Woodruff-Farm-Advisory-Committee
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INDEX I. Committee II. Charge III. Site History IV. Process V. Relation of the Woodruff Property to the Town of Guilford VI. Current Status VII. Recommendations VIII. Final Thoughts 2 WOODRUFF FARM ADVISORY COMMITTEE I. Committee The Guilford Board of Selectmen formed the Woodruff Farm Advisory Committee on February 24, 2004, to make recommendations regarding future uses of the property. Committee members were selected for their specific relationship to the area surrounding the Woodruff Farm. Committee members were as follows: Harvey Smith–Committee Chairman, Member of the Board of Selectmen Russell Campaigne–Chairman of the Historical District Nancy Elderbaum–Representing Woodruff Farm neighbors north of the railroad tracks Lawrence Leete–Representing Shoreline East commuters and neighboring Guilford Agricultural Society Steven McGuire–Representing Woodruff Farm neighbors south of the railroad tracks II. Charge Recommendations were to consider “potential uses for the entire property, and shall consider the viability of retaining the current structures remaining on the property for future potential uses by the Town or other appropriate organizations.” “The Committee shall be cognizant of the following factors in making its recommendations: 3 1. The Town is obligated to provide land to the State of Connecticut Department of Transportation (“DOT”) for 400 parking spaces at or in the vicinity of the existing train station as a condition of the DOT’s construction of a new train station in Guilford, which parking must be reasonably convenient to rail station users; 2. Prior to the purchase of the property, the Board of Selectmen voted in favor of this purchase in part so the Town could satisfy the parking obligation of the DOT with respect to the new train station; 3. At the Town Meeting authorizing the purchase of the property on January 16, 2003, Town officials explained that the property was intended for “Class C”* use. 4. The State Department of Transportation has indicated a willingness to discuss the location and phasing of the parking required for the train station site; 5. Only a portion of the nine-acre site would be required for train station parking, leaving the rest of the parcel available for agricultural, recreational, and municipal uses; and 6. The property is located within the Whitfield Street Historic District and the National Register District.” *Class C Open Space is defined as “(possible for high impact use): acquired by the Town with the intent of development for Town infrastructure or facilities; will remain as open space only until such time as the Town sees fit to develop facilities on the property. (Example: the woodland and fields behind Baldwin Middle School.) Of course should the Town actually build on a particular parcel, all land use regulations currently in effect are to be strictly abided by.” 4 III. Site History The Woodruff Farm property has played a long and important role in the history of the Town of Guilford. Henry Whitfield was the original owner of the property. This made up a portion of the farm that went with the Henry Whitfield House, which is now a museum. The Museum has been designated a National Historic Landmark, and is both Connecticut’s and New England’s oldest stone house. Subsequent owners of interest included Samuel Bartlett II, ancestor of previous selectman Samuel Bartlett; Connecticut Governor Rollin Woodruff; Floyd Hunter, previous President of National Pony and Trotting Association; Edward E. Perkins, Sr.; and now the Town of Guilford.1 The two large barns that remain on the site are significant in that they were originally part of the Whitfield House property and were moved to their present locations by Rollin Woodruff in 1905. Governor Woodruff built an Adirondack-style house on the property that was utilized as a summer home, and which included beautiful grounds and a sunken formal garden. The rest of the property was turned into a “model farm,” using the most recent methods for livestock and crop production.2 1 Michael A. McBride, Historical Overview Rollwood Farm, 1999 2 Ibid. 5 Woodruff Farm Formal Garden Floyd and Florence Hunter purchased the property from the Woodruff estate in 1944 and operated it as a commercial dairy farm until 1966. Early in the Hunter’s ownership of the property the Town of Guilford received their permission to use the southern portion of the property as a landfill. Changes in dairy technology and the abundance of less physically taxing work in local cities put an end to the Hunter’s dairy operation. The Hunters sold part of the farm to developers for both the Rollwood and Hunter condominiums; sold the land that became the “Fairgrounds” to the Guilford Agricultural Society; and converted the creamery and garage/incubator to apartments, but maintained the nine-acre core of the property to raise and train trotting ponies. 3 3 Rachel B. Gruzen, Agricultural Architecture and a History of Land Use on Rollwood Farm, Guilford, CT, 2000 6 Perkins purchased the nine-acre farm in 1986 and converted the Adirondack-style house into additional apartments, and running the property primarily for the value of the rental income from the apartments. The house was destroyed by fire in 2000, leaving only the foundation and the chimney. The Town purchased the property in 2003. IV. Process At its initial meeting in March, 2004, the Committee decided that because of the complexity of the issues involved with the site and the number of different groups that have expressed interest in the property in the past, to the Committee would meet the first three Tuesdays of each month. Thus an extended period of information gathering began. The proposed schedule would allow the Committee to consider the State Archaeology report, the DOT site plan, Phase 1 & 2 Site Assessment, feedback from the Town Planner, Engineer, and Environmental Analyst, and proposals from groups that might have an interest in being included in the property’s future uses. Subsequent meetings saw the Committee review the history and significance of the site primarily through a report and site visit by Rachel Gruzen and information provided by Michael McBride, Curator of the Henry Whitfield State Historical Museum. In addition, Jennifer Aniskovich, Executive Director of the Commission on Arts, Tourism, History, Culture and Film, provided suggestions regarding prioritizing future uses of the site and information about availability of State funding. 7 The Committee felt it important that they understand the issues regarding the environmental status of the site, so on March 9th, the Committee met with Jay Curran of GEI Consultants, Inc. GEI dug thirteen test pits and three ground water monitoring wells. The property showed signs of benzene and metal contamination in the southern area of the property along Driveway that exceeded state recommendations. This was the area previously used by the Town as a dump and burning site for local refuse now has nine feet of dump material capped by two feet of fill. Mr. Curran stated that any disturbance in the area resulting from the construction of the train station parking lot would be remediated at the State’s expense. Paved area would be considered a cap and would require minimal remediation. In addition to the review of this environmental report, Town Planner George Kral, Town Engineer James Portley and Town Environmental Planner Leslie Kane provided thoughts on uses for the Woodruff Farm site and how any decision should consider the plan for the Town Center South Project. Mr. Portley recommended that the best use of the old landfill area would be to pave it. This would provide the 199 train station parking spaces required by the State Department of Transportation and eliminate the need for extensive remediation of the site by the Town. Mr. Kral felt that the parking lot on the Woodruff Farm is essential, as he would like to see the area around the property evolve into a more intensely developed neighborhood. 8 He felt the Town Center South Project would provide recommendations for more residential and commercial uses. Ms. Kane said that we should remember why the Town bought the property. Initially many organizations were involved with the vision of the property. The Agricultural Society had a vision for agricultural uses, the Guilford Preservation Alliance had a vision for its historic value, the State had an interest because of the close proximity to the Whitfield Museum, and, of course, the Town had a responsibility to protect the area contaminated by landfill. Ms. Kane stated that utilizing the landfill area for agricultural purposes (such as grazing) would not be recommended, but that a significant portion of the property is not impacted by the contamination and that grazing and other uses would be feasible on those areas. The following individuals and groups were also invited to speak with the Committee to discuss the interests in the site of their respective organizations: · Rick Maynard, Director, Parks and Recreation Department · Mark & Anne McIntyre-Lahner, Local Chapter 4-H Club · Paul Loether, Deputy State Historic Preservation Officer · Preston Maynard, Guilford Preservation Alliance · Gary Melillo, Dawn Ross and Pam Orton, Guilford Center for Children, Inc. · Julie McClennan and Donita Arnury, Shoreline Alliance for the Arts 9 These Committee clearly indicated that these discussions were preliminary in nature, which was important because several groups expressed concern that they were not able to prepare a formal presentation. Assurances were given by the Committee that what was important at this time was an understanding of the groups’ interest in future uses for the site, not the presentation of their final proposals. The following is a brief summary of the concerns of the guests invited to address the Committee after the March 9th meeting. Henry Whitfield Museum (March 16, 2004) Michael McBride, Curator of the Henry Whitfield Museum, has been very interested in helping the Committee from the beginning.