- Power Point presentation made by the State Police on May 28th, 2015, in the Willington Public Library. Note that over 150 people turned out for this meeting, which was housed in a room suitable for 50. There were six officers in full uniform lined up on one side of the room; all but one remained silent for the duration of the meeting.
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| The presentation started with a eulogy for the four troopers who have lost their lives in the 112 year history of the Connecticut State Police. The presentation paradoxically credits the current training program for saving the lives of numerous officers, while invoking the memory of the fallen officers to justify a massive new training complex. |
- In addition to the Willington parcel, another site in East Windsor, Connecticut is being considered. This .pdf from the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) goes into great detail about the endangered species located on the East Windsor site, yet admits that research on the Willington property is lacking.
From the memo (emphasis added):
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There are no NDDB (National Diversity Data Base) areas at the sites in Willington. Consultation with the Data Base should not be substitutes for on-site surveys required for environmental assessments. The EIE should include biological surveys of all three sites. With regard to flora, the Department recommends that biological surveys be conducted by a competent botanist/ecologist and the results portrayed as a generalized vegetation map (grasslands, fields, forest types, etc.) with a list of dominant species for each area. An analysis of the potential for State listed plants in each habitat type should be included. Generally, the earliest that such a survey can be conducted is late May. With regard to fauna, June is the recommended month to survey for many resident birds since an earlier survey period would not be able to differentiate migrants from breeding birds. Certain avian groups such as raptors or wetland birds may have slightly different breeding seasons and require earlier surveys. Raptor surveys should be conducted from early to late morning when weather conditions are clear, with the exception of owl surveys which should be done at night. A complete and systematic search of the forest is required. Reptile and amphibian surveys are particularly important when there are wetland and adjacent upland forest habitats at the site. Small mammals, including bats, should be sampled in summer since the variation in temperatures in spring can affect trapping, making it difficult to determine which species are actually present. Systematic surveys for invertebrates should be conducted during spring or summer. As with floral surveys, competent biologists familiar with southern New England should conduct the work and their qualifications should be provided for faunal and invertebrate surveys.
Note that to conduct a thorough survey of the entirety of this 327 acre property would take at least a year. However, the state expects to have its Environment Impact Evaluation completed and published by October of this year- allowing for no more than five months to conduct a complete study of a 327 acre piece of land.
- Map of the Willington site. Note that the site marked "Eldredge site" has since been removed from consideration by the owner.
- Willington's Board of Selectmen, the Conservation Commission, the Historic District Commission, and the Board of Education all oppose this proposal. They join the thousands of residents who oppose a state land grab and construction of a massive training complex and gun range- all at an undisclosed price tag for the Connecticut tax payer.
- Letter from Isabel B. Weigold, former town historian for Willington, describing the irreplaceable historical significance of the Ruby Road site:
