Open Space Panel Votes To Pursue 3 Parcels

Other Committee · Meeting of September 2, 2026

Newington's Open Space Committee voted unanimously to recommend pursuing three parcels near Cedar Mountain for acquisition under a state open-space grant. The panel targeted parcel six (Valve Company, 180 Mountain Road), parcel seven (Valve Company, 70 Mountain Road) and parcel eight (Hartford HealthCare, 184-200 Patricia Genova Drive), directing staff to request a Town Council meeting, likely in executive session, to begin owner outreach. The town already holds about $277,000 in its open-space acquisition fund, and the grant has historically paid $120,000 to $1.5 million per project, with the application and a required appraisal due November 6.

Committee member Kathy Gonzalez, joining remotely, said "those are great spots to try to move forward with." Members separately flagged that the town-owned Indian Hill golf course lacks a conservation easement, relying only on open-space zoning that a future Town Council could change, and asked staff to research stronger legal protections.

In the full story:

• Who Was There
• Organizations And Documents Referenced
• The complete report — 2,118 words

Source: the Other Committee meeting of September 2, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.

Checked against the record: before publication this article was automatically compared with the meeting transcript.

The Full Article

Call to Order, Roll Call and Agenda

The Open Space Committee convened a special meeting on September 2, 2026. A staff member identified as Eric conducted the roll call at the request of whoever opened the meeting. Members responding present included Julian Chen, Beth, Lucas Hull, Gia Pasquarelli, Gail Bedrico and Kathy Gonzalez, who participated remotely. Bernadette Conway's attendance was unclear from the audio; a reference to "Tracy's out" during roll call could not be matched to any name on the roster of attendees discussed elsewhere in the meeting. A quorum was confirmed. The agenda from the committee's prior meeting was approved without changes; approval of the July 1 meeting minutes was tabled to the next regular meeting after one member said she had not attended that session. No members of the public attended in person or online, and the chair noted that explicitly before moving to new business.

Grant Program Overview and Parcel Screening

Background and stakes: The committee's stated purpose for the special meeting was to evaluate a state open-space acquisition grant opportunity and decide which, if any, parcels to recommend pursuing before an application deadline. The question before the body: which parcels, among dozens catalogued in a 2022 town spreadsheet of "parcels of opportunity," should the committee recommend to the Town Council for acquisition under this grant cycle.

Staff members referred to only by first name, Charlie and Monique, walked the committee through a packet that included a grant program overview, a static map of currently zoned open-space parcels, a combined map of open space and "parcels of opportunity," and a parcel evaluation matrix. Monique explained that two data layers drove much of the scoring: the state's Natural Diversity Database, which flags areas where an endangered or protected species has been documented, and the state's Wildlife Action Plan, a modeled dataset the state uses to predict likely habitat. "The Wildlife Action Plan is developed by the state, and it's exactly what it sounds like," Monique told the committee, adding that the Diversity Database carries more weight in most grant scoring.

Charlie noted the grant historically has awarded between $120,000 and $1.5 million per project, that the town's required local match is 25 percent, and that Newington does not qualify as an environmental-justice or distressed community, meaning it cannot access a reduced match or certain bonus points, except where a target parcel is adjacent to New Britain, which does carry some of those designations. He also clarified that targeting a parcel for the grant would not inflate its price: the town would still pay fair-market appraised value, with the town responsible for commissioning that appraisal as part of the application. The application and appraisal are due together on November 6.

Members then went through the spreadsheet looking for parcels that could be eliminated outright: those owned by entities unlikely to sell (Cedar Hill Cemetery, Eversource, the state, Central Connecticut State University) and those with slopes over 10 percent, which staff said effectively rules out development and reduces urgency to acquire them through this grant cycle.

Cedar Mountain Candidates: Parcels 6, 7 and 8

Background and stakes: The committee's working list narrowed quickly to parcels that would expand protected land around Cedar Mountain, an area already partly town-owned and identified in Newington's master plan and town-center charrette process as a future gateway to hiking trails. The question before the body: whether to recommend one, two or three Cedar Mountain-area parcels for pursuit, and in what priority.

Parcel six, at 180 Mountain Road and owned by Valve Company, abuts Cedar Mountain and connects to a town-owned parcel the town previously acquired from the state, which had carved a group-home property out of the larger tract and sold the remainder to Newington. Parcel seven, at 70 Mountain Road, is also owned by Valve Company. Parcel eight is the former Hartford HealthCare staff-housing site at 184-200 Patricia Genova Drive, zoned R-12; most of its houses have been demolished, though members noted no environmental Phase One study is known to have been done there. One member raised the Hartford HealthCare parcel as time-sensitive: "Conceivably, and I'm not saying they would, Hartford Hospital could sell that one parcel tomorrow," a member said, framing it as carrying more acquisition risk than parcels six and seven, which belong to an owner members said has shown no interest in selling.

Deliberation centered on how the grant treats multiple parcels. One member asked whether the grant could fund acquisition of several properties at once; staff responded that the grant appears structured around a single acquisition, though a cluster of commonly owned adjacent parcels could potentially be framed to "show intent" of consolidation. Members also debated whether to simultaneously approach the owners of parcels six/seven and the Hartford HealthCare site, concluding that parallel negotiations made sense as a hedge. "It's like any good negotiation, you want to have a fallback," one member said.

Procedural steps and outcome: Near the end of the discussion, a member moved: "move forward on possible acquisition of parcels number six, 7, and 8 as identified on the Open Space Inventory and request a meeting with Town Council and impacted officials to discuss moving forward." The motion was seconded and passed on a voice vote with all members present in favor; no dissent was recorded. The committee specified for the record that parcel six is Valve Company at 180 Mountain Road, parcel seven is Valve Company at 70 Mountain Road, and parcel eight is Hartford HealthCare at 184-200 Patricia Genova Drive.

Implications and what is next: Because any negotiation with a landowner would likely involve real-estate terms, members discussed holding the follow-up conversation in executive session, and planned to send a memo to the acting town manager, referred to in the meeting only as Lauren, seeking a slot on the Town Council's agenda. The Town Council was next scheduled to meet the following Tuesday, though members acknowledged that date might be too soon given a leadership transition and a holiday weekend. The November 6 application and appraisal deadline sets the outer boundary for when council action would need to occur.

Orchard Avenue Wetlands Parcels: 21, 22 and 23

Background and stakes: These three commonly owned parcels on Orchard Avenue, adjacent to a town-owned open-space parcel and a large pond, scored well on wetlands-related criteria but raised liability questions.

The parcels, assessed at $1,820, $1,820 and $1,890 respectively, sit next to a pond that older residents recall as a onetime skating spot, though members said it is heavily overgrown and not visible from the road. One member recalled a past concern about a student walking near the water during a school-bus routing discussion. Access would run through a town-owned parcel with frontage on the road. Beyond wetlands credit, the matrix gave the parcels points for proximity to the Natural Diversity Database area and the Connecticut Greenway, which members said runs between those parcels.

The committee declined to prioritize the Orchard Avenue parcels for this grant cycle, citing the town's liability exposure around an unmanaged body of water, but did not take them off the table permanently. "I just want to protect the town," one member said, noting the town already posts no-skating signs annually at Mill Pond and would face a similar obligation here. Another member suggested other grant programs focused on wetland maintenance might be a better fit later, though no specific program was identified.

Parcels Considered and Set Aside

The committee reviewed several additional parcels in less depth. Two state-owned parcels near Stanley Quarter Park (numbers three and four), which have frontage on the multi-use "fast track" trail, were discussed but set aside because of the state's historically slow and often unwilling posture toward disposing of land, even when the town has offered to buy, and because any pilot-program property-tax arrangement with the state complicates negotiation. A roughly 30-acre parcel on Fen Road owned by the Mungillo family was ruled out because it contains a house, and the grant excludes properties with existing structures; members were uncertain whether a subdivided portion could qualify. A 4.6-acre parcel near Ocalini Court (number 17) was found to sit almost entirely within a Wildlife Action Plan area and abuts New Britain, but was judged landlocked with no connectivity to other protected land or trails. Two Central Connecticut State University-owned parcels (10 and 11), despite touching a proposed greenway in the town's Plan of Conservation and Development, were flagged as likely targets for unauthorized dirt-bike use and were deemed too large and liability-prone to manage, though a member suggested a partial acquisition of parcel 11 or a slice of parcel 10 might merit a future look.

Old Business: Protecting Existing Open Space, Indian Hill Concern

Background and stakes: The committee is separately compiling, with Charlie's assistance, an inventory of all currently zoned open-space parcels and any deed restrictions or conservation easements attached to them, a project that grew out of the grant research. The question before the body: what options exist to add stronger legal protection to town-owned open space, prompted specifically by concern about the town-owned Indian Hill golf course.

One member said she raised the question after learning that Indian Hill's open-space zoning designation, unlike a true conservation easement, could in theory be changed if a future Town Council majority wanted to rezone and sell it. "It's all dependent on who's sitting in these nine spaces," she said, adding that a tighter legal restriction, similar to an easement the state's Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) attached when it transferred another town parcel, would be harder for a future council to undo than a zoning designation alone. Staff said a legal opinion, possibly from a land-use attorney, would be needed to determine what protections the town could add to already-owned open-space land, and that the committee could also recommend the Town Plan and Zoning Commission strengthen the open-space zoning language itself. Charlie agreed to produce a general inventory of existing deed restrictions, cautioning that some deeds are lengthy and that a complete review by the Town Clerk's office would take longer.

Implications and what is next: No vote was taken on this item. The committee expects an initial inventory from staff by its next meeting, roughly a month out, and intends to revisit whether to recommend zoning changes to the Town Plan and Zoning Commission.

Public and Committee Comments

No members of the public attended in person or online for either comment period. In closing comments, members thanked staff, with one noting she has not lived in Newington as long as some colleagues and relies on their institutional knowledge of specific parcels. The meeting adjourned on a motion that was seconded without objection.

WHO WAS THERE

Julian Chen — committee member, present. Beth — committee member, present (no surname given in available sources). Lucas Hull — committee member, present. Gia Pasquarelli — committee member, present. Gail Bedrico — committee member, present; also referenced as serving on the Town Council. Kathy Gonzalez — committee member, present remotely via Zoom. Bernadette Conway — listed in roll call; attendance status unclear from audio. Eric — staff or committee member who conducted roll call and liaised with the acting town manager (no surname given). Charlie — staff member who co-prepared grant materials and will compile the deed-restriction inventory (no surname given). Monique — staff member who presented GIS/grant-criteria data (no surname given). Lauren — acting town manager, referenced but not present (no surname given). Jonathan — referenced once regarding a conservation-easement suggestion made in a prior conversation; not confirmed present (no surname given).

ORGANIZATIONS AND DOCUMENTS REFERENCED

Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) — referenced as the source of an existing conservation easement on another town parcel and as the owner of parcels near Stanley Quarter Park discussed for possible acquisition. Hartford HealthCare — owner of the former staff-housing parcel (parcel eight) at Patricia Genova Drive discussed as a priority acquisition target. Central Connecticut State University (CCSU) — owner of parcels 10 and 11, discussed and largely set aside due to liability and management concerns. Valve Company — owner of parcels six and seven on Mountain Road, the committee's top acquisition priority. Town Plan and Zoning Commission (TPZ) — identified as the body the committee may ask to strengthen open-space zoning language. 2022 Open Space Committee parcel spreadsheet — the base inventory of "parcels of opportunity" used throughout the meeting's screening discussion. Parcel evaluation matrix (grant packet) — scoring tool used to compare candidate parcels against eligibility and natural-resource criteria. Newington Plan of Conservation and Development (POCD) — cited regarding a proposed greenway connection near the CCSU parcels.