Organic Teaching Farm 'Steers' Sights Onto Hoyden's Hill Open Space

Residents who want to create an organic teaching farm in town are no longer interested in a Hoyden's Lane property where town officials want to build a girls' Little League field.

Instead, the Fairfield Organic Teaching Farm is proposed on part of the 58.5-acre Hoyden's Hill Open Space, a town-owned property under the jurisdiction of the town's Conservation Commission.

First Selectman Ken Flatto said in an e-mail to town conservation and recreation officials that he supports an organic teaching farm on land south of the golf driving range and putting green, and Pamela Jones, a leader in the Fairfield Organic Teaching Farm, also is amenable to the location.

Flatto said in an e-mail to Jones that he supports putting the organic teaching farm on the Hoyden's Hill Open Space Area and that he would seek grants to rehabilitate the barn on the property and for "farm site work needs."

Jones wasn't available Thursday afternoon, but the farm would consist of a 300- foot by 180-foot fenced-in area that includes a 100-foot by 30-foot "hoop house," bermed and raised beds, and a composting area. An existing barn would be used for group workshops and storage of equipment, according to documents in the town's Conservation Department.

The Fairfield Organic Teaching Farm wouldn't have illumination outside the hoop house and plans to install it between mid-August and mid-November to avoid the breeding seasons of rare birds. The organic teaching farm also would avoid the southern end of an open meadow that serves as a habitat for brown thrashers and blue-winged warblers and wouldn't disturb hedgerows that serve as a refuge for the birds, according to Jones.

The original plan, approved by the town's Parks and Recreation Commission, called for the organic teaching farm to occupy an acre of town-owned land at 520 Hoyden's Lane. The acre, part of a 9.42-acre property that the town bought for $1.8 million in December 2007, was to be leased to the organic teaching farm by Flatto for $1 a year for three years.

After the three years ended, the organic teaching farm was supposed to relocate to another town-owned property so the Parks and Recreation Commission, which was given jurisdiction of the 9.42 acres in June, might be able to build additional playing fields on the property.

Jones didn't like the idea of investing time and money in site preparation and soil improvements on a property that the Fairfield Organic Teaching Farm would have to leave after three years, according to Town Conservation Director Thomas Steinke.

The Hoyden's Hill Open Space Management Plan, which governs use of the 58.5-acre town property, includes agriculture among acceptable uses of the property, according to Steinke. The area sought by the Fairfield Organic Teaching Farm also was farmed as recently as 10 years ago, according to Jones.

Kirk Manley of Hoyden's Lane said it didn't surprise him that the organic teaching farm wanted to move to the Hoyden's Hill Open Space since farming was an acceptable use of the property. But Manley added the putting the farm there represented "more development, more traffic and more congestion, and this area is not conductive for that or set up for that."

Manley added that Hoyden's Hill already had 200 acres of active recreation between the H. Smith Richardson Golf Course and a golf driving range and that the neighborhood is affected by that through traffic, runoff and erosion.

The Fairfield Organic Teaching Farm's preferred location was town-owned property on Congress Street, but Flatto signed a lease for that property with Robert Haydu, a longtime farmer. The two-year lease, with two one-year renewal options at Haydu's sole discretion, doesn't expire until Dec. 31, 2013 if Haydu takes both renewal options.

The Conservation Commission wasn't enthusiastic about putting the organic teaching farm on the Hoyden's Hill Open Space in the past because of the impact it could have on habitat for several species of birds.