O’Neill Measure Preserving Southbury Training School Land Signed Into Law by Governor

SOUTHBURY – In a brief outdoor ceremony yesterday afternoon at the Southbury Training School, Governor Dannel P. Malloy signed into law legislation that was shepherded through the General Assembly by Representative Arthur J. O’Neill (R-69) which will preserve and protect farmland owned by the School, and ensure its continued use for agricultural purposes. 

The new law reinforces a long-standing commitment on the part of the state to preserve the property, and continue its agricultural use.  The bill signing caps a 25-year long effort by Representative O’Neill to preserve the Southbury Training School land for agricultural use. 

“My commitment to protecting Southbury Training School Farm and promoting agriculture on it goes back to my first term in office in 1988, when I proposed legislation to preserve this farmland,” said Rep. O’Neill.  “Persistence paid off, and five years later Governor Weicker signed my legislation committing the State of Connecticut to preserving this land for agriculture.  Years later, the Legislature passed a bill, which I co-sponsored, creating a Task Force to study future uses of all farms owned by the State.  Among the members of that Task Force were Tom Crider of the Southbury Land Trust and Steven Reviczky. 

“Their report proposed that those farms owned by the State be preserved and protected through the use of third party easements to non-profit groups committed to land preservation and the promotion of farming. 

During the next Session of the General Assembly, I proposed legislation to enact those recommendations and proposed it in each Session since:  in 2011, 2012, and this year it finally passed.  Thank you, Governor Malloy and the Administration, for supporting the bill this year.” 

O’Neill thanked the Department of Agriculture and many in the administration of Governor Dannel P. Malloy for their assistance in seeing the bill through.  

In March, O’Neill, Roxbury First Selectman Barbara Henry, Southbury First Selectman Ed Edelson, and Southbury Board of Selectman member Chad Landmon submitted testimony to the legislature’s Environment Committee in support of the measure.

The new law, Public Act 13-90, An Act Concerning the Preservation of Farmland at the Southbury Training School, became effective upon the governor’s signature.

Watch Rep O'Neill's remarks here.