Letter: Our Open Space

I recently heard an opinion suggesting that it is merely “an outspoken minority” which still seeks to protect the former Country Club of Woodbridge property from development.  That assessment is far from the truth.  What the speaker overlooked is the largely silent majority of residents who have come to value the former CCW as open space.

During the covid years, use of the property steadily escalated.  First, the number of daily walkers from the neighborhood rose.  Then, people arriving by car and parking in a line on Johnson Road became a common sight.  They came to walk their dogs; to meet friends; to bird watch; to enjoy solitude; to fish; to photograph swaths of pollinator plants, and oaks and the huge pine trees.  Later this month others will arrive to sled and snowshoe and skate and ski.  Most of all they have come to love the changed, but still beautiful, landscape of the old golf course.

Residing next to the property, I’m frequently asked by residents from other parts of town what’s happening with the CCW land.  One idea that merits new, town wide consideration is the joint proposal by the Woodbridge Land Trust and Park Association to place a conservation easement on the property.  This proposal would align well with the state’s “goal of setting aside more than a fifth of the state (21 percent) as conservation land.”

Furthermore, “Protecting land enhances the quality of life for citizens, increases the value of nearby property, and also serves as a factor that people consider when deciding where to live.”  (April 2022 Connecticut Magazine, p. 60)

If you are one of the people who has cherished the CCW property in silence, please make your voice heard now.  Share your story of what it means to you.  Otherwise, it may be lost to all of us.