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Groton Council to vote on whether to cease negotiations with data center developer

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This Day article by Kimberly Drelich is a good recap of the data center issue leading up to the Council vote on Tuesday, March 29th, 6:30 pm at the Thrive 55+ Active Living Center, or virtually.

This is a photo of two local diesel-fueled generators at Groton Utilities. Between 20 - 50 generators will be needed for data center emergency back up and “peak shaving.”

‘This will all be underwater’: As climate change arrives in Connecticut, coastal towns like Groton face a precarious future of rising sea levels and intensifying storms

Click here to read this article written by Eliza Fawcett and Alex Putterman that appeared in the Hartford Courant on November 4, 2021, and that quoted GCA’s board member Zell Steever.

High tide in Mystic, CT. There was no weather event the day this photo was taken from the Mystic bascule bridge overlooking the S&P Oyster dock on October 9, 2021.

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Data Center in Groton?

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See our ALERT about the proposed data center and the public meeting. Come to the meeting! Write a letter to the Town Council! For more information on the data center issue, please read GCA’s letter to the Town Council for a summary of our concerns. For EVEN MORE INFO, check out this 2/23/2022 New London Day article and this 2/24/2022 op-ed piece by David Collins, and this 2/22/2022 CT EXAMINER article. A July 2021 article on Facebook’s data center in Utah explores the huge tax breaks being offered to data centers country-wide.

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Groton Ponders Data Center Challenge

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Facebook’s New Albany, Ohio, Data Center : This is the image that New England Edge recommended the Town Council look at to get an idea of what data centers look like.

The Town of Groton is considering an agreement with a newly formed company called New England Edge that would allow the company to place a large data center on 173 forested acres immediately west of Flanders Rd and below Rte. I-95. A data center is essentially a building filled with computers that collect, distribute, and store data from its customers. Groton Conservation Advocates is concerned the town may make an agreement before they have seen a business plan or are fully aware of the consequences for Groton. The Council is under heavy pressure from the company to vote to approve the center at its March 8th meeting. Issues of concern:

Economic: The center is guaranteed property tax exemptions for 20 to 30 years. Is this in the town’s best interest? Water, electric and sewer hookups will be needed, at whose expense? The Council should seek answers to these questions before signing an agreement.

Environmental:  Permitting the development of this property is a move in the wrong direction for Groton. The property is fully covered by mature trees and removing large swaths of trees goes against the town’s purported goal of not contributing to global warming. The town should require that the data center be carbon neutral. Numerous wetlands and vernal pools occur on this property. These need to be carefully protected. Data centers require huge amounts of electricity and water to run. Will Groton’s water supply be protected in times of drought from overuse by the data center? A closed loop water system should be used. During testing and power outages, diesel fuel will power generators which will pollute our air and make a lot of noise, so noise abatement will be needed. Will the two main pollutants on data center properties--diesel fuel and batteries—be properly managed and controlled?

These are just a few of the questions GCA has about this project. We will keep you informed as the project moves forward. 

Support Our Town's Open Space Acquisition

The Wolfebrook property has exceptional ecological and historical features. Eccleston Brook, pictured above, runs through it.

As the year end approaches, we have an extraordinary opportunity to help the Town of Groton forever protect one of Groton’s most environmentally rich properties— the 161-acre Wolfebrook property located north of Route 1 and south of 95 and between Noank Ledyard Rd. and Flanders Rd. Groton Conservation Advocates invites you to join with us to make this acquisition happen.

GCA is partnering with the Town of Groton and Groton Open Space Association to protect this keystone property from development. Please take a few minutes to read our brochure; it provides maps and beautiful pictures of Wolfebrook and details the exceptional ecological and historical values that led both the CT Dept. of Energy and Environmental Protection and Groton’s Conservation Commission to place the property at the top of their acquisition lists decades ago.

GCA has pledged to raise $50,000 to close the purchase-price gap and establish a stewardship fund for trail maintenance and invasives management. We are asking everyone we know who values protecting open space to help with this effort. We hope you will consider a gift of $100 or whatever you can afford. Here’s how:
Gifts to GCA are not tax deductible because we are a 501(c)(4) organization. So, Groton Parks Foundation, a 501(c)3, has set up a restricted account to receive Wolfebrook gifts, which will then be turned over to the Town to fund the purchase and stewardship.

Please make your check payable to the Groton Parks Foundation, write “Wolfebrook purchase” on the memo line, and mail to Groton Parks Foundation at 29 Spicer Ave., Groton, CT, 06340. Thank you for considering a donation to this most worthy of causes. Our best wishes for a very happy holiday season and healthy new year.

Open Space Equity Action: King-Kolnaski Trails Committee

Jill Rusk and Cierra Patrick, City of Groton Trails Committee members

Last July, in the thick of Black Lives Matter demonstrations and DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion) demands for meaningful change, GCA resolved to act on the festering issue of equity of access to open space in Groton.

GCA contacted John Burt, Groton Town Manager, to ask what’s was being done to make the King-Kolnaski easement property accessible to the people bordering it in the City and in Groton. John said the town hadn’t done anything yet, but asked if we would be willing to help. We had a special interest in the property because GCA, along with two local land trust organizations, had been involved in adding the Birch Plain Creek portion of the King property to the Boulder Heights property as part of the Groton Middle School property swap. We immediately said yes. A group of 10 formed the King-Kolnaski Trails Committee and our first Zoom meeting was held in late October 2020. Days later, we took all interested King-Kolnaski committee members, family and friends out to bushwhack our way from the EB parking lot to the quarry area on the creek. Everyone was stunned by the beauty of the property and the sensation of being in the wild in the midst of Groton. Committee members excitedly chatted about connecting the King property not only to neighborhoods to the east and west, but to green space areas like Crystal Lake to the south and Washington Park to the northwest.

In early December, we commenced tagging a draft loop trail. Good progress was made by the end of January. Mark Berry, director of Groton Parks & Rec., and foreman Jeff Church and his crew have done a phenomenal job of clearing invasive plants and trees from around the trail entrance and around the full loop. Numerous snow storms slowed progress, but before the end of winter the entire trail was cleared. The blue loop trail blazing is almost complete and we hope to have a name for the nature preserve before the end of June. Other projects include deciding on a name, which falls to the Parks & Rec. Commission, and removing the trash that has accumulated over the years on the City/Town property line.

School Development Proposals Endanger Forests

The woods located behind the old Colonel Ledyard Elementary School, as well as the animals and plants that rely on them, were delivered an early defeat on February 2, 2021, when the Groton Town Council voted 6-3 in favor of the sale of the property to Bellsite Development, LLC, despite environmental and quality of life concerns raised by the property’s neighbors. The company is looking to develop the property by converting the school building into apartments, followed later by paving and constructing new buildings on the backside of the property. (Click here to read more in The Day.)

Col. Ledyard School site concept

The proposed development of the site endangers the last remaining wild habitat in the City, but perhaps more alarmingly the property also sits on a steep slope above the headwaters of the Birch Plain Creek. The loss of root systems and permeable surfaces combined with increased human activity and run-off threatens to impact the entire creek’s watershed. GCA is working with City residents to limit the scope of the property’s development and preserve this important habitat and green space in the City of Groton.

The Pleasant Valley Elementary School property is also up for sale, endangering another forested area on the west side of town which needs more, not less green space. Click here to read more.

Expanding Passenger Rail Service to Reduce Emissions and Traffic Congestion

The proposal envisions expanded Shore Line East train service from New London to Westerly, R.I.

A recent commitment by the US Congress will significantly increase the number of submarines built at Electric Boat (EB) over the next 20 years. This means a huge expansion in the EB work force of 17,000 adding possibly as many as 12,000.  Last year EB hired 2,000 new employees and plans to hire an additional 2,000 workers this year. Groton is working hard to provide additional housing to attract these workers to live in Groton, but at present 80% of them live in other towns.  As this workforce grows, the commuter traffic on I-95, I-395 and other highways will grow with it, clogging our interstate and pumping more CO2 into the atmosphere.

Zell Steever of GCA and Chairman of the Groton Town Council’s Resilience and Sustainability Task Force has developed a forward-thinking alternative proposal for the region to get people out of their cars and onto passenger rail service. He has gained the support of the towns of Groton and Stonington, the Cities of Groton and New London, as well as Pfizer, the CT Commuter Rail Council, and our state assembly delegation: Reps Christine Conley and Joe de la Cruz. Reps Conley, de la Cruz and Nolan have introduced a draft bill to require a feasibility study and operational plan for the passenger rail expansion idea in the region; they have a growing list of cosponsors, nine as of this writing.  A public hearing is expected this winter.

The proposal would use existing railroad tracks owned by Amtrak and the Providence and Worcester Railroad. No new railroads would have to be built. The proposal has two parts: it expands commuter passenger rail on CT Department of Transportation’s (DOT) Shore Line East (SLE) from New London to Westerly, RI, and in the future to Providence and Boston. The expanded SLE service would connect with a new proposed north-south rail service, to be known as the Norwich Branch Line, on existing tracks that run up the east side of the Thames River, between Pfizer/EB at the southern end to the south gate of the SUBASE on the north end with a possible future extension to Norwich. The intersection of these two rail lines would be at a new railroad station or platform in downtown Groton where the two lines run parallel. So, one could hop on the train at Madison or Old Saybrook and switch trains at Groton to get off at the front door of both EB and Pfizer, or at the south gate of the Navy Base (SUBASE).

Steever has talked with U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney, chair of the subcommittee on Seapower of the Appropriations Committee, about this project as well as staff at the SUBASE and the Southeastern Connecticut Council of Governments.  If combined with a mixed-use redevelopment of Groton’s downtown, this project could provide an exciting redevelopment opportunity for all of Groton, New London and the region. Zell welcomes your testimony and letters of support when this goes to public hearing in Hartford.