P.O. Box 373
Middletown, CT 06457
Promoting responsible development of our city since 1981
WestfieldResidents@gmail.com
- WETLANDS AND SLOPE: About half of the acreage on this site is classified as wetlands. most of the non wetland areas have a steep slope of 15-20%.
See map, above right. Full sized map is available here. - WETLANDS: “Boardman Lane Wetlands Synopsis” from the Purcell In-Depth Survey in 1981 ranks this as Middletown’s 5th most important wetland out of 107 that were studied.
- SPECIES OF CONCERN. The wetlands on this site contains three species of special concern: the Eastern Box Turtle (terrepene carolina), Sedge (carex squarrosa), and Marsh Horsetail (equisetum palustre), as identified by the State of Connecticut's Natural Diversity Database.
This area is shown on the image on the left, which is taken from the State of Connecticut's Natural Diversity Database.
Environment
- NO CITY OVERSIGHT: The Army Corps of Engineers have stated that this project is not subject to review by any city agency. It will not be reviewed by the Conservation Commission, or the Inland Wetlands Commission.
- RIDGELINE: Concern about the protection of the ridgeline on the property – while most people think of ridgelines in terms of aesthetics, or pretty views, ridgelines do serve a purpose for such things as moderating erosion and sedimentation, and reducing public safety hazards like poor fire flows, they also protect unique landforms and wildlife – and on this lot, if you refer to the maps, the ridgeline is also made up of wetlands areas, which are slated to be moved.
- POLLUTION: One of the functions of this army training base will be the maintenance of military equipment – this would include the washing of equipment. There is concern that the run off from the cleaning will pollute the area land and water sources. The Military is the nation's biggest polluter, and refuses to abide by Environmental Protection Agency laws from 1986 which require them to clean up contaminated sites, as reported on June 30th in the Washington Post.
- WETLANDS: The Army's own presentation in Middletown (dated June 10th, 2008 and available here) indicates that on this site there is "not enough buildable acreage, wetlands and stream split the parcel." We've heard the questionable argument that the Corps will "move" the wetland area and that it is permissible to do so - BUT you don't know if the "move" is successful until years afterward when the damage has already been done. What happens to the multiple species of life that live and procreate in this habitat in the meantime - how will they be sustained in the interim years?
