Stonington board approves Coogan Farm Nature and Heritage Center
Mystic — The Stonington Planning and Zoning Commission approved a special-use permit Tuesday for the creation of the Coogan Farm Nature and Heritage Center on Route 27.
The commission attached eight stipulations to its approval, including one that is designed to address concerns by commission members about the number and size of special events that the center’s owner, the Denison Pequotsepos Nature Center, might hold there.
The commission agreed that no third-party private events, such as weddings, will be allowed on the property until the nature center returns to the commission with clarification about its plans for special events.
Nature center officials have said the property might host occasional special events, and it is working on agreements with the adjacent Precious Memories Preschool, Mystic Seaport and other nearby properties to allow overflow parking and use of a shuttle service to the site.
During a public hearing on the permit request, nature center Executive Director Maggie Jones tried to reassure the commission, saying, “It’s the nature center. We’re not looking at doing any large events on a regular basis. We’re not looking to use it for mega events.”
Last fall, the nature center held the grand opening for the 45-acre Coogan Farm center. The ribbon-cutting culminated a 2½-year effort by the center and the Trust for Public Land to raise $4.1 million in public and private money to buy the property and create the heritage center.
The nature center plans to renovate the Coogan farmhouse into a welcome center/retail shop, classrooms and meeting spaces and offices. The small, white barn across the driveway from the farmhouse will be turned into classroom and exhibit space. A gathering plaza will be created between the two structures, and a 41-space parking lot will be constructed in the lower field.
The 2-acre Giving Garden will be redesigned, and an adjacent outdoor classroom will be created. A post-and-beam pavilion, called the Hamm Pavilion and Outdoor Classroom, will be constructed next to the stone foundation known as the Paddock. A bicycle/pedestrian trail also will be constructed from Clara Drive through the property to Route 27.
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