1981-01-14 A
TOWN OF BERLIN
CONSERVATION COMMISSION
'rown Hall Berlin , Conn.
January 14 , 1981
A meeting of the Conservation Commission was called to order
by Chairman Bengstor_ at 7 :112 p.m. in Room 6 of the Town Hall.
Those in attendance were : Chairman Bengston , Commissioner
paskiewicz , Commissioner Baccaro , ;Mr. Edstirt S. Murray and
Commissioner Chotko•:'ski .
Chairman Bengston reviewed snme of the procedures that
have been follo•:Ted since the acauisition of this property,
belcngina to Mr . Norman P. Cooley , was first considered . He
stated at or. September 1E , 1979 a resolution was presented
at. a To :n Meeting authorizing the Executive Board to file an
application with the Chairman of the Department of Environ-
mental Protection for an open-space, land-acouisition grant
from both the Federal and State authorities to acouire 44
acres of land , situated east of the Chamberlain Highway and
bordering west of Bicentennial Park and owned by Mr. Norman
F . C^o,e-v. :ie further stated that the Town would purchase the
property at a price established by a formal professional
�r appraisal , ,it.h funding to be provided for as follows : fift'r
percent of the nurchase price b^ an a-plication for a Federal
grant; t �entv-five rel-bent by a tate open-space grant and
twenty-five percent by a sift from Mr. Coolev to the. Town,
providing we were successful in receiving both the Federal
and State grants .
Chairman Bengston stated that the purpose of the
acauisition was to enlarge the area of Bicentennial Park,
to provide another entrance to the park from the Chamberlain
Highway and to provide added protection to the aquifer that
lies within the park, as .:ell as to add another open-space
asset to our Town and at not cost whatsoever to the Town. In
addition, he said , a petition was received signed by 164
residents, representing a cross-section of the Town of Berlin,
to acquire this land ; and it was presented at the Town Meeting.
The resolution was unanimously approved b,, those people pre-
sent at the meeting, however , as the application is still
pending in the land acquisition unit of the DEP and , as it is
now over a :rear since the application was filed , several new
forms and procedures are required to be complied with by the
federal and state authorities . Cha irmr n Bengston said that
one of the rrocedures renuired is that the arplicant hold a
public hearing on the merits of the acnuisition and to give
r;. all interested person - the privilege of being heard or com-
menting on the projectand to receive any written communica-
ions concerning the project . Therefore , in order to comply
Conservation: Commission. - 2 - January l4 , 1981
with these new reauirements , the Conservation Commission
decided to hold a Public Fearing on January JJ , 1981 in the
Town Hall in Room E at 7:30 p.m. to receive any comments or
ouestions relative to this proposed acouisition.
The legal notice was read by Chairman Bengston, after
which he then opened the hearing to anv questions from those
present.
Chairman Lengston asked Pr. Chotkowski , Berlin Health
Director, as well as a member of the Conservation Commission,
to make anv statements that he felt would be relevant to the
importance of this area to the Townand to the protection of
the aquifer. Dr. Chotkowski - resented a map and stated that
the location of this cropert- is unirue in its relation to
the Town or Berlin in that this whole area could be used to
develop q continuous n-, +ure-hiking: trail that would benefit
New Brita.tn , "outingt:cn , Berlin , Middletown and Meriden. ,re
went on to sa„ that he is very concerned with the pollution
of the acuifer area and originelly recommended that 1 ,000 acres
be -urchased 'or (Dien space to protect the aouifer. It would
be looking ••-hely to the future to protect our evicting water
sources, .- r. Chotkowski said . He also Mated that this area
is a most de-Hirable etlands for wildlife .
Mr . Dennis L. Kern of Fid ge •;ood Lane stated that he felt
that tris acceisition was an excellent idea and concept. He
felt that the Torn must take steps to protect our future water
sup lies . ae added that ne felt that even if the Town does
not receive federal an -tete more- , it should consider bonding
to rurchase the Cooley band .
Deputy Ma�:-or McKeon asked the Commission if it had
received the necessary assistance from the Executive Board
that it needed . Chairman engston sai that one of the
reruirements that had to be complied .-with was a resolution
be each Commission in Town proving the acruisition. He
went on to say that the Conservation Commission was successful
in receiving approval from all the Town agencies and splendid
cooperation from people in the Town.
lir. Edwin S. Murral,' , Arent for the Commission, stated
that Berlin has been ver-r fortunate in that it has received
much open-space land as rifts to the Town , such as sage Park
and Ragged Mountain. he went on to saythat no matter how
high the price of oil goes , water '.,rill be worth more .
It was stated that the Cooley property has been appraised
at $176 ,000 .00 and with state and federal grants paying
$132,000.00 , Mr. Cooler.• is making a gift of the Town' s share ,
which is $44 ,000.00. f
AirChairman Bengston emphasized that the Town would not be
losing much in taxes b- takinc, the land since Mr. Cooley has
recentl" filed an ampllcation for tax relief under Public
Conservation Commission - 3 - January 14 , 1981
Act 490 . In the pact , Mr . Cooley has paid approximately
42500.00 per year and ;ill now be paring only about 147.00
a year.
Approximately 5 r:eor?e attenr'er' the Pu'n' ic Hearing .
Meeting a ' `ourne'' at e :21 p.m.
Fesrectfully submitted ,
Nancy `Dubuc
Secretary of the Commission
I hereby certify this to be a true and exact copy of
the minutes of a Public Hearing held in the Town of
Berlin on January 14, 1981.
i ` Y
oanne G. Ward
Town Clerk of Berlin
Dated at Perlin, Connecticut this 21st day of January, 1981
A
CERT IFICAT : `:F P?? f PA:'iON IN PROJECT SELECTION
C
I hereby certify that a puri:.:' hearing was held on January 14, 1981
on the acquisition and or development of the recreational facilities known as
The Cooley Property and the attached list is a true
and correct copy of thos.- indiv_1(tuals ani citizen groups who testified at said
public hearing.
Dated at merlin, Connecticut this 21st . day of January, 1981
L ZL -
Town Clerk