Sustainable Westport began as a municipal task force, appointed by First Selectman Gordon Joseloff in 2006.
Its mission is to “inspire, support and connect residents, organizations and the town of Westport, in furtherance of the town’s resolution to become a Net Zero community by the year 2050.
“Sustainable Westport advises the First Selectwoman, Westport Public Schools, town commissions and departments on determining and setting environmental policies and decisions for the purpose of transforming Westport into a more sustainable community.”
Now a non-profit organization, Sustainable Westport has watched the debate over the future of the Westport Community Gardens and Long Lots Preserve. The group says:
We are inspired by our community’s response to the Long Lots Building Committee’s consideration of plans to relocate the Westport Community Gardens and Long Lots Preserve.
As hundreds of residents have already stated, the Community Gardens are a valuable community asset. Not only do they support exceptional programs like Grow-A-Row [providing food to underserved communities], but they are also emblematic of the type of spaces Westport wants to promote and foster – a natural resource that provides flood storage, wildlife habitat, and tree canopy while also providing an educational and enriching environment for our community.
Sustainable Westport wholeheartedly supports preserving the Community Gardens and building a sustainable school to support our town’s commitment to use best efforts to become a Net Zero community by 2050.
As a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting individuals, businesses, and our town government in making changes to reduce our overall carbon footprint, Sustainable Westport recognizes the immense opportunity this project represents for our community; Westport has not built a new school from the ground up since 2001, and prior to that, not since 1965.
In a recent letter to the Selectwomen and the Representative Town Meeting, Save Westport Now shared several important observations about proposed plans to relocate or modify the Community Gardens and Preserve. Although Sustainable Westport was not invited to participate in the committee, our team has made every effort to attend all public committee meetings and has used our platform to encourage our community to make their voices heard.
Since last October, Sustainable Westport has shared informative content both with the committee and the public to educate residents about the advantages associated with constructing a sustainable school.
Sustainable schools deliver significant health, educational, financial, and environmental benefits to students, teachers, and communities. Not only are sustainable schools more energy efficient, leading to lower operating costs, but they also provide learning spaces that significantly improve the wellness and productivity of those in and around the building. Learn more here.
We also strongly advocated for sustainability to be included as a primary objective for the Long Lots Building Committee. In fact, the resolution appointing the committee includes the directive to incorporate “sustainable and energy efficient design practices to the extent possible into the scope of work as appropriate to achieve the best long term value for the town, in support of the 2017 resolution committing Westport to use best efforts to become a Net Zero community by 2050.”
Long Lots Elementary School was build in 1953, and renovated most recently 50 years ago. It is energy-inefficient today. (Drone photo/Brandon Malin)
We have been pleased by the committee’s willingness to explore sustainable options for each potential outcome: renovate, renovate and expand, or build new. Most considerations focus on energy, including solar, geothermal, ground-source heat pumps, and insulation.
However, we have also heard discussions about installing dishwashers (to reduce the single-use waste), induction stovetops, using mass timber and concrete to lower embodied carbon, implementing rain gardens and sustainable landscaping, and using grey water or a retention pond for irrigation. As these examples illustrate, the umbrella of “sustainability” is complex and far-reaching.
Our ask is simple.
Please extend your energy and enthusiasm beyond protecting the Community Gardens and Long Lots Preserve, a long-standing example of our community’s commitment to sustainability, by also advocating for establishing a school that aligns with the Town’s objective of achieving Net Zero status by 2050.
Let us work together to encourage the Long Lots Building Committee to both preserve our existing natural resources and create new infrastructure that reinforces our shared dedication to sustainability.
Sincerely,
Gately Ross & Johanna Martell
Co-Directors, Sustainable Westport
(“06880” will continue to follow the Long Lots School/Community Gardens debate. Please click here to support our work. Thank you!)
I live in Weston, grew up in both Weston & Westport, In fact I attended Long Lots many moons ago. I had a catering and event planning business based In Westport for 40 plus years, most recently fostered food entrepreneurs in developing their organic non GMO products and getting them out to the world by offering affordable rentable kitchen space – C&K Community Kitchen and now consult with those wanting to bring organic non GMO products and services to the world. My home property is a native plant and edible garden that incorporates organic regenerative practices.
In reading your 066880 contribution – I thought of Alice Waters Edible Schoolyard Project which I would think you are aware of. Her team recently spoke at New Canaan Library as part of a fundraiser for her school. Also in the audience was Guerrilla Gardener Ron Finley – who is a significant force of nature in advocating for gardens everywhere and a rock star in my world.
Perhaps you have thought of this – one of the added value offerings to keeping Westport Community Gardens in place could be including an Edible School Yard curriculum such as Alice promotes.for the community in the school system and making Westport Community Gardens a part of the Long Lots evolution – with a collaborative curriculum – not just a next door neighbor. They have created a training certification for doing so – https://edibleschoolyard.org/training.
What a opportunity just waiting to happen.
Best
Sarah K Gross
C&K Community Kitchen
candkcommunitykitchen.com
Sarah, great idea. (And regards to your brother.)
Collecting roof rainwater and AC condensate into a gravity or pumped tank system to flush toilets and irrigate should at least be considered.
Is it possible to consider a taller building with a smaller footprint? That would leave the garden in tact and also retain more permeable land to absorb Muddy Brook and other water.
And — just spitballing here — some buildings have athletic fields (artificial turf) on their roofs.
Click here: https://www.waterproofmag.com/2015/04/rooftop-recreation-areas/
And here: https://brownbears.com/sports/2018/4/27/athletics-facilities-warnerroof-index.aspx
There is a lot of research on a new special ultra white paint for roofs that protect against heat it has been applied on some areas. Perhaps we can be one of the first communities to use this new technology in paint. It may be worth studying that application. I’m technologically challenged.I would post a link if I knew how. Sorry
Thank you both, Gately and Jo, for your support of the Community Gardens and your tireless commitment to the mission of Sustainable Westport. As a resident, a gardener, and a parent of children in the Westport schools (our family experienced the CMS mold relocation firsthand)—this moment truly feels like an opportunity for our leadership to move the needle toward a greener future for Westport.
With so many forward-thinking, sustainable ideas on the table for the school building, I struggle to comprehend why destruction of the existing Gardens and Preserve site would even be considered.
After twenty years of environmental stewardship, volunteer-created infrastructure and deep community roots established on the current site—bulldozing the vibrant, established Community Gardens and Long Lots Preserve would be a step in the wrong direction.
Love the idea of integrating the garden into the school curriculum. Win! Win!
Thank you Gately and Johanna for all that you have done on Sustainable Westport and for supporting the preservation of the WCG and Long Lots Preserve. As a parent of two children at LLS I know we need a new and sustainable school but “relocating or modifying” the WCG would destroy a valuable environmental asset our town has that benefits those same kids at the school and many other Westport residents. I don’t understand why we would wipe away the 20 years of hard work that went into building the beauty of the gardens and preserve along with its environmental benefits.
When you’ve saved the gardens and built the sustainable school how about doing something worthwhile with the Baron’s property.
According to the Town of Westport website, there are four “Babe Ruth” full size baseball fields (for 13-15 year olds) in town at Doubleday, Staples, Wakeman and Long Lots. There is such high demand for them that Westport’s only Community Garden and Long Lots Preserve must be destroyed? Really? Three “Babe Ruth” fields wouldn’t suffice while the new Long Lots Elementary is constructed? Must be a lot more 13 to 15 year olds in Westport than I imagined.
Thank you Sustainable Westport for supporting the gardens and the preserve staying in the current location undisturbed. Support for the gardens and preserve is overwhelming and the town should respect our desire to maintain an amazing ecological asset.
Thanks Sustainable Westport for raising your voice. It seems obvious that the building itself ought to incorporate sustainability into its design and operation. But if you are ripping out old growth trees in a preserve and destroying green space and habitat for wildlife, those commitments will be nothing more than greenwashing. Environmental impact and sustainability MUST to be included as a primary objective for the Long Lots Building Committee.
There have been many community-shaping decisions made by Westporters during my 75 years in town. They are usually marked by many strong opinions, some of which actually make sense. Not messing up the seaside jewel that is Compo Beach was one recent one. Protecting and nurturing the inland jewel that is the Community Gardens should be another. Let’s not forget the values that created this community asset. My hope is that it will be maintained, just as many other community assets have been, by cooler more informed heads and hearts weighing in. Let’s get the politics out of the equation and decide on the side of Westport’s future, in which we are all stakeholders.
“….many strong opinions, some of which actually make sense. ” LOL
I’m not sure about the sustainability of consigning an entire school – together with all its embedded energy – to a sprawling landfill in upstate New York. Thoughtful renovation and careful expansion – if needed – would seem to be a possibly less wasteful, resource intensive approach.
As for the gardens, I’m struck that the Administration managed to belly flop into a second, totally avoidable controversy this summer. After robust pushback, Parker Harding will likely be resolved in a manner that favors residents and businesses. Here’s hoping that the unbelievable public beatdown which has occurred in defense of the gardens will produce the right outcome as well.
One thing that strikes me while looking at the drone photo of the school is the giant circle driveway…it’s ironic the town spends money to have buses to take kids back and forth which is itself a “necessary” blow to the environment but the school needs this giant driveway so kids can get dropped off and picked up in private vehicles. Put the damn field there and tell the families to use the bus service as intended.
All of the snark about how the garden can be relocated is laughable it’s not a potted plant that can be replanted somewhere else. These families who are members of the community who nurtured the garden plots and the surrounding preserve have put hundreds of hours into creating this little gem of a community. And it is a community and any other town in the country would be the first to see and appreciate that fact.
Thank you Gately, Johanna and Sustainable Westport for your efforts to shed light on the need for sustainability, not just on the Long Lots School project, but on all town endeavors. Net Zero 2025 is forward thinking.
Westport can and should be a leader in this area. For a town that prides itself on providing a first-rate education for its students (and it does), the goals promoted by Net Zero 2050 should be carried out into the world by the future leaders we educate here.
We continue to be at a loss as to why we have to continue to fight to save the Westport Community Gardens and Long Lots Preserve, (when the groundswell of support clearly shows public sentiment in favor of doing this). The WCG and LLP are models of community building, environmental stewardship and are a source of unlimited educational opportunity.
We believe that any other town in America would celebrate, promote and protect what we have created here. Sal Gilbertie, who has run his well-respected business in town here for 100 years, stated that he has seen hundreds of Community Gardens in the state and surrounding region and “not one of them comes close to touching the Westport Community Gardens.”
The overwhelming positive community building and environmental stewardship components of the WCG and LLP are obvious. The significant and offer overlooked educational benefits of them need to be recognized as well. We often hear the proclamation that “the needs of the kids come first.” We couldn’t agree more.
So, to support Marion Kelly’s earlier comment on this blog, we are putting together a proposal to incorporate the WCG and LLP as supplementary resources to Long Lots Elementary School and The Westport School District. While this is not the appropriate forum to lay out the plans for this, suffice it to say, unsurprisingly, that there exists a wide array of studies that show that education acquired through garden and green open-space learning can increase students overall academic performance. Gardens have been proven to help students engage in learning, improve test scores and meet core curriculum content standards. This is true for science and STEM, math, mental and physical health, art, nutrition, agricultural history and for exploring literature.
We seem to be a little bit behind the curve with using green open spaces to enhance student learning. Examples of using gardens and open space in schools is growing around us. Hamden, New Haven, Fairfield, Greens Farms, Academy, Ridgefield, Wilton, and many other school districts have made use of gardens and green open space.
We ask that our town leaders come together to find a solution here and end up on the right side of history. Build a new and improved Long Lots Elementary, School, while keeping, in their current state, the Westport Community Gardens and Long Lots Preserve. This is what our town, and our school children, deserve.
Respectfully,
Westport Community Gardens Steering Committee
Louis Weinberg, Chairman
For those of you who have not taken a tour of the Westport Community Gardens and Long Lots Preserve, please do.
If you’d like a guided tour, email:
westportcommunitygarden@gmail.com
If you don’t have the time to get over there (it’s on Parks Department property adjacent to Long Lots Elementary School), please see this YouTube video. It will give you a sense of the magnitude of the WCG and LLP.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=rrlkHpSYVjI&feature=youtu.be
After so many letters to town officials and comments on Dan Woog’s 06880 blog and the Westport Journal, it was disheartening to say the least, to witness Thursday night’s town hall where all the voices of Gardeners & its supporters seem to have fallen on deaf ears. A recommendation is expected to be made at the end of August after some officials return from vacation. I believe I heard one committee member say the least likely option was to keep the Gardens as is. Please correct me if wrong in the name of full transparency. Perhaps, this is the moment for the LLBC to actually pause and rethink the preferred outcome from the beginning – bulldozing the Gardens and replacing it with a Babe Ruth Baseball Field. If we are honest with being more green and sustainable, it’s time to go back to the drawing board and rethink Stepping Stones Preschool being added onto the Long Lots property or removing the supersized baseball field planned on the 20-year old Garden/Preserves. Eliminating the Gardens/Preserves (again, Not on Long Lots property) is environmentally destructive and touting a new sustainable school is greenwashing. Let’s walk the walk Westport and save the Gardens/Preserves and integrate it educationally with the students at Long Lots. We can do this if we all speak up!
This idea of including the garden and preserve into the school’s curriculum is great and just makes sense. I was doing some research and ran across this site from Washington State department of Agriculture with some good resources for other communities that have gone down this path.
https://agr.wa.gov/departments/business-and-marketing-support/farm-to-school-toolkit/school-gardens-and-farms/activities-and-education
Come on Westport, let’s do the right thing here! Let’s grow the school, the garden, and preserve together!
Thank you to Gately and Jo for their steadfast support of the Community Gardens and the Preserve.
I’m struggling to understand why we’re even considering destroying the current Gardens and Preserve site. After two decades of community effort and environmental stewardship, wiping out the vibrant Community Gardens and Long Lots Preserve feels like a shockingly wrong move.
Several options to create a state of the art school include bulldozing the gardens and preserve to install a baseball field. I was at the gardens today and noticed what a huge difference in height that exists from the front of the gardens to the back. It’s several feet difference that would have to be graded and leveled. Also the area where home plate would be located is a very wet/muddy area. I hope someone from the town considers the cost of leveling and draining this area before trying to construct a field there.
Thank you Sustainable Westport for your support and innovative ideas to foster an environmentally friendly school environment. Your dedication to sustainability is inspiring, and it’s evident that the Westport community has benefited from your efforts. As we continue to work towards creating a greener future, I hope that the community gardens and long lots preserve can remain an integral part of our sustainability journey. We are presented with an opportunity to rebuild a school in a time when climate change is already reshaping how we live with undeniable effects. I hope suggestions for sustainable initiatives and requests to protect natural resources like our gardens and preserve don’t fall on deaf ears.
I whole heartedly agree with Sustainable Westport. Here is my own message to the LLS Building Committee:
Dear LLS Building Committee,
I am writing as a Westport resident, parent of a LLS student, and prior co-president and co-founder of the Climate Psychology Alliance North America (https://climatepsychology.us). I am writing to pledge my support and plea to save the Westport Community Gardens. In light of our increasing planetary health crisis, and on the heels of a major win by youth in Montana in a landmark Climate Case (https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/14/us/montana-youth-climate-ruling.html#:~:text=The%20court%20found%20that%20young,climate%20damage%20when%20approving%20projects.), it behooves us to save the Westport Community Gardens to preserve this space for biodiversity and vitally important community green space. Let me be clear, by saving the community garden, I do not mean moving or relocating the gardens. You cannot relocate or move a garden without compromising plant health because the plants remain deeply rooted in the soil. The Westport Community Gardens are connected to place and land. I would also like to see LLS partner with the Westport Community Gardens for experiential learning opportunities. Greens Farms Elementary offers opportunities for its students to learn about regenerative gardening, soil health and growing your own food, similar to other school programs all over the country. These types of learning experiences are important for our children who, unfortunately, have inherited a compromised environmental future. Restoring our ecosystem’s health is crucial to preserving our species, as well as all other species who inhabit our planet. Westport is not immune from the precariousness of our planetary health crisis. Community gardens are vitally important to the lives of our children and future generations. Please take this into consideration for our children and future generations. Sincerely, Merritt Juliano, Westport, CT, Former Co-president, Climate Psychology Alliance North America, Founder/President, Chrysalis Collective and Regenerative Psychotherapy PLLC