Tuesday, November 23, 2021

Battle rages to save Remington Woods

 

 By Reginald Johnson 

 

     BRIDGEPORT ---- Zoning officials will likely decide the fate of Remington Woods next week following a hearing where dozens of people spoke passionately in favor preserving the more than 400-acre tract along the Stratford border.

 The Planning and Zoning commission has scheduled a meeting for Monday, November 29 at 6:30 pm to continue discussion on and likely vote on the proposed new city zoning regulations, which include a rezoning of the Remington Woods tract from industrial to commercial.

  If approved, that change is likely to pave the way for a subsidiary of the DuPont Corporation to develop the woods for corporate offices. DuPont is the owner of the property, which has sat untouched for decades after the Remington Arms company used the woods for munitions testing.

 Preservationists from Bridgeport and other communities attended a zoning hearing on the new regulations on November 16 and 17 to adamantly oppose the zone change for the woods and demand that the area be kept as a natural wildlife preserve. The speakers said preserving the mature hardwood forest is vital in the battle to combat climate change and reduce the effects of air pollution which triggers health problems such as asthma.

   “The woods are home to endangered box turtles, a family of bald eagles, fox, deer, over 70 species of birds and thousands and thousands of trees,’’ said Beth Lazar of Bridgeport.

  The Remington Woods area, Lazar said, “should be zoned in its entirety as a nature preserve and not as a park as they are two different things. Parks have roads, picnic areas and spaces for events. Remington Woods should be a protected living community for plants and animals.”

  A member of the group Preserve Remington Woods, Lazar noted that 17% of the office space in Bridgeport is now vacant and there are many vacant lots. “Why doesn’t Bridgeport rehab the spaces for commercial use rather than knocking down the forest?”

   Lazar said over 1000 people have signed a petition asking that the Remington ship Woods forest be preserved.

   She told the commissioners “in this age of climate change crisis, high pollution and asthma rates in Bridgeport, it is unconscionable to knock down the forest.”

  Some top elected officials have swung their support behind efforts to save Remington Woods. Councilwoman Maria Pereira, who represents the area where the Remington forest is located, said U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D – Connecticut, has sent a letter to both the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, requesting that Remington Woods be protected as a nature and wildlife preserve.


The lake at Remington Woods


  But the city’s proposed plan appears to strike a compromise between those who want to preserve the woods completely and the corporate owners who are seeking development. The zoning plan calls for changing the area from light industrial to residential-office center.

   City Planner Lynn Haig, from the Office of Planning and Economic Development, said the Sporting Goods company, DuPont’s subsidiary which is now remediating the site, has said it prefers to maintain some form of light industrial zoning because “it is the most permissive current code we currently have.”

  According to the Connecticut Post, Haig told the commission that the current zoning classification “allows intense development without any conservation. We have proposed a clean mixed-use zone that requires the owner to submit a master plan to the planning and zoning commission for its review and approval.”

  Haig said that any such plan would have to include open space.

According to the Post, Haig said “The city cannot take the further step some would advocate and just zone the property as parks and open space.”

  She said that not only would that remove the economic potential from the Remington site, but such a classification might be legally challenged as a form of “reverse condemnation.”

   But several speakers, including some from out of town, expressed astonishment that Bridgeport was on the verge of allowing such a beautiful and extensive forest area, which includes a lake, to be developed.

  Stanley Heller of Danbury, from the organization Promoting Enduring Peace, said it was vital to preserve mature trees in the battle against global warming. “Preservation of mature woods like the one in Bridgeport is essential. It would be an outrage to destroy the thousands of trees there to develop some office park or cemetery or dump.”

  He added, “With what we know about the growing perils of the world climate the destruction of Remington Woods could be considered a possible international crime. Preserve the woods intact. All of it.”

 Scott Ward of West Haven said it was his understanding that the Remington Woods site contains some archaeological significance. “That alone should stop everything,” he said.

  Ward said that when all factors are taken together --- the fight against climate change, improving air quality, preserving a beautiful forest and wildlife, together with the possible archaeological considerations, it’s clear that the Remington Woods forest should be completely preserved.

  “It’s almost embarrassing your town is in this situation,” he commented.


A road into Remington Woods


   Speakers said Bridgeport officials should take heed of what came out of the recently concluded COP 26 conference on global warming in Scotland. World leaders there pledged to end deforestation --- a process which leads to carbon build-up and rising temperatures.

  Bridgeport Mayor Joseph Ganim attended that conference and was quoted in the Connecticut Post as justifying his overseas trip because municipal leaders, he said, have a “role to play” in setting policies relating to climate change.

  But Callie Heillman, of Bridgeport Generation Now, took Ganim to task. “While the mayor is correct that there is a role that we all play, the reason why there is such a groundswell of people testifying on this issue tonight and submitted comments is there is a complete lack of commitment from the administration to fully preserve the woods.”

  She added,  “To say we will work with the property owners to develop a plan which will include open space is not the same as a commitment to working with organizations here on the ground… to come up with a plan that would acquire and protect the woods.”

  Pereira criticized the zoning commission for failing to make sure that all the phone lines were working for the hearing which was done by Zoom. She said that some of her constituents were not able to get through on the toll-free numbers.

  “This is a violation of public hearing access laws under the Freedom of Information act. This meeting is illegal,” she said.

   Commissioners said later that they had addressed the problem of the phone lines.

 Pereira also spoke in favor of preserving Remington Woods and described how the construction and remediation work that has gone on so far has exacerbated flooding in the upper East Main Street area in the district that she represents.

  Spokesmen for the Sierra Club and the Greater Bridgeport NAACP also lent their support to the preservation effort.

 A spokeswoman for the Sierra Club testified that “Bridgeport has some of the dirtiest air in the country and high rates of health disparities that make Bridgeport residents highly susceptible to health crises like Covid 19 and we know that in situations like this frontline communities suffer the most,”

  She added “although development of the woods is being touted as an economic gain for the area the communities will ultimately gain no benefit and potentially will have to pay the cost for over development.”

 

 

 

 

   

 

No comments:

Post a Comment