Date: Fri 18-Apr-1997

Publication: Bee

Author: ANDYG

Quick Words:

Fairfield-Hills-agriculture

Full Text:

State Seeks Farm Uses For Fairfield Hills Acreage

B Y A NDREW G OROSKO

The state Department of Agriculture (DOA) is seeking proposals from farmers

and growers who want to rent about 125 acres at Fairfield Hills from the state

for agricultural use.

Joseph Dippel, DOA's director of farmland preservation, said Tuesday the

agricultural land the state wants to rent out for private use is composed of

seven fields. The land lies generally northeast of Queen Street and generally

northwest of Mile Hill Road. The acreage doesn't include the fenced land used

by the Governor's Horse Guard or the agricultural land located near Fairfield

Hills' hilltop reservoir.

The largest of the fields to be leased is 47 acres and the smallest is less

than 8 acres. The land consists of grass hayland on relatively flat and gently

sloping areas.

Proposals will be accepted on using the entire 125-acre parcel, as well as

smaller sections of it, Mr Dippel said.

After the DOA receives proposals, it will closely review them in making a

decision on future agricultural uses at Fairfield Hills, Mr Dippel said. The

deadline for submissions to DOA is May 9.

Applicants will be required to submit a farm resource management plan and a

conservation plan for the land during the period it would be used. The

conservation plan would minimize soil erosion and maintain the land's

agricultural productivity.

In reviewing land use proposals, the DOA will consider allowing the planting

of food- and fiber-producing crops, such as row crops, hay, fruits,

vegetables, and other crops.

In considering the proposals, the DOA will gauge the agricultural activity's

overall impact on the land's productivity and the condition of the land.

Farmers and growers who use the land would be required to provide permanent

cover on the areas they have leased at the end of the lease period.

Leases would be written for a five-year period, with an option for an added

two years, at the discretion of the DOA commissioner.

Fairfield Hills, a former psychiatric hospital which was extensively farmed in

the past, holds prime agricultural soils.

The soils' richness allows various crops to be grown there, Mr Dippel said.

The large low meadow at Fairfield Hills just north of Mile Hill Road, and

lying between Nunnawauk Road and the Pootatuck River, might be best kept as a

hayfield to protect underground water quality, Mr Dippel said. The area is

atop the Pootatuck aquifer, the town's designated sole source underground

water supply.

Fairfield Hills is the largest tract of land in Fairfield County that lies

under single ownership, he said, terming it "a unique piece of land."

In its 1994 Re-use Plan for Fairfield Hills, the ad hoc Fairfield Hills Task

Force placed a high priority on preserving open space at the 650-acre

Fairfield Hills. The state has designated roughly 200 acres at Fairfield Hills

for land preservation, including agricultural uses. Fairfield County has very

few large farms.