Safety Barriers are Needed on I-95 to Protect Birdcraft Sanctuary
Connecticut Audubon Society is joining with Fairfield residents and officials in calling for the construction of safety barriers along Interstate 95, near where the highway’s rest stops. Connecticut Audubon Society President Alexander R. Brash wrote the following letter to Commissioner James P. Redeker of the Connecticut Department of Transportation, among others.
April 22, 2014
Dear Sirs,
In the mid-1950s Connecticut Audubon Society’s Birdcraft Sanctuary in Fairfield was riven by the creation of I-95. Today, the remaining elements are threatened by the additional impacts of a new and expanded Rest Area / Service Plaza currently being constructed. I am writing to request that safety barriers be erected to ameliorate the significant impending environmental and safety threats from the new Rest Area.
One hundred years ago this October, Connecticut Audubon Society’s (CAS) Birdcraft Sanctuary was opened in the town of Fairfield. Since that time the sanctuary, museum, and nature center have served and inspired hundreds of thousands of school children, residents and visitors. Through the charismatic nature of birds, the CAS provides experiential education in science, conveys the values of conservation, and advocates for a sustainable future.
The currently approved plan, largely funded by the Carlyle Group and Subway, for expansion of the northbound Rest Area / Service Plaza (by Exit 22) on I-95 will bring a dramatically substantial increases in noise pollution, deteriorating air and water quality, and esthetic impacts to the Birdcraft Sanctuary. The expansion and reconfiguration of the Rest Area / Service Plaza adjacent to Birdcraft Sanctuary will:
• Decrease the air quality at the sanctuary to the detriment of those visiting it, especially thousands of schoolchildren;
• Increase public safety issues, as more traveling truck drivers and others will inherently have greater unfettered access to the community;
• Irreversibly erode the public benefits which underlie the sanctuary’s creation by dramatically increasing the noise impacts – in a nature sanctuary no less!; increase the probability of water quality impacts and establish a permanent threat to the site, and
• Decrease the esthetic values of the sanctuary, especially due to increased visual impact of highway traffic.
Surprisingly, while the new Rest Area / Service Plaza abutting Selleck Woods in Darien, Ct. has both a new safety barrier and a new drainage system, there are no similarly proposed mitigation plans for the one being constructed adjacent to Birdcraft. Precisely how or why a full-blown Environmental Impact Statement was not undertaken remains unknown, but certainly the 2008 Environmental Assessment (EA) undertaken as part of Ct. DOT’s Rest Area and Service Plaza Study was quite superficial. It is clear that the EA grossly underestimated or indeed ignored many of the impacts mentioned above. Perhaps the mindset inherent in this EA influenced the view; the Birdcraft Sanctuary flanking the site is simply referred to as “a swamp” – an odd and insensitive expression for the nation’s first private nature sanctuary. Perhaps the EA’s findings were limited because the associated outreach was limited, for in checking our records, we have yet to find any documentation indicating Ct. DOT or EarthTech even reached out to CAS, the largest adjacent landowner.
In any event, at this time we simply ask that this oversight be rectified, that environmental justice be demonstrated, and the Birdcraft Sanctuary, its constituents, and visitors be better protected. No doubt somewhere roughly 10% of the construction budget is set aside for “change orders” or “overage”, and we simply ask that a small amount of these funds be used to mitigate the impacts described.
Specifically, the Connecticut Audubon Society requests that 1) along the northbound side of I-95 between Unquowa Road and half-way to Round Hill Road there be a 20’ safety barrier erected, along with native species plantings to mask it, and 2) that an advanced stormwater filter and drainage system be installed on the southside of the Service Plaza to protect the sanctuary’s wetlands, extensive wildlife, and the underlying groundwaters.
While local leaders have suggested that a planting program would suffice instead of a true barrier, recent ample research indicates that this would not be sufficient. Even the thickest planting plans lower the noise by only a few decibels, while a wall would lower it between 10 and 30 decibels. Further, such plantings would neither appropriately address air quality issues and safety issues, nor the intense esthetic impacts.
As with all in this region, we too have a love-hate relationship with our interstate highway culture. We value its benefits just as we seek to ameliorate its negatives. But as a cultural institute in Fairfield that stood long before I-95 was even a dream, we ask you to stand with us and honor our sanctuary and protect it with a tall safety barrier and modern stormwater system. We believe these mitigations will offer the benefits of a safer sanctuary, cleaner air for our kids, increased privacy, better views, and a quieter environment. We feel that anything less will be a “taking” given that our long-standing public value is connecting our citizens with nature, and not subjecting them to ever increasing volumes of traffic.
Looking forward to your reply,
Alexander R. Brash, President
Connecticut Audubon Society
