Cuts To Parks, Environment Programs Trigger Frustration, Calls For Change

HARTFORD – State lawmakers – who earlier this year cut spending for the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection – voiced frustration Monday about the cutbacks that have reduced hours at state parks and campgrounds and limited when lifeguards are on duty at state beaches.

Several lawmakers demanded to know why Gov. Dannel P. Malloy's administration isn't looking harder at dramatic changes in the way the state pays for Connecticut's parks and protecting the environment. Others questioned the administration's priorities, including opening a new Seaside Park in Waterford while reducing hours at popular venues such as Gillette Castle State Park in East Haddam.

"Seaside was the worst decision ever to come out of this agency in the last two years," Rep. Melissa Ziobron, R-East Haddam, told DEEP's top officials. "We don't need that park."

Ziobron said a developer was already offering to turn the former tuberculosis sanitarium on the Long Island Sound shoreline into a resort with public beach access. Malloy decided instead to turn the property into Connecticut's first shoreline state park in 50 years, and plans now call for a $10 million state investment in Seaside.

Read more: http://www.courant.com/news/connecticut/hc-cuts-to-parks-environment-trigger-frustration-20160718-story.html