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- Category: Past Issues
400+ acres
will be
protected
By Linda Lemmon
Town Crier Editor
POMFRET --- The town's land preservation campaign will take a giant step forward at the Oct. 28 town meeting if residents approve spending $1 million to preserve more than 400 acres off Rt. 244.
Jim Rivers, the town's first selectman, said the $1 million price tag is part of the $4 million set aside by residents two years ago to preserve open spaces in town.
The money would be used to purchase and acquire the development rights of 468 acres of land currently owned by the Raynham Corp, Inc. Rivers said the parcel, which abuts other open spaces, was one of the parcels the town was interested when it began its land protection campaign. No agreement came from that first contact but Raynham and the town came back to the table and worked out an agreement. Rivers said the purchase price is the smallest per acre price paid thus far in the land protection campaign.
The property has some wetlands, some forest, lots of road frontage and the "Lost Village" and a cemetery. It is adjacent to the 4-H property. The Nature Conservancy has a large parcel near there. "The whole area is protected. This adds to it," Rivers said. Pomfret's assertive land protection efforts were recently recognized as the town received the Pathfinders Award from the Working Lands Alliance. "The award recognizes that Pomfret is a leader (in land preservation) on a state level. It shows that we're not just thinking about preserving land, we're doing it," Rivers said.