Organic Farm Endorsed by Commission

It took a full growing season, but the Fairfield Organic Teaching Farm finally received an endorsement from the town's Conservation Commission to establish a farm on town-owned land.

"It does fit the criteria for use," Elizabeth Jones, a member of the Conservation Commission, said Thursday night of Pamela Jones' plan to establish the organic teaching farm on 2 acres of the 58.5-acre Hoyden's Hill Open Space.

"Yes, it does," said Town Conservation Director Thomas Steinke.

Thursday night's vote was only an endorsement - not an approval - because Stanton Lesser, chairman of the Conservation Commission, said the commission wants to see the lease that First Selectman Ken Flatto draws up with the Fairfield Organic Teaching Farm.

"I think you should report back to us on the terms of the lease before the lease is signed," Lesser said to Flatto. "We're not giving final approval until we see what's in the lease."

Flatto is allowed to enter into leases that are no more than three years without approval from the Representative Town Meeting, though he didn't abide by that restriction when he entered into a lease with Robert Haydu, a longtime farmer, for town-owned land on Congress Street known as "Greenfield Farm." That lease was for two years but included a two-year renewal option at Haydu's sole discretion, which means the lease is actually for four years.

The Fairfield Organic Teaching Farm's first choice was Greenfield Farm, but Haydu's lease on that property doesn't expire until December 31, 2013 if Haydu wants the two-year renewal option.

The FOTF needs approval from the Conservation Commission to establish a farm on the Hoyden's Hill Open Space because that property, unlike Greenfield Farm, is under the jurisdiction of the Conservation Commission and governed by a management plan. Agriculture is a permitted use in the Hoyden's Hill Open Space Management Plan, and some of the land was leased to a private farmer as recently as the 1990s.

The commission's endorsement Thursday night wasn't entirely cosmetic. Lesser said the Fairfield Organic Teaching Farm, once it has a lease, would be in a better position to raise money.

Milan Bull, vice chairman of the commission, wasn't able to attend Thursday night's meeting, but he expressed concern in a letter about the impact the organic teaching farm could have on rare bird species.

The last bird survey of the property was conducted by Buzz Devine about six years ago when town officials wanted to build athletic fields on the property, and the survey identified three bird species "of special concern" - brown thrasher, wood thrush and blue-winged warbler.

Bull said in his letter that six years was "a long time in terms of habitat change" and suggested the town conduct a "diversity and density study that identifies exactly what birds of conservation concern are nesting here and where they are nesting." Bull suggested the study be done in the next breeding season in June or July.

"I believe to protect and conserve these threatened bird species is in the public's best interest and should be a Town priority before any land use change is employed," Bull's letter said.

Lesser said, "That sounds pretty reasonable to me."

But Flatto said the commission doesn't have money to do a bird study and that postponing a vote indefinitely "doesn't seem like the right thing to do."

Pamela Jones said her group was focused on farming and that other activities related to education and demonstrations could be held at Pequot Library in Fairfield's Southport neighborhood, which hosted the group's "Hummingbird Awards" on Wednesday night, or the Greenfield Hill Grange on Hillside Road.

"We're not planning to do business up there. We're planning to grow up there," Pamela Jones said of the Hoyden's Hill Open Space, adding that her group had plenty of volunteer labor.