21 years ago, the State of CT gave Newtown 70+ acres of land at what is now #8 and #6 Commerce Road, with the condition that one of the parcels MAY be used for 'economic development' and the other SHALL be used for open space & recreation. 

Various First Selectmen, with help from their Economic Development Commissions, spent years and more than $250,000 trying and failing to develop a portion of OUR land into various projects (Warehouses, Tech Parks, Luxury Senior Housing, etc..).

They failed because of how environmentally fragile OUR land is. None of the local, state or federal agencies would grant necessary approvals because OUR land:

• Is important habitat to all sorts of wildlife, including threatened and endangered species
• Is an important buffer to Newtown's already threatened Deep Brook, our only Class 1 Trout Stream next door
• Protects Newtown's Sole Source Aquifer beneath it that provides clean drinking water to half of Newtown's residents.

In 2014, #8 Commerce Road was granted to the Catherine Violet Hubbard Animal Sanctuary. CVHAS is building a certified low impact building there to support its educational/environmental/conservation mission, and the ten's of thousands of people who come to Newtown to participate in its programs (most of them from out of town/out of state). We can't think of a better, more appropriate form of Economic Development, especially for this property!

Despite meeting the state's 'economic development' request via the CVHAS, the current 1st Selectmen remains hell-bent on selling OUR remaining 34.4 acres to developers, ignoring current and past Conservation Commission and resident requests to preserve it as open space, and continues to deny us OUR open space that the State promised in 2003.

Please sign this petition to send a clear message to the Board of Selectmen and to all of Newtown's elected and appointed decision makers. Tell them we want OUR meadow at 6 Commerce Road protected as open space, and we want it now!

Read the Conservation Commission's latest recommendation here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1LgTwk1tajUK5nMgpBpEyXlw3R0kyLk1I/view?usp=sharing