Views of the Burr Farms property, which in addition to two baseball diamonds, encompasses cordoned-off land that leaders of the Westport Community Gardens propose as a new location for the gardens. / Photos by Gretchen Webster
By Gretchen Webster
WESTPORT — Community gardeners, whose exile from the Long Lots Elementary School property was announced earlier this month, hope to plant the seeds of rebirth on a patch of the town-owned Burr Farms Field property.
Several years of controversy have engulfed plans to build the new school on Hyde Lane, which initially called for pushing the Westport Community Gardens from the site they had occupied more than two decades, but guaranteed the gardens another spot on the campus as part of a “compromise” 8-24 land-use approval granted in January 2024 by the Planning and Zoning Commission.
Tooker: No room for gardens at Long Lots after all
But in a May 14 letter to the P&Z, First Selectwoman Jennifer Tooker said planners could not find a site for the gardens on the Long Lots property, requiring a new 8-24 approval for the school project to reflect that change.
In response, the Steering Committee of Westport Community Gardens last week sent letters to Tooker, the P&Z and the 120 community gardens members proposing a plan to plant new gardens on part of the Burr Farms property.
“We have consistently asked the town for a collaborative effort to identify an alternative location, should we not be allowed to co-exist with the new Long Lots School,” the Steering Committee wrote. “Despite multiple outreach attempts and ideas, we have not received any meaningful response or engagement.”
Throughout the planning process for the new school, a location for the gardens has been in flux, and even the approved 8-24 land-use report did not specify where on the Hyde Lane campus an alternate site for the gardens would be designated.
Another option was promoted by Tooker, who earlier this year led a tour of the Baron’s South property, telling gardeners that a spot on the open space would be appropriate for new gardens.
But the site is not suitable, gardeners said, arguing that it’s on a slope, shaded, lacking enough parking and believed by some to be toxic because of waste previously dumped there.
Gardeners: Burr Farms a “workable solution”
Now, they are hopeful about a new location at Burr Farms, said gardener Laureen Haynes, spokeswoman for the Steering Committee.
“We are proposing a real, workable solution: a portion of the Burr Farms Field property,” she wrote in the letter to Tooker and the P&Z. “This parcel is sunny, flat, centrally located, and has ample parking — ideal for a thriving, inclusive community garden.”
Baseball fields are currently located on the Burr Farms property, in addition to unused land that is chained off. “The space is underused … We are asking to share this property, repurposing the half furthest from the road. One seasonal baseball diamond would remain,” the letter said.
Lou Weinberg, the Steering Committee chair, along with Haynes and many other gardeners blame Tooker and some other town officials for the loss of their Hyde Lane gardens.
Incorporating gardens into Parks Master Plan?
Haynes and the committee have never gotten a response from Tooker to any of their letters, Haynes said. But the first selectwoman did respond to a short note sent by another gardener several weeks ago, saying that she had turned the Burr Farms proposal over to the Parks and Recreation Department for consideration in the town’s new Parks Master Plan, according to Weinberg.
The timetable for the master plan was reviewed by the Parks and Recreation Commission last week, when Parks and Recreation Director Erik Barbieri said he hopes to hear a broad spectrum of public input on uses for the town’s parks. Barbieri said the Parks Master Plan should be complete by fall, but did not specifically address the Burr Farms gardens proposal.
Weinberg said last week that he plans to set up a meeting between the garden’s Steering Committee and Barbieri to discuss the Burr Farms proposal.
Although he is hopeful that new gardens can be planted at Burr Farms, the past few years have been painful because of what Weinberg called “the town’s disregard” for the community gardens and the gardeners.
“It’s been an awful experience,” he said. “The disappointment is never going away. This administration has played dirty politics throughout the whole process. They have alienated the whole town.”
Weinberg is particularly sad about the loss of the Long Lots Preserve, which was part of the four acres allotted to the gardeners on Hyde Lane. More than $40,000 was donated by environmental organizations and some businesses to pay for restoration of the preserve, which he said will be destroyed during the school construction project.
“The preserve is flowering, fruiting, flourishing — providing this town with an example of open space and environmental regeneration,” he said. “What a lost opportunity to preserve green space at no cost to the town, to restore green open space and to promote the environmentalism that’s being taught to our kids.”
Freelance writer Gretchen Webster, a Fairfield County journalist for many years, was editor of the Fairfield Minuteman and has taught journalism at New York and Southern Connecticut State universities.