Westport Community Gardens members pleaded their case yesterday, as the Board of Education discussed next steps with the Long Lots School Building Committee.
A request by BOE member Robert Harrington that the board vote — even symbolically — to support a new elementary school, while keeping the nearby gardens and Long Lots Preserve, was defeated 6-1.
Other members — while expressing a desire not to move the 20-year old gardens, if possible — said they did not want to change a process that’s been underway for a year, before receiving the LLSBC’s recommendations.
The building committee will present its proposals to the board in approximately 3 weeks. LLSBC chair Jay Keenan reported that 6 plans are under consideration. They include building a new school, renovating the current one, and renovating with additions.
The committee is looking at 4 sites: the current lower soccer fields, the current baseball field, the site of the current school, and the gardens. Only one scenario would keep the gardens and preserve where they are.
One of the 6 plans for Long Lots shows renovations and additions to the current school. A baseball diamond would be built on the site of the Community Gardens and Preserve (left). None of the 6 plans have been officially released.
Keenan also noted that during the construction process — 18 to 20 months for a new school, 30 months for renovation — the entire property would be fenced. He implied there would be no access to the gardens during that time.
“A lot of stakeholders are part of the campus,” he said. “The number one priority is the school.
“It’s a puzzle. We’re moving different parts around,” he added. “Everyone will feel pain. In the end, we’ll have a beautiful new building, and a beautiful campus.”
More than a dozen speakers addressed the BOE, during the public comment segment and after Harrington introduced his proposal.
While all thanked the building committee for their arduous and thankless work, most urged that the gardens and preserve be maintained.
Joellen Bradford, a neighbor on Long Lots Road, expressed concern for the impact of construction of any kind on Muddy Brook, part of the property’s wetlands.
The theme of creative problem-solving echoed throughout the meeting. After Keenan noted that the site must accommodate students, staff, workers, buses — plus a staging area for construction, and parking for everyone, including crews — one speaker suggested off-site lots, and shuttle buses.
After the LLSBC makes its recommendations to the BOE, the final decision will go to the Board of Selectwomen, and town bodies including the Board of Finance, Conservation Commission and Representative Town Meeting.
Keenan said, optimistically, that construction could begin “this time next year.”
Long Lots Elementary School. (Drone photo/Brandon Malin)
This process is a travesty and a tragedy. They have already made up their minds.
The sad part seems to be that they only have one plan that keeps the community gardens and preserve where it is. Even if they choose to go with that particular plan no one would have access to the gardens for a year while they do the construction. They should have had more than one option to keep the gardens and preserve in place in the first place.
Sounds like the committee should get back to the drawing board with more options that keep the garden in place AND keep the garden functioning! It seem SO silly to think the fence would Have to run around the gardens for construction and there would not be another solution. Easier isn’t Better!
Keep the garden!
Sad. Disappointing. Unfortunate. Devastating.
Hate to be a Debbie Downer here folks. Every day seems to be a roller coaster and last night was another downward swing.
We have a 20 year old community garden with over 100,000 citizen hours that have gone into improving this town property. We have approximately 15,000 community work hours put in to maintaining the common spaces and helping each other.
We have three Eagle Scout projects on site. 100 bags of fresh produce are donated through Grow a Row every year. We provide space for the Westport Garden Club to grow plants, raise money, and do great things throughout town. We have received donations and in-kind services to build these gems from Gault, AJ Penna, Earthplace, Aspatuck Land Trust, Audubon, the Westport Garden Club, Eagle Scouts, Girl Scouts, Bartlett Tree Service, Southwest Conservation District, Sustainable Connecticut, Stop And Shop, Trader Joe’s, Staples High School SLOBS, and the Connecticut State Forester.
We have a thriving community where people have built long lasting relationships. We have older folks who’s recreational opportunities are limited, who belong to the gardens because it’s a great way to get outdoors and move around. We have little kids squeal with delight when they come into the gardens, seeing what they can grow and harvest.
We are great neighbors. We are quiet, we have improved the quality and aesthetic of the land. We give to our neighbors. We have 120 families and their guests who represent some of the finest people in town.
The Gardens and Preserve are an ecological stronghold. Look at what’s happening around town with development. We are getting hundreds of native trees and shrubs in the ground.
We have the finest Pollinator Pathway in town. The Westport Community Gardens and Long Lots Preserve are brimming with life. They provide habitat and food for thousands of pollinators who live in the soil, the dead wood and the trees. The ecosystem there is strong. We have raised $40,000, privately, to increase the ecological value of the area, eliminating non-native, invasive species, and densely planting natives. We are transforming this one’s neglected town property. The soil we have built up
over 20 years absorbs water and releases it at a slow rate, mitigating flooding to our neighbors on Bauer Place and beyond.
Covering the Gardens and the Preserve is environmentally devastating.
I believe that any other town in America would celebrate, promote and protect we have created there.
A new and improved Long Lots Elementary School can and should be built while keeping, and their current state, the Westport Community Gardens and the Long Lots Preserve.
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Yes, we, the people, should have been consulted from the get go.
Now, we the people have to stand together & do whatever it takes to have our voices heard. The people of Westport do not want to lose the gardens. The building committee has to swallow its pride & admit they made a mistake in going ahead regardless.
The most telling comment to me? >>Other members — while expressing a desire not to move the 20-year old gardens, if possible — said they did not want to change a process that’s been underway for a year, before receiving the LLSBC’s recommendations.<<
Why didn't we, the Westport residents, and the community garden proponents/stakeholders not hear about this until THIS SUMMER?!?!? How did they think this would be OK? I say – Too bad if they have to change. If we all knew earlier, it would have been stopped before they 'wasted their time'.
I am sick and tired at the lack of transparency from this planning group, and all the way to the top – the 1st Selectwomans office. Between the Hamlet, Parker Harding and now this, it just reeks. It seriously might be time for lawyers, since the residents voices don't seem to count.
Merri you raise a very good point. Last night at the BOE, as a member on that board I carefully used the word “misleading”. I felt that the initial conversations that the BOE had, and that I was involved in as a member of that board – were misleading to the public. I don’t think it was intentional or underhand – BUT the initial discussion suggested a school building didn’t really fit on the garden site – and so it was never discussed in any kind of focused way. We all moved on. It then went quiet for months and months and then in the summer of 2023 – removing and bulldozing the gardens became a distinct possibility.
Agreed it is time for lawyers
As a Board of Education member – I’m not a just “let the process play out” kind of person. Not my style. Never will be. I like to drive outcomes. I passionately believe stakeholders should be included and consulted and be part of the process from the beginning.
I think the embarrassment we are currently seeing in our town over Parking Harding is a result of people NOT speaking together early enough. Stakeholders are not having two-way conversations early enough. We HAVE to change that.
The Westport Gardens were NEVER a focus of this plan. They have stood there for 20+ years. There is only one Community Garden in Westport. Then they became a focus of this project. And now we have people telling them “even if they stay you can’t go near them for two years”. ENOUGH. You can’t treat Westporters and community members like this. TALK BEFORE YOU RECOMMEND. BRING THE COMMUNITY ALONG WITH YOU.
There is a solution here and we heard it last night at the BOE from the LLBC update
1) A New School at Long Lots can likely be constructed up to 40% quicker than a renovated school. That is a no brainer given the conditions at LLS. Good enough is not acceptable in this school district. Let’s build a NEW school. We can do it quicker. It will last longer. This is a 50 year plus decision.
2) Its possible to have a NEW SCHOOL, bring STEPPING STONES to LLS … AND keep the Community Gardens in their present 20 yr old location – for additional $$s. We CAN achieve both.
A NEW school is the top priority. We can’t negotiate on that. But we can do both.
This is about WESTPORT VALUES. For me that means we should do both even if it costs more $$$s.
I’m proud to say we should protect the gardens.
Thanks Robert.
Thank you for your words and your efforts in the meeting, Robert.
Thank you Robert for being the voice of reason.
These are all good points and reflecting on Robert’s comments. Yes, why can’t both objectives be achieved. I don’t know if anyone addressed this, but is there an alternative entrance that can be made to access the gardens so not enter the school grounds. I also found it interesting that these discussions have been in the works for about a year, if I understand this correctly, and Dan Woog brought this to the public’s attention.
Was there ever a right time in this process for residents, parents, gardeners, and stakeholders to be looped in to share their feedback and ideas? These plans were drafted quietly, and when the gardeners finally learned about the project by sheer luck THEY had to reach out to the committee and selectwoman to try to get more information before it was too late.
This summer, the selectwoman and committee reiterated over and over “this is in early stages, nothing is final” suggesting there would be later opportunities for the community to advocate for creative, better solutions for the property. But each meeting has made it clearer and clearer that the opinions and hopes of residents are falling on deaf ears, and anything outside of the original plans won’t be considered.
Throwing into the mix that even on the slim chance that the selectwoman doesn’t bulldoze the community garden and long lots preserve, they won’t be accessible for 2-3 years is insane. I can’t imagine a clearer demonstration of a group making the easiest possible decision, showing no inclination to collaborate with anyone for a compromise (fence in the area but leave a footpath between the garden fence and the construction fence? Choose set hours daily for gardeners to tend to the garden and preserve? Create a new, temporary entrance?)
It feels like that comment was thrown into the conversation to dash any hopes the community had left of keeping the garden and preserve. The message was – even if you succeed and keep your garden, we won’t let you touch it, and you’ll have to return to the invasive plants you worked so hard to remove taking over, the armies of spotted lantern flies you’ve been painstakingly vacuumed off your eagle scout projects multiplying, and water sources that the bees and birds have relied upon for 20 years gone dry.
PLEASE listen and work with the town, parents, and the gardeners so some sort of a solution.
Thank you Dan for your continued coverage of this important issue. A huge thank you to Robert Harrington for all of his support – both here and at last night’s meeting. Robert said it perfectly in his comment here – “the Westport (Community) Gardens were NEVER a focus of this plan”. As Leslie Meredith eloquently and passionately explained last night at the BOE meeting, the gardens can’t be moved without causing irreparable damage to the pollinators thriving and living in the garden and preserve – something that most towns are working diligently to create. A big thank you to Lou for politely pleading our case repeatedly, although frequently on seemingly deaf ears.
At the risk of boring all readers, the garden and preserve are not moveable. They cannot just be relocated, contrary to many people on the various boards telling you otherwise. To “relocate” them is to eliminate them and all of the wildlife and pollinators that live there. What can be relocated and be even better after relocation is a playing field. This can be built with the latest materials and be shiny and new – with users marveling over the improvements.
It is disappointing to have to continue to have this discussion – why are we still having it in a town as enlightened as Westport?
TAKE IT OFF THE TABLE!
Starting the planning process a year ago without notifying the garden members and surrounding neighbors is not transparency. A sincere thank you to Robert Harrington for having the courage to voice his opinion. Eliminating the Westport Community Gardens and surround preserve is a travesty.
It’s not always about the money. It is also about common sense and what’s good for the community as a whole. I’m sorry if the committee doesn’t want to go back and find a better solution, but they wouldn’t have wasted their time if they had thought about this issue from day one.
Take it off the table and go back to the drawing board!
Last night, watching members of the LLSBC tap dancing around a decision they have plainly already made to destroy The Gardens was just an awful experience, akin to a public hanging.
Kudos to Robert Harrington for his principled stance, which stood in sharp contrast to the cowardice on display from the rest of the Board of Education.
I hate to break it to you ladies and gentlemen but the time to influence the decision of the LLSBC is BEFORE they have made a recommendation and not afterwards.
I hope we can count on the RTM to do the right thing here. If not, run in your district and inject some transparency into our municipal elections – we are Westport, we are better than this.
Thank you, Robert! As I sit here this morning, I am extremely sad, not feeling very positive about the future or The Westport Community Garden or The Long Lots Preserve. Saddened also by the fact that I live in a town that just bullies its way through to get what a few want, keeping things under wraps, and basically ignoring what takes away from town people who pay taxes and have paid hard earned money to develop an amazing town garden and preserve. Most towns across our country would love to have a community garden like ours, not tear it down! I understand that the people on the LLE building committee are town volunteers and doing what they believe to being doing their best to help our town. But come on, be transparent and remember you represent the entire community not just a few who want their name tied to some fancy school at the cost to many! I believe education is very important and one reason I moved to this town, even though my kids were out of school, and I wouldn’t be using the services of our great schools. I truly believe we can do it all and better. Let the school and garden grow together.
“Other members said they did not want to change a process that’s been underway for a year.” This is bureaucracy at its absolute worst. It is like saying “I am committed to a the process, I do not care if we get it right.” That in my humble view is a failure of leadership.
Let’s step back…
Westport town-owned property in the Long Lots area has 3 distinctly different activities:
– School with a bit less than 600 students, planned for 687 in future. Used Daly during school year.
– Westport Community Gardens & Preserve (120 plots, 200+ gardeners). Used daily during growing / harvesting seasons.
– Chldren’s sports fields -notably a full-size Babe Ruth baseball field (one of 4 in town) only used by middle school kids (not elementary) a few times last season.
If the proposed new school will have a larger footprint which encroaches on today’s sports fields, why on earth would the Building Committee recommend destroying the Community Gardens and Preserve so a new, rarely-used middle school baseball field can be constructed?
Is common sense out of fashion?
I think the “process” changed when Jay Keenan expanded the scope of the LLSBC to include other interests, clearly without telling the BOE.
He has consistently said in LLSBC meetings that the Committee is following the ed specs of the BOE. But it took the Chairwoman of the Board of Ed asking why there were plans with ball fields over the Gardens for Keenan to say that he consulted with Parks & Rec.
He didn’t say whether this meant the Commission or staff. This certainly wasn’t a public meeting. More the same with the lack of transparency in this Town.
I guess I would ask the Chairwoman if the LLSBC unilaterally expanding the scope of their charge was not a “change” to the process?
Too much focus on process here.
1. Major capital funding decision for a school having ~600 students that MIGHT need ~10% more kids over time. Really doesn’t strike me as a “new school” priority vs. using alot less $ to modernize and renovate existing structure on existing footprint.
2. if the above did indeed become the plan. It’d leave the garden alot less impacted
3. the baseball field is another matter but given my frequent & direct interaction with the baseball program in Westport, having a Babe Ruth field at this location isn’t vital.
I believe ALOT more focus should be placed on the school decision and related capital cost. Westport simply can’t afford to continue to rationalize every spending desire & expect its citizens to blindly fund. Education matters a great deal. Major reason people move here. That doesn’t necessarily mean one of our five elementary schools needs to be completely rebuilt!
First off – thank you Robert Harrington of the BOE for being the courageous, lone voice – speaking up against the tide – to save the Gardens (WCG)/Preserves where they are.
It’s astonishing that an ill-conceived plan, which started quietly by a few unelected Westport residents, appointed by the First Selectwoman, with zero input from/outreach to the WCG or Westport residents in general, is going to shape such an important, expensive project! How can so much power and impact be in the hands of a few unelected officials? A phrase learned as a child comes to mind: No taxation without representation!
Also astonishing is the fact that Parks and Rec. still haven’t produced a field usage report to share with the general public and yet the recommendation is three weeks away! Popularity of baseball is declining and yet it’s their imperative to destroy a jewel of Westport – our ONE and only 20-year Garden – to plop a Babe Ruth Baseball Field on it! There is still no pivot to find another place in town to accommodate this need despite many creative ideas (Dan Woog/Gerry Held, etc.) and the growing outcry from Westport residents to save this Green Gem.
Hopefully the BOE reads the hardcopy research, proved by Lou Weinberg, extolling the many educational and mental benefits of integrating Gardens with schools and Join Robert Harrington in trying to save the WCG. Many towns (Ridgefield, Westport Greens Farm Academy, etc) have done this to great success. Why can’t we do this for our students? As one Gardener said, kids in class will learn about the pollinator pathway and metamorphosis while the real ones are being crushed outside their window. And she pointed to the Staples motto above all their heads: “Respect For Life”. And while students study global warming, maybe they’ll see the bulldozers demolish the Garden.
I wish there was respect shown for the WCG from the beginning – that we had a seat at the table, that we were not seen as a problem to be bulldozed. The Committee is proposing to rip away something that is very central to the Gardener’s lives. The WCG is not a dot in a corner on an already busy radar screen – its integral to our lives – providing meaning, solace, respite and a community of souls who love nature and want to save Westport’s green space. It took 20 years of sweat equity to create this majestic Garden. Twenty years! Can we not rush through a bad plan because we are behind schedule and need to get on with it?!?
Only one reference to storm and surface water drainage from a resident nothing from our appointed representatives.
This is a very serious problem for all residents neaf Muddy Z Brook from Long Lots School to Long Island Sound.
The typical 25 year storm is not a reasonable planning standard
for Westport in todays environment..
We have seen it fail all over town.
We have to do much better.
The LLSBC assumed authority beyond that implied by its name. A small, rarely used baseball field has been adjacent to Long Lots school since it was a middle school many years ago. LLSBC has jumped to the conclusion that the ball field must be replaced with a new, larger field and, by groupthink, has determined that the only place it can go is on the Community Gardens and Reserve. The replacement field will be used by 16–18-year-old Babe Ruth League teams, not Long Lot School students. Parks and Recreation is the appropriate body to determine if a new, larger ballfield is needed, and, if so, to find a site other than the Gardens for it.
I am intrigued by LLSBC’s plan to fence the entire property during construction. Where will faculty and staff park and how will they traverse staging areas? Where will staging areas be placed and where will all those construction workers park?
My thanks as well, Robert. You offer real solutions that can work.
There are certain words and phrases used when pushing an agenda that is code for it’s a done deal. #1 It’s the first bite of the apple #2 Chicken or egg #3 my favorite-SAFE and #4 we have no choice because the state will do … (fill in the blank) or we don’t want to be known as…(fill in the blank).
In my experience none of these phrases is ever based in fact.
Yes to Lawyers! And Yes to Documenting!
Anyone know Independent film makers or Documentary producers to make a real life Davey vs Goliath ? The Green Gardens vs Bureaucrats. Student film makers welcomed!
A film about 20 years of sweat equity to build Green versus “we are behind schedule”.
As the Westport Community Gardeners have stated their case countless times once they became aware of the Gardens being at risk, I don’t think I need to restate this again. I’m sure many of us would like to see the final recommendation, costs, timelines, etc. Hopefully all parties with a vested interest will be able to say they have given their best efforts to provide analyses that supports their position.
I find it disheartening to hear new developments or research go on as we move along this feasibility process. So yes, it would be nice to hear parks and rec come back and fully explain that there are or are not any additional spaces or resources for needed ballfields, to hear BOE state that Stepping Stones will need to be at LL as there are no available options, that LL student enrollment numbers are confirmed, etc. I’m sure many citizens would love to see these detailed analyses and studies. I know that this whole project is an expensive undertaking, any initial estimates are just that, but I hope all potential costs and overruns are taken into consideration. I’m sure we don’t want any additional last minute surprises or issues to contend with.
I look forward to further discussions as the LLSBC provides their final recommendation. It’s great to live in a country where all views are heard and we can arrive at a consensus, rather than be forced to live under a dictatorship. I know this will be a long and well thought out process.
First and foremost thank you Robert!!
Maybe it is indeed time to find a good environmental lawyer and see what their input would do for us? Perhaps it will delay the project until we can get a footing on our what rights are, oh wait its only been there 20 years we don’t have any.
Maybe the town needs to know we are not going quietly?
Maybe the town and committees need to know it is not ok to just plow over something that has significant meaning and environmental impact on the community?
Maybe we should make all of our voices heard so that the powers that be will not be the powers after the next elections?
Maybe we should figure out a way to make both things possible and stop just accepting that the committee can just bully their way into the garden space and take it?
Maybe we should do a study on the environmental impact of destroying an entire school along with the singular green-space that the garden provides in this town. Where else is there such a space?
Shame on all of those making these choices, disgusting.