My name is Jay Willerup and I’m a life- long resident of Avon and Simsbury. I consider myself very fortunate to grow up where access to many state parks are just a few minutes away. I was appalled to hear about SB 887 and felt I needed to speak up for myself, others, and those who are not as fortunate as so many. SB 887 spells bad times for our Parks, woodlands, forests, trails, uplands, and coast line, etc. The Connecticut residents don’t deserve this short sighted bill to go any further and it must stop here and now. I’m writing to you regarding the budget for the amount of $15 million versus the requested $40 and $41 million for the next two years from DEEP. This is completely the wrong direction to protect our publics’ exterior activities. During the past year the Parks, Forest, trails, etc., have all been extensively used. As this pandemic has taken a large mental health toll on many, they have seen the Parks as an outlet to come and enjoy - the perfect place for social distancing and getting outdoors safely. I know many cases where this is what helped people get through these difficult times. As president of the Friends of Tower, I have driven by the entrance many times, only to see the cars overflowing the park onto route 185, a main travel route between Simsbury and Hartford. I was constantly getting calls from both strangers and friends who were wondering what was going on at the tower. I’m sure and Heublein Tower were no different than any recreational facilities across the state and probably nation-wide, even world-wide. People were able to leave their homes, apartments and condominiums, get outdoors, get some exercise yet feel safe in a limited public environment. With all the traffic of last year, it takes a toll. The trails need a redressing, leveling, and traditional trail maintenance. Society was lucky to have these facilities to use, and now when we would expect to have the funding for repairs, that is being ripped away from us. Likewise, there are many buildings in these parks that are historical in nature and deserve to be preserved with care. Our own iconic Heublein Tower is in danger of continually experiencing internal rot. There is no heat in the building causing extreme condensation issues. As the building becomes warm and then cools, the condensation forms then freezes causing building degradation. There is no heat, ventilation, air conditioning, or humidity control. It has gotten so bad that some of the building glass is no longer secured is the sash and the glass is starting to fall out. The glass is located 150 feet above the grounds, posing a real health risk especially if we aren’t able to fix it shortly. Talcott Mountain State Park typically receives between 100,000 and 150,000 visitors in a year. Those figures are about 7 years old and there is no way to know how many people visited the park this year due to the pandemic. We can only imagine the increase in usage was significant. The tower itself last year recorded visitors from all 50 states and 48 countries from around the world. Heublein tower alone could use the 15 million just to bring it up to a respectable park and eliminate any potential health risks. What was once a house for a family and the occasional visitors, now has a new life as a museum for all of the public. This includes all of the other buildings too. It would be ashamed to lose these buildings and the rest of the estate grounds due to neglect. Our State residents don’t deserve ignoring one of the best assets. We respectfully ask that SB 887 end here and now. We have all hope that we can restore these great Parks for our visitors near and far to bring their families and friends in the future, but with the amount of only $15 million, it is extremely difficult to envision a way to do that now and it would be such a shame for many residents and non-residents to be forced to close the park, reduce the hours, reduce maintenance eliminate restoration, etc.

Thank you,

JAY

Jay T. Willerup, A.I.A. President Board of Directors Friends of Heublein Tower www.friendsofheubleintower.org E-Mail: [email protected] Cell: 860-559-7814 P.O. Box 991 Avon, CT 06001