Feb. 7 -- The "Ridgefield Open Space Committee" met on Sunday at the handsome home of Allan and Mindy Eskanazi in Ridgebury to discuss the next steps in the effort to protect the open space of Ridgefield. The subject immediately at hand is the 670 acres of open space surrounding Bennett's Ponds.
[Photo: ROSA organizers Tom Venus, Debbie Mandelbaum, Ellen Burns, and
Eric Kristoffersen listen to the comments of one of the ROSA members.]
This huge tract of land was farmed nearly two hundred years ago but has laid fallow since then. Now trees towering one hundred feet tall dot the rugged landscape. Centered in the middle of the property are the pristine Bennett's Ponds, today one pond since some beavers built a dam and merged two smaller bodies into one large one. The water is clean enough to drink and the wildlife untouched by humanity. The landscape abounds with deer, turkeys, birds of prey and dozens of smaller species of mammals, reptiles and birds. Now owned by a New Jersey development corporation, these hills are the proposed site for offices for 2,000 people, a two-hundred room hotel, a conference center, 180 homes and an 18-hole golf course. When this parcel is linked with the surrounding town and State lands, it represents over 1600 acres - mile after square mile - of land untouched since the days of the American revolution.
[Photo: Members of the R.O.S.A. team met on Sunday to develop plans for
their defense of the Bennett's Farm Property. Members of the public
concerned about the over-development of this prehistoric wooodlands are
urged to call the First Selectmen, Abe Morelli, at 431-2774.]
The R.O.S.A. organization is dedicated to preserving this land for future
generations, and their organization is formidable. At this weekend's
meeting, they establish sub-committees for State Relations, Local
Activities, Environmental Planning, Financial and Legal, Public
Awareness, links to the Saugatuck River Initiative, a committee to work
the State D.O.T. on rebuilding Route 7, and the always-popular
fund-raising committee. More than 25 people attended this weekend's
meeting, and some preliminary door-to-door canvasing suggests that the
group could rouse thousands of voters concerned about this unseemingly
development plan.
While they did not disclose their near-term tactics, clearly the political process will come into their game plan. They intend to bring community pressure upon the Selectmen, the Planning & Zoning Committee and the new Town's Master Plan, the Board of Finance, Parks & Rec, and even the Board of Ed. "This would be a great site for the new school," one member said, "and that would leave about 600 acres left for parks, fields and hiking trails."
This writer was impressed by the quality and the integrity of the members of the R.O.S.A. organization. Environmental groups are often seen as radical, uncomprosmising, anti-business, and almost anti-people. This group could not be farther removed from the tree-hugging luddites of California and the Pacific Northwest. The members are business people, lawyers and accountants, web-savvy folk and people who still (gasp!) lack email, teachers, retired folk, students, husbands and wives, mothers and fathers. Their common bond is the desire to protect Ridgefield in a positive manner - not a "head in the sand" confrontation, but a sense that Ridgefield is a wonderful place, almost a place out of time, and only hard work now will keep it come from becoming a megalopolis like Long Island or New Jersey.
In fact, the developers who own the Bennett's pond property are proud of the fact they built New Jersey's single largest real estate development project, on the Hudson River.
Developers Speak at Packed Dec. '98 Selectmen's Meeting
Click here to see the development plan for the property (94K)
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