Siever submits resignation from Norwalk Land Trust presidency

NORWALK, Conn. – As a meeting advertised as “the last chance to save Farm Creek” approaches Wednesday evening in Rowayton,, it is unclear who is leading the Norwalk Land Trust (NLT).

Kathy Siever has submitted her resignation as president, NLT publicist Marven Moss said. “The board of directors has not acted on it – no motion to accept was introduced at Monday’s night’s meeting – and the issue is to be raised at the next board meeting,” Moss said in an email.

Siever could not be reached for comment.

Siever led the NLT as it negotiated last November with architect Bruce Beinfield to purchase 2 Nearwater Road for $1 million. Beinfield’s plan to replace the existing cottage on the property with a much bigger house drew hundreds of emails to the Norwalk Planning and Zoning Department; Siever said the move to buy the property to create a bird sanctuary was done in response to that outrage, but new outrage has ensued as Pine Point residents have fought the proposed nature preserve in objection to making the property open to the public. Both sides are lawyered up, a source said.

The Pine Point Association voted June 22 against endorsing the nature preserve proposal. Siever said at the May 15 Sixth Taxing District meeting that the NLT would not go where it wasn’t wanted. After the PPA vote, she said that the NLT board would decide its next move Monday, but that meeting ended with no decision other than to wait to gather input from this months’ Sixth Taxing District meeting, to be held at 8 p.m. Wednesday in the Rowayton Community Center.

That meeting is the “last chance to save Farm Creek,” according to a post made by Kat Pratt on the Farm Creek Preserve Facebook page.

A post from Priscilla Feral indicates that the taxing district commissioners are important to the supporters’ cause.

“A review of (a Norwalk Patch post that links to NoN) along with a phone discussion I just had makes it more clear that the weight of the Commissioners and city will help produce the best result. No one takes law suit threats lightly, but non-profits can also defend them. When that”s understood, the adversaries (who really can be openly identified) might adjust their agenda,” she wrote.

Feral urged supporters of the proposed nature preserve to attend the meeting.

“We’re best equipped proponents of the nature preserve when we understand why an architect/developer can get around a contract, and why we need to lobby the Norwalk Land Trust, who you’d trust to be solidly behind a nature preserve,” Feral wrote. “From an eyeball survey, the majority of residents in Pine Point use pesticides on lawns, and all of that runoff pollutes the water surrounding Pine Point. That kills sea grass and depletes crustaceans, fish and harms birds who eat worms and insects. I wouldn’t count on many of these residents to be sensitive to environmental issues. I can accept that people are sometimes asleep, but others may refuse to wake up.”