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Hatch Pond Watershed Based Plan Complete!
February 9th, 2015
Thank you to all who were part of the development of South Kent School's Hatch Pond Watershed Based Plan! Put together through the School's Center for Innovation (CFI), the Planning Committee's successful meetings concluded on November 21, 2014 with a review and final public comments on the draft watershed based plan. The evening included a presentation from our consultants of water quality monitoring and land use assessments in the watershed. The Planning Committee included representatives from Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP), the Town of Kent, and many local land owners and residents.
Spearheading this effort is CFI Director of Sustainability MaryAnn Haverstock. "All of the ideas presented at those meetings were very helpful in understanding the many purposes our watershed serves to our community," she said. "We learned how to connect in our goal toward a healthy and sustainable environment. All of your thoughts were included in the Watershed Based Plan." With these suggestions, South Kent now has recommendations for partnerships to tackle short and long term project goals for environmental improvements in our area.
The plan includes great education and project opportunities that coordinate well with all of the other environmental priorities happening around us. The plan and presentation notes from past meetings can be found on the Hatch Pond Watershed webpage.
"Our next step is to create an implementation committee. We have invited all those on the planning committee and welcome anyone who would like to join for the next step," Haverstock said. This committee will meet to hear from experts in diverse areas of environmental management and work to implement projects to improve and protect our quality resources. Projects range from reviewing land use regulation and policies to incorporating low impact development projects into new construction and retrofits. These projects include community stormwater collection and reuse, bioretention areas to encourage infiltration and reduce surges of polluted stormwater to our smaller streams, and changes to better manage vehicle runoff from roads and driveways.
South Kent students have been an integral part of the watershed managment effort, from installing rain barrels and to building rain gardens on campus, to learning about sustainable ecosystems in our area and connecting their CFI learning at the state Capitol.
The implementation committee's first meeting is February 27th at the CFI site: 170 South Kent Road, South Kent, CT 06785(link is external). We look forward to seeing you there!
About the Center for Innovation
The mission of the Center for Innovation is to teach students sustainability, resilience, and wholeness through the spheres of Sustainable Earth, Sustainable Design, and Sustainable Community.
