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To: State of Connecticut, Environmental Committee

From: Linda Puetz, Sprague Board of Finance

Date: March 3, 1999

ACC SB 827

ACC HB 6006

Good morning my name is Linda Wilkinson Puetz. I reside in Hanover, a village in the Town of Sprague, Connecticut. I am here on behalf of ACC SB 827, ACC HB 6006, and any act concerning “Smart Growth” in Connecticut.

The headlines have become overwhelming…stadium to be built…stadium draws opposition…store owner fears closing business because Civic Center doesn’t have enough foot traffic. The City of Norwich will exhaust you. The on again, off again Masonic Temple project, the on again, off again Wauregan Hotel, no hotel if the state doesn’t fund a municipal parking lot… City Manager Talman needs more money from the state…the uptown, downtown of where the community college should be located…and the final straw the Mashantucket’s pull out of the upscale, downscale, upscale of the Chelsea Exchange because it won’t be a fiscal jackpot to them. You should see the hole they have left at the historic harbor.

All over the southeast the headlines continue in a similar fashion. Community Development president in dog fight with City manager… Fort Trumbull development plans displace residents… Griswold residents prefer renovation of historic town hall and vote for a park at the former Ashland Mill site… The Town of Sprague’s historic center demise is kept a secret… Salem’s historic corner store owner backs out after intervention by the Governor with DOT plans.

All these issues have a common thread, sprawl; a random scattering of development with no thought to what they mean for the environment or human community. This piecemeal planning has come from the top down. The community feels a sense of loss related to degradation of the environment and a sense of helplessness about various large scale urban problems.

To address these feelings the State of Connecticut must have a regional plan. A plan for people, a plan for neighborhood livability, a plan to support urban growth boundaries to prevent sprawl and most importantly a plan for its future. “Smart Growth’ legislation can be the catalyst for this plan. A plan that will allow residents, neighborhoods, environmental groups, businesses, and local governments to be the author; to allow the community to keep intact the things it values the most and to shape infrastructure and other features offer opportunities to accommodate growth, with attention to compatibility with neighborhood character and values of those who live there.

“Smart Growth” will demand ingenious ways to revive troubled communities, reclaim Brownfields, remake cheap commercial strips, and forge regional alliances to help poorer communities. It will help design transportation that is transit oriented, redirect growth boundaries that protect greenspace and encourage Greenfield development. It will contain sprawl and revitalize our communities. It will put to rest the conflicts of the developers, the governments, the businesses and the communities.

“Smart Growth” is Connecticut’s Field of Dreams. If enacted this legislation will make this administration’s legacy not about a stadium, not about “Smart Growth”, but about what counts most…the people of Connecticut. Thank you for your attention to this very important legislation.

The Norwich State Hospital Original Reports

June and July, 1953

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