Beacon Hill Preserve At The Crossroads

A plan to build 10 homes near the Beacon Hill Preserve in Branford is drawing opposition from environmentalists who claim the project will impede the ridge line. The developer, however, contends the homes will not endanger the ridge line and will enhance the area.

The issue came to the forefront during a 2 ½ hour hearing before the Planning and Zoning Commission’s March 4th meeting. The area in question is a 10-acre residentially-zoned site adjacent to the 70-acre Beacon Hill Preserve. The preserved land includes salt marshes surrounding a traprock ridge with panoramic views of Long Island Sound and New Haven Harbor. 

The developer, Susan Doing, a Branford real estate agent, is proposing an Open Space Residential Subdivision at 83 Rose Hill Rd. The project, known as Beacon Hill Estates, would include 10 single-family homes and would also upgrade two areas of wetlands that are on the property. The development has already been approved by the Inland Wetlands Commission.

“This open space development is going to enhance the area,” said David Gibson, the developer’s attorney. ​“Look at it now, it’s a mess.”

Years ago, the property was used as a chicken farm and chicken processing facility. The wetland areas are overcome by invasive plants and have been used as illegal dumping grounds.

Gibson said the proposed development with the restored wetlands would act as a buffer between the Preserve and the existing residential and commercial sites along Rose Hill Road.

Environmental groups disagreed. 

“If you’re talking about value of a resource, Beacon Hill is more valuable than the open spaces here,” said Bill Horne in regard to the proposed development. ​“The ridge is critically important for the viewscapes.”

Horne, who co-chairs the town’s Conservation and Environmental Commission, said five of the proposed housing lots would be near the ridge line and would sit at an elevation of about 100 feet. In addition, some of the properties would be about 10 to 20 feet from the Branford Trail.

“If you’re walking on the ridge, you won’t be looking in the second story windows, you’ll be looking in the first story windows,” Horne told the commission.

Besides his own view, he informed the P&Z that two town conservation groups oppose it. “the Conservation Commission and the Select Committee on Open Space Acquisition do not consider this proposal is protecting the open spaces on the parcel. SCOSA can’t support it and the Conservation Commission opposes it.”

Chris Peterson, a member of a group affiliated with the Farm River, also addressed the P&Z Commission. “The Friends of Farm River Estuary are very concerned about this development,” said Peterson. He asked the commission to carefully weigh all the issues. “I put it in your hands, but I ask and beg you to do all in your power to make the right decision.”

Ainsley Highman, a member of Branford’s Select Committee on Open Space Acquisition (SCOSA), and chairman of the Parks and Open Space Authority, spoke on behalf of both organizations. 

“We are concerned about the plan because of the effect on the traprock ridge and the Branford Trail,” Highman said.

No decision was reached Thursday. “It’s something we’ve got to deliberate and discuss,” said Ellsworth McGuigan, who chairs the P & Z.

The area known as the Beacon Hill Preserve  was purchased by Branford and the state in 1990 following a decade of contention over proposed developments. Beacon Hill is part of the Metacomet Ridge, a traprock area that stretches from Connecticut through Massachusetts. 

The land in the current proposal was not part of the controversy that surfaced in the 1980s. At that time, three separate proposals for the 70-acre site were defeated, partly through the efforts of a grass-roots organization known as the Beacon Hill Preservation Society. In a precedent-setting move, the Branford Land Trust spearheaded a fund-raising campaign that enabled the town and state to preserve the property.

Attorney Gibson disputed any claims that this project would harm the ridge. “There is no reasonable cause to believe the traprock ridge is threatened.”

He said the project, which has been in the works for a number of years, was originally designed as a conventional subdivision. 

“It was brought to our attention by (town) staff and other interested parties … that it would be more appropriate to have an Open Space Residential Subdivision,” Gibson said. He said the plans were changed, even thought the approval process for Open Space Subdivisions is more complex.
“The thought was that we could develop the property with the idea it would be basically supported,” Gibson said, adding that he was surprised when the SCOSA committee raised objections when he met with them several months ago.  “That’s where we first met with some resistance.”

Horne, who is also a member of SCOSA, presented the Planning and Zoning Commission with a document from the committee that outlined their objections. He also discussed a map showing the placement of the housing lots in relation to the Metacomet Ridge. The light pink shading on the map are 100-foot elevations; the darkest pink shading indicates elevations of 120 feet or more.

Shirley McCarthy, a member of the Community Forest Commission, questioned the need for a housing development.  “We need to protect the wetlands as well as the forest and the ridge and it doesn’t make sense we develop this here,” she said.

“I think we’re losing track of the big picture here,” said Attorney Gibson. “This is a private piece of property that is zoned for housing.”

Gibson said the project is only required to meet one of the regulations for an Open Space Subdivision, and that it actually meets at least four of them.

“We’re faced with an alternative here. We either go one way or another,” Gibson said in regard to the two types of plans. “I think this (open space) is still the better plan.”

Scott Stevens, an environmental specialist with Soil Science and Environmental Services in Cheshire, told the P&Z Commission that the housing project is not close enough to the ridge top to fall under special state guidelines for protecting the Metacomet Ridge. Stevens was hired by the developer and her company, Shearwater Properties Inc.

“It does not threaten the ridgeline,” Gibson said, adding that the developer has worked with the town while designing the development. “This is an excellent project for this piece of property.”

The engineer for the development is Andrew Grundy, of Paulus, Sokolowski and Sartor, a nationally acclaimed architectural and engineering firm headquartered in Warren, N.J.

The Planning and Zoning Commission meets March 18 for an administrative session, and will hold its next regular meeting April 1.