Spring is here! And don’t we deserve it after such a snowy winter. The daffodils which we planted along Round Hill Road and Lake Avenue in the Fall are soon to bloom. Our Civic Improvement team is busy caring for our area traffic islands and repairing damage from winter piles of snow.
It has been a busy time since our last newsletter. Our long-standing board member, Louisa Stone, was honored by the Greenwich Land Trust at its Annual Meeting with its first Lifetime Achievement Award. BRAVO, Louisa! The Land Trust is improving its property with three historic barns and a farmhouse across from the Round Hill store. Your Association made a gift to the campaign from our Civic Improvement Fund.
In February, we launched the Emergency Recharging Center (ERC) in the RH Community House. Our ribbon cutting ceremony and reception, co-hosted with our ERC partners, the Round Hill Community Church, was held in the building completely powered by the new generators we helped fund. Over the past year, Nancy Gray chaired the joint planning team, which also included, from the Association board, Mark Pruner and Nancy Duffy. Town officials, neighbors, and friends helped us celebrate the facility’s opening, signed up as volunteers, and expressed their appreciation for this new haven in BackCountry for phone recharging, warmth and community in the event of any future prolonged power outage.
At our January meeting, your board was briefed by Greenwich Police Detective Tim Powell on the large number of burglaries from mailboxes which had been occurring in the Association area. An e-news alert was sent to our members with tips on how to avoid mail theft and on lockable mailbox inserts. I am delighted to report that in March, the police arrested four people with stolen mail.
Greenwich Tree Warden Bruce Spaman and Greenwich Tree Conservancy Executive Director, JoAnn Messina reported at our March meeting on CL&P’s new program of Enhanced Tree Trimming, which calls for clearing – ground to sky – all trees within an 8 foot area around power lines. This program would strip many roadsides of trees and is being challenged by towns throughout the state. The Association wrote the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority supporting restrictions on the proposed trimming program.
The CT Department of Transportation has begun public hearings on a proposed multi-use trail in the woodlands alongside the Merritt Parkway. Since such a project would have a strong impact on all three back-country association areas, we are working, with NEGA and NWGA, to host a DOT public hearing on the plans.
