$500,000 State Grant Secured for Griswold

Town officials, local and state conservation groups, and the Trust for Public Land (TPL) received the news they had been hoping for last week. Under the state's open space program, the town received a $500,000 grant for the conservation of 17.4 acres of the 42-acre Griswold property.

"This is a good day for Madison," First Selectman Fillmore McPherson said last Wednesday after attending the ceremony in which Governor M. Jodi Rell announced the grant recipients.

TPL, on behalf of the town, submitted an application for funding in May under the state's Open Space and Watershed Land Acquisition Grant Program administered by the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). The funds will reduce to amount the town needs to bond for the remaining costs for the Griswold purchase.

The 42-acre property was purchased by the town in May from Madison Landing Company, LLC, a subsidiary of LeylandAlliance, the developer that proposed to build a 127-unit adult community on the former airport site (see related story and video to the right). The property is adjacent to Hammonasset State Park and includes prime wetland habitat, upland forest, and significant frontage along the Hammonasset River and the tidal wetlands of Long Island Sound. The grant announced last week will secure the conservation of 17.4 acres-the most ecologically significant area of the property-through a conservation easement. A committee appointed by the Board of Selectmen is presently working to complete designs for use of the remaining acres.

"Madison appreciates this help from the state in buying the airport property. We believed that saving this environmentally valuable piece was important and we are pleased that Governor Rell and the state agree with us," McPherson said. "It's not every day that Madison receives $500,000 from the state. It will be a significant help. It will lower our bond payments over the next 20 years."

Alicia Betty, project and philanthropy director of TPL, said, "We're delighted that the state has recognized the significance of this important coastal land and is contributing to this effort to assist the town and the many donors who came together to protect the land at Griswold Airport and to transform it into a park for all to enjoy."

In addition to writing the application for the state grant, TPL was instrumental in carrying out negotiations with LeylandAlliance to purchase the site.

Audubon Connecticut joined in the applause. Vice President and Executive Director Thomas Baptist said the site to be conserved is "an important bird area of global significance on the avian migratory highway known as the Atlantic Flyway that stretches from Canada to South America. The protection of the Griswold Airport will safeguard a critical rest stop along this migratory route and provide a park where people can experience nature and enjoy outdoor recreation."

Leyland purchased the former airport property in 2007 after holding an option to buy the land since 2000. A plan to build Madison Landing, a 127-unit active adult community, was eventually approved in 2008. The plan was controversial and faced opposition from environmental and conservation groups, some Madison citizens, and the grassroots organization Stop Griswold Over Development (SGOD). In 2008, at the request of Al Goldberg, then first selectman, and other town officials, TPL opened negotiations with Leyland for a conservation solution. In September 2009, TPL announced an agreement to purchase the property for $9.5 million.

TPL, with support from Audubon Connecticut, SGOD, and local volunteers agreed to raise $1.7 million toward the purchase. TPL and Audubon Connecticut secured bridge financing and the property was purchased in May. TPL is continuing its fundraising efforts through this fall and progress is being made toward repaying the bridge loans.

TPL is a national non-profit organization that works with partners and communities to conserve land for people to enjoy. It has protected more than 6,000 acres of open space, watershed land, working farms and forestland, and historic resources in 32 communities across Connecticut. In addition to its role in the Griswold property purchase and grant application, it has partnered with the Madison Land Conservation Trust in a project to preserve 77 acres of land in North Madison at Summer Hill Road. This project also received a $500,000 open space grant under the DEP program. (Please see accompanying story linked to the right.)

Finances and Bonding

In January of this year Madison voters approved a $9 million bond to cover the town's portion of the purchase price and to make improvements to the property. Of that total, $7.8 million was the town's portion of the check to LeylandAlliance. Another

$1.2 million was to be set aside for the estimated costs of restoration, renovation, and bonding costs.

In May the town chose to bond $7.905 million-the payment to Leyland plus the legal and bonding costs-rather than the full

$9 million. The grant application to the state was being written and other funding sources were being investigated. The town decided to wait for several months before bonding additional funds, if needed. Also, McPherson pointed out, the town knew it was going out into the bond market in the fall to borrow $5.5 million for the senior center and ambulance facility. Any additional funds needed for Griswold could be tied into this larger bond issue.

"The good news is, this all worked out," McPherson said last week. Two months ago the town received word that it had been awarded a $200,000 brownfields grant to help with the costs of remediation of the site. Now the $500,000 conservation grant has been received. Both grants will be applied to the final costs for Griswold, reducing the need for the bond to $395,000.

"Our predictions worked perfectly," McPherson said. "We received the grants we hoped for and it all fits perfectly as we now go out to borrow for the senior center and ambulance facility."

Rather than borrowing just over $1 million, the town is borrowing significantly less, he explained.

McPherson said the town expects to conduct its bond sale sometime in early November "and we expect a very low interest rate." The senior center and ambulance facility total

$5.515 million. The Griswold portion, $395,000, will piggyback on that. McPherson is hoping the town can sell its bonds at interest rates lower than four percent, "but we shouldn't count our chickens before they're hatched."