2001 ANNUAL MEETING NOTICE

The Green’s Farms Association will hold its annual meeting on SUNDAY, APRIL 29^th from 2 PM to 4 PM at 51 Turkey Hill Rd., South. All residents of Green’s Farms are invited to attend. Take this opportunity to come along, discuss neighborhood issues and participate in the Board of Directors elections. Refreshments will be served. Please join us.

YARD WASTE SITE - The issue of the Town wishing to locate a Yard Waste facility at the northeast corner of Green’s Farms Road and the Sherwood Island Connector is still alive. Your Association Executive has been quite busy over the past year or so working with two groups of neighbors attempting to stave off such an event.

Certainly those neighbors who live close to the sie in question are very familiar with the ramifications, the history and the progress of the Town’s application(s), but it appears the majority of Green’s Farms residents are not at all concerned. Probably the thinking of those not showing concern is, "If it isn’t in my backyard why should I bother to get involved?" But is this really a wise or neighborly outlook?

If this application is approved a scary precedent will have been set. The site in question is in a residential zone and the Town can legally locate such an operation in a residential zone by Special Permit. Thus, the Town, at any time in the future, could place other such undesirable facilities on any land the Town owns or leases from another party (such as the State of Connecticut), that may just happen to be in your precise neighborhood. Then you would probably be looking for ALL Green’s Farms residents to come forth and support your defense against such actions! We all need to be counted. There is strength in numbers. You can help tremendously in our activities to preserve the Green’s Farms atmosphere, appearance and style of living by urging your neighbors to add their names to our membership rolls and by all of you turning out at the various Board and Commission hearings on these matters. A full auditorium sends a message to the Boards and Commissions that the citizens are concerned. If you don’t care to speak up at these hearings please contact a member of our Executive and let him or her know your feelings. There is usually at least one of us present at the hearings. Help us let the Town know they have a fight on their hands.

In this instance the only site for which the Town has raised an application is this one in Green’s Farms. There are, however four or five other sites that would be suitable. The Town, recognizing that the Green’s Farms Association, along with the two other groups of neighbors, was building a strong case against this application so they launched a "divide and conquer" maneuver. They erected signs at each of the possible locations advising neighbors that their site was under consideration as a possible location for the Yard Waste Site (which was not really so, as the Town had not yet raised applications for any of these other sites). This, of course resulted in a flurry of activities in these other neighborhoods ranging from forming Associations such as ours, hiring attorneys, and writing letters to the Town, some of which stated that the citizens involved felt that the very best site was the one on Sherwood Island Connector.South. We not only have to fend off the Town of Westport, but also these other neighborhood groups and citizens. So, "RALLY UP!" We need YOUR support! Visit our web site at www.westportct.net/gfa for up to date information and the schedule of public hearings.

There have been numerous activities in town this past year, aside from the Yard Waste Site question, that have affected the Green’s Farms Community. We have pursued a number of them, namely the Green’s Farms School Playground, Clean Up Day (Apr. 29, 2000), Got Noise efforts, West Parish Pond silting, Street Events, Downtown Planning and an application to build a number of Affordable Housing units on the Jaegar property on Hyde Lane. We followed this application closely and attended all hearings on the matter even though it is not in Green’s Farms, because of the precedent that would have been set had this application been approved

The GFA is organizing a clean up of a Green's Farms location. Volunteers are asked to please report to the commuter Parking lot on the Sherwood Island Connector at 10AM. Long pants, long sleeves, hats and gardening gloves are suggested. Call 227-4363 for further information.

SMILE-- Most People Are As Happy As They Want To Be. - Abraham Lincoln

Your membership dues allow the Association to exist and remain a positive influence in the community. Dues pay for our mailings, the costs of our functions and operations and our legal representation. Our Board of Directors works totally on a volunteer basis. By maintaining a strong membership, the Association is able to respond to critical issues in the community and our solid presence helps prevent many problems before they reach a crisis point.

We are continually active in zoning matters and public service in the community. New members provide us with a growing and necessary field of knowledge, expertise and experience. We welcome members who are willing to sit on our Board of Directors or work with various committees from time to time. The Board of Directors wishes to hear your questions and concerns and urges you to join or renew your membership so that we may remain a viable positive force in the community. Please return the preprinted Membership Form or the form, which appears, on this newsletter.

GFA will be spoofed in a skit or song at Forbidden Westport, a charitable event at the Westport Country Playhouse on May 12^th. Contact the Westport Sunrise Rotary Club at 454-6446 for details.

Ron Vigars, President

227-4363

Hal Levy, Vice President

454-7267

Christine Stonbely, Sect.

254-3341

Birthe Shwisha, Treas

255-7768

Anne Beers, Director

227-5817

Bill Brett, Director

227-7710

John Gosselin, Director

255-2553

Peggy Haering, Director

454-5957

Bill Huber, Director

255-4324

Charles Reid, Director

259-3496

MEMBERSHIP FORM & DUES INVOICE

SIGNED ____________________________DATE___________ Thank You

I would be willing to help out from time to time by serving on a committee.