because you have not received a specific proposal. Yet the landowner told The Lakeville Journal that he had been in discussions with you for some time, which is troubling when the facts clearly do not support such an easement amendment.

In Dec., 1990, our mother signed the conservation easement protecting 17 acres including the causeway, but allowing a 2-acre building envelope, naming TNC as the grantee.  About four years ago, the current owner purchased the property and recently claimed that reducing the causeway “was my sole purpose for buying the property.” In other words, the current owner purchased the property with the intention to defeat the easement.

This is not a difficult question for a grantee. There is no change of use. Eliminating half the causeway scoops land out of the easement and would undermine the very purposes for which the easement was put in place. The easement specifically states: “There shall be no…excavating, dredging…removal of topsoil, sand, gravel, rock minerals or other materials…or change in the topography of the land in any manner excepting the maintenance of the existing road along the abandoned railroad bed.” No removal of any portion of the causeway was contemplated. In fact, it was explicitly prohibited. As grantee, TNC was not given the authority to balance whatever it judges to be broader environmental goals by eliminating lands protected under the easement.

TNC’s silence opens the door to subsequent landowners everywhere who want to rid themselves of conservation easements. The situation in Salisbury is not a fact pattern for compromise. It is a fact pattern of a landowner with the means to undermine the very concept of a conservation easement on private land.  

Our mother had one legacy: a conservation easement. It was the accomplishment she most referred to before she died. It was not only a source of pride, but of hope, for the land she so dearly loved.  

Is TNC going to abandon her legacy because a subsequent wealthy landowner has the means to put up a lengthy fight? That’s how it looks to us. At a time when we hoped TNC would provide leadership protecting our mother’s easement, we see strategic silence and prevarication. This is more than disappointing. It is disheartening for all conservation easements on private lands.

If you find the position of grantee under these circumstances too uncomfortable, we respectfully suggest that you consider transferring your grantee rights to an organization that will defend our mother’s legacy and the causeway that is home to so many species.

Chris Kimball

Cambridge, Mass. Kate Kimball

Olga, Wash.

Meeting her Trooper

In late December 2020, I spied our Salisbury Resident State Trooper sitting in his car. I asked him if we could meet and talk about what he does. His name is Kenneth Pelletier, and he has been in his new role since November 2020. Trooper Chris Sorrell had retired after nine years serving our community. 

Kenneth ushered me through the back door of Salisbury Town Hall, down the hall and up the stairs to his office. We talked about 40 minutes about the life and times of a policeman, which he used to be in Waterbury, and the work of a state trooper. 

We talked about police interactions with people of color. He showed me, when I asked, all of the equipment he wears; I don’t know how he walks so easily. 

It was a wonderful conversation that enriched my experience of being a resident in this village. Troop B is headquartered in North Canaan and protects 13 towns in our area. 

Thank you, Kenneth, for being approachable and willing to engage with me about my concerns.

Eileen Epperson

Salisbury

New answers needed on affordable housing

Much of Connecticut, certainly our Northwest Corner, is rural, comprising small towns charming for their quirky and historic characteristics. The state has now developed a planning tool, the Affordable Housing Plan and Process Guidebook (AHPP), designed to integrate affordable housing into its small towns in a manner that is both fair to those needing affordable housing and designed to preserve essential small-town character. The cost for use of this new planning tool is paid for by a State grant; there is no downside to taking advantage of this new opportunity.

When the Lime Rock Station “River Road” IHZ was proposed 10 years ago, we were told that the construction was to be funded by state grants. As First Selectman Todd says often, that would cost Falls Village nothing. But those grants are no longer available. So, the economic viability of the project will need to be determined before soliciting the needed remaining funds, debt funding. It is standard financial practice to require this information. Justifying this project will be a challenge. Affordable housing means that income from rents is capped, but construction and maintenance costs will be at market, and property taxes are set by the Town. When asked about a pro forma income and expense analysis, the Falls Village Housing Trust replies that it will be released when a Certificate of Occupancy is granted. No lender would even contemplate providing credit on that basis. Indeed, the FVHT and the town would be regarded as embarrassingly out of touch.

If Falls Village is serious about affordable housing, as it should and must be, a more serious approach should be pursued. Please join the Zoom meetings of the newly formed AHPP Town committee. I hope all Falls Village residents will be notified of meetings in a timely fashion.

There are town-owned lots available where smaller development can work well, dispelling the myth of insufficient available septic capacity. There are new grants open to land use planning better suited to our rural community, and possibly much preferred by our collective voice.

Daly Reville

Falls Village

Prescient as ever: a 2019 letter from Tony Piel

I was going through the very many articles my late husband, Tony Piel, sent out for publication and found this one, a letter he sent to the Treasure Coast Palm newspaper and which published in June of 2019. It is amazingly on point for today. 

“The War on Democracy in America: When President Woodrow Wilson famously said we must ‘Make the world safe for democracy,’ most Americans assumed that he meant the threat to democracy would come from outside the USA, from foreign sources, not from within our own country. Not so.  

Today the danger comes from a home-grown, well-funded, network of plutocratic donors (such as the Kochs, Mercers, Bradleys and Wynns) using dark money and think tanks to sway elections and attempt to change how people think about our constitutional democracy. 

These extremists maintain that the role of government is to defend the ‘freedom’ to accumulate (largely untaxed) wealth, and not ‘coddle’ the less wealthy who ‘fail to work, take risks, or invest.’ Hence, their opposition to taxation, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and Food Stamps. 

The cabalists  ignore the very Preambular purpose of the US Constitution: ‘To promote the General Welfare.’ The formerly admirable Republican Party has been thoroughly invaded and taken over by unstable ‘Trumpism,’ at the expense of our environment, foreign policy and human rights.  

Our only hope now resides in the ‘Blue Wave’ voting booth in November 2018 and 2020. It’s the only way to save democracy and ‘Make America Great Again.’  Let’s make it happen.” 

Tony Piel, Stuart, Fla.

It seems to anticipate what has now happened.

Liz Piel

Sharon

Dark days are over

Waking up after a bad dream

a glimmer of light or just a gleam

A new horizon now awaits

Improving all of our fates

The day is new

Improving our view

The future bright

With a great light

Now we look to tomorrow

And all our hopes can grow

The dark days over

We are now in clover

But there is one sad thing

To this I bring

No more rants will I write

Be them simple or just trite.

Michael Kahler

Lakeville

Isn’t democracy now threatened in these ways?

I believe most of us have been stunned by recent events in our country. Between Trump haters advocating impeachment for the second time and a new president anxious to drive up our debt load, what does the future hold? Let’s examine the track record so far.

At a time of high unemployment, businesses hanging on by a thread, not to mention COVID issues, where is the focus? Is this really the time to bog Congress down with an impeachment trial? I can only speak for myself in this matter, although I suspect many others may feel the same. The man has willingly left office, what is to be accomplished? 

Then again a lot of things don’t make sense today. Why is there a need for a 5,000-page stimulus bill? Obviously to cover the hidden agenda, half of which is fat to satisfy special interests. Driving our nation further in debt does little to help, perhaps leading to hyperinflation. When will it dawn on people, our government continues to make more of us dependent on them? This, of course, leads to greater control.

My, how our elected officials love to pat themselves on their back. Governor Cuomo — nice job with your efforts at distribution of the vaccine. I could fly to Florida and get a shot with far less difficulty. I have a friend who did just that. Others I know (Connecticut residents) have scheduled vaccine visits at the Sharon Hospital. Not available to us folks in New York, where it’s extremely difficult to make any headway establishing a place in line. What line?

The National Guard remains in D.C., possibly into March. Riots continue in Portland unabated, so much for unity. On his first day in office, our new president put thousands out of work by shutting down wall construction and the Keystone Pipeline. Thanks to our less than stellar media, millions have been frightened into not taking the vaccine. We have corporations dictating items or people we should or shouldn’t support based on their liberal political agenda. For example, Kohl’s is no longer going to carry MyPillow?

I have tried though this media to encourage others to educate themselves regarding their all-important right to vote. Even that has become controversial and contested. Is there any wonder why I feel our democracy is threatened?

John Walters

Millerton, N.Y.