Bethel Land Trust

Committee Approach of the Frank Franc parcel.

The sale of the parcel by the Franc family to the town of Bethel presents a tremendous opportunity to preserve and/or enhance its natural resources, its potential for recreation and potential working landscapes for the people of Bethel. I recognize it is a challenging undertaking due to numerous interested stakeholders that have been asked for their input involved in the planning process. To address this complexity, and to ensure significant levels of local engagement by and empowerment of a wide range of stakeholders and interested members of the public, you have made a clear a strategic decision to take a phased approach to evaluating the potential uses of the property. This phased approach is intended to ensure the maximum level of participation from the community and the organizations who may at some point be the future stewards of the land.

Sadly, at the last public meeting, the words, “environmental activist” was spoken by one of your committee members. Yet, your committee member did not utter, ‘golf course activist”, nor “ballpark activist.” To that individual, I should not need to remind that you, through the committee on which you are serving, have asked your fellow citizens to offer suggestions regarding the potential uses of the Franc parcel. To that individual please respect all the suggestions.

So I share the following with you, the members of the committee, my response to the statement of “environmental activist” that was directed at me and/or members of the Bethel Land Trust that had attended the meeting.

As the president of the Bethel Land Trust, I can say about the Bethel Land Trust:

Collaboration: We value diversity and believe that greater outcomes are achieved by working together toward cooperative solutions. Cooperation does not need to include name- calling. We strive for and nurture productive relationships with our diversified community and will build alliances and encourage partnerships with people and organizations across the Bethel landscape. We value the input of the public as part of our collaborative effort and will encourage community dialogue as part of our work.

Stewardship: We exist to protect and enhance the beneficial values and uses of open space lands and to improve the lives of both young and old Bethelites alike through connections to the outdoors. We are bound individually and collectively by the obligation to be good stewards for both land conservation and youth investments, and we ensure that every action we take and commitment we make clearly serve this purpose.

Discovery: We encourage and welcome an atmosphere of learning, discovery, and innovation. We seek collaborative and innovative solutions to conventional challenges, and we will not shy away from untested approaches we believe offer promising solutions.

Sustainability: We make sustainable contributions to Bethel, and provide a legacy of land conservation and youth enrichment that will live beyond your committee. Our actions and decision-making have always includes clear recognition of long-term stewardship to ensure the benefits of our work are shared by all Bethelites for generations to come.

Leadership: We strive to be leaders in the Bethel environmental community, and contribute to the further development and education of ourselves and others. We personally commit and hold ourselves accountable to conduct our work in a thoughtful, creative, and comprehensive manner. We are not anti-building but rather we are sincere, honest, non-discriminatory, and forthcoming in all of our actions, and practice the highest standards of professional integrity in all of our work.

The challenges we face today remain similar to those we faced 25-30 years ago – negative impacts on the scenic qualities of the town of Bethel, the fragmentation of forested habitat and the loss of recreational opportunities, and the conversion of our vital agricultural lands to support ever increasing development pressures.

What I would like to see from your committee:

Preserve and/or enhance the existing environmental and the potential economic benefits of the Franc property without implementing uses that prohibit the use of the property based on age income, fees, seasonal uses, etc. nor uses that would tax our town’s aquifer/wells, involve significant application of chemicals or involve spending multiple millions of dollars without risking the town’s bond rating. Implement multiple uses but at the same time, as reasonably as possible, honor the Franc family to keep the land as open space as much as possible. I ask you to provide strong leadership with pro‐active land protection, not only to meet our obligations to permanently protect our conserved lands forever, but to continually provide the Bethel community with opportunities for meaningful engagement with the lands we’ve conserved.