RTM Votes to Name Nature Preserve in Honor of Two Families

The Representative Town Meeting voted unanimously Tuesday to name nearly 38 acres in Westport that were donated and sold to the town in 1997 in honor of two families who had owned the land.

The RTM voted to name the land located by Coleytown Road, Easton Road and Bayberry Lane in Westport as the "Newman/Poses Nature Preserve." The name is in honor of Paul Newman, the late actor who donated 7.7 acres to the town, and Barbara Poses Kafka and Ernest Kafka, who sold four adjacent parcels totaling 29.9 acres to the town for $3.75 million.

Diane Cady, chairwoman of the RTM's Environment Committee, and Hadley Rose, the RTM's moderator, has said the request from the Board of Selectmen seemed a fitting tribute to the Newman and Poses families. "It seems to me to be a fairly reasonable thing to do," Rose said in a previous article.

Cady has said she was thrilled the land will not be developed, but will remain as open space.

Laurence Bradley, Westport's Planning & Zoning director, has said the town's Planning & Zoning Commission already approved classifying the 37.6 acres as a dedicated open space and recreation district and that permitted activities and amenities in such a zone include walking paths, gardens, benches, nature preserves, hiking, jogging, cross-country skiing, horseback riding and fishing.

David Brant, executive director of the Aspetuck Land Trust, which will improve and maintain the property, has said the land had great value and that it includes woods, a meadow, the Aspetuck River and a double-stone wall.

"The value is that it does provide habitat for wildlife, it does provide opportunities for people to get into the woods, and it does provide, certainly, some watershed protection for the river, the Aspetuck River, and, as with all open space, it's beneficial to homeowners because their property values are increased bordering a large open-space area," Brant said. He said the 37.6 acres also provided neighborhood children with a place to explore and play.

The Aspetuck Land Trust plans to create three hiking trails through the property, a small parking area for three or four cars by Bayberry Lane and a boardwalk over wetlands by Bayberry Lane, Brant said. He said Melissa Newman, Paul Newman's daughter, would serve as "trail steward" in identifying the best spots for trails because she grew up next to the property and knows it well.

Brant said the locations for trails would be chosen to highlight natural features of the land. "In some cases, we'll have to cut down a few smaller trees. We really don't cut down big trees," Brant said in reference to how the Aspetuck Land Trust creates trails. "It's a pretty low-impact process. We don't go through with a big tractor and bulldoze trails. Melissa will be trail steward and will identify the trails...She used to walk the land as a child."

The property also includes a pedestrian bridge over the Aspetuck River that is somewhat in disrepair, but Brant said the Aspetuck Land Trust does not have immediate plans to repair the bridge as that would involve discussions with town officials.

The Aspetuck Land Trust manages 1,700 acres in Westport, Weston, Easton and Fairfield and has 42 advertised trailed nature preserves, Brant said. "This will be a new trailed preserve," he said.
 
For information on the Aspetuck Land Trust, visit www.aspetucklandtrust.org.

Editor Liz Mitchell contributed to this report.