Date: Fri 10-Sep-1999

Publication: Bee

Author: ANDYG

Quick Words:

Shelby-McChord-open-space

Full Text:

Resident Says Newtown May Be Blocked From State Park Access

B Y A NDREW G OROSKO

A woman who lives in the Poverty Hollow section of town is warning that town

residents' direct recreational access to Huntington State Park in adjacent

Redding is in jeopardy in light of a lawsuit pending in court.

Shelby McChord of 22 Greenleaf Farms Road said Wednesday that changes in the

status of easements held by the Newtown Bridle Lands Association (NBLA)

threaten to make it much more difficult for horseback riders, hikers and

bicyclists to gain entry to the park. The NBLA has held those easements for

the past decade.

Ms McChord pointed to a pending lawsuit in which Marcia Cavanaugh, the owner

of 42 Greenleaf Farms Road, is seeking to nullify an NBLA easement on her

property which allows access to the park from that road.

"Mr and Mrs [Lawrence] Cavanaugh purchased a home from Toll Brothers in the

Greenleaf Farms subdivision. There is an easement across a short distance of

their driveway that links Newtown to Huntington State Park. This is the only

access for all of Newtown that hooks up with the park directly," said Ms

McChord, an NBLA member.

The Cavanaughs' basis for the court request to nullify the easement is that

the developer from whom they bought the property did not hold legal title to

the property, and therefore could not impose an easement upon it, according to

Ms McChord.

"If Cavanaugh wins this case, it opens a huge can of worms," Ms McChord said.

A Cavanaugh victory would eliminate Newtown's only direct access to the park,

would nullify the Planning and Zoning Commission's (P&Z) efforts to create

trail easements, and would cast in doubt the legality of the titles on 61

properties in the area, according to Ms McChord. A dispute over legal titles

also would cloud the future of an open space meadow in the area, she said.

"Newtown is going to be cut off from the state park very soon if action isn't

taken," she said. It is important for the town government to support the trail

easements created in the past by the P&Z, she said.

Ms McChord adds that access to the state park via a bridle association

easement at 35 Equestrian Ridge Road was terminated by Bridgeport Hydraulic

Company (BHC) two weeks ago. "Although this is a route that Newtown has been

using for nearly ten years, Bridgeport Hydraulic has posted `No Trespassing

For Any Reason' signs every ten feet," Ms McChord stated.

A 400-foot wide piece of BHC land lies between the easement and the park.

"BHC has made it very clear if you are found on any of their property

bordering the state park... you will be arrested for trespassing," she said.

She suggested that the water company give a strip of its land there to the

state so that Newtowners will have direct access to the park.

Ms McChord said the P&Z created a good open space plan for the area when it

was residentially subdivided by sanctioning the easements now held by the

bridle group. Ms McChord added that she would hate to see that open space plan

fail due to town indifference about the state park access problem.

First Selectman Herbert Rosenthal said Wednesday Town Attorney David Grogins

is researching whether the bridle group's trail easement conflict is a town

issue.

"I have had phone calls from people who have horses who've said they've been

blocked from getting into the park," Mr Rosenthal said.

To provide parking for permanent town access to the state park, town officials

are considering building a small parking area on Hopewell Road, he said. The

parking lot would be built with open space funding which the town received

from the Iroquois Natural Gas Transmission System, Mr Rosenthal said.

Ms McChord, however, does not support building a parking lot off Hopewell

Road. That road has become a commuter corridor since it was paved, she said,

adding that police have reported three traffic accidents there in the past

nine months.

Ms McChord recommends that the town build a parking lot off Shut Road for

access to the state park via BHC property.

Ms McChord questions why BHC now prevents access to the park across their land

near 35 Equestrian Ridge Road, but would allow access to the park via its land

near the proposed Hopewell Road parking lot.

Gaining access to the park via Hopewell Road would be more environmentally

hazardous to BHC's watershed property than the Equestrian Ridge Road access

point due to the presence of a stream near Hopewell Road, Ms McChord said.