{"id":624578,"date":"2026-05-05T09:23:18","date_gmt":"2026-05-05T09:23:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/624578\/"},"modified":"2026-05-05T09:23:18","modified_gmt":"2026-05-05T09:23:18","slug":"advocates-celebrate-after-ct-city-agrees-to-buy-part-of-nature-preserve","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/624578\/","title":{"rendered":"Advocates celebrate after CT city agrees to buy part of nature preserve"},"content":{"rendered":"

In a boost for advocates fighting to save<\/a> a portion of the Hoppers Birge Pond Nature Preserve<\/a> in Bristol from being developed, the city has worked out an agreement with the developer to acquire six acres for preservation.<\/p>\n

The nature preserve, located at 54 Ambler Road and just minutes from downtown Bristol, contains eight miles of hiking trails and a 270-acre wildlife refuge.<\/p>\n

Birge Pond and the surrounding preserve are used for non-motorized boating, fishing and hiking year-round. The 270-acre preserve was acquired in 1973 from Bristol Savings Bank, according to the city.<\/p>\n

H & T Holdings, LLC purchased 12 acres of privately held land on the east side of the Hoppers for mining and development back in August 2025, according to documents filed with the city. H & T Holdings was formerly seeking a wetlands permit to excavate and build properties at 45 and 51 Grassy Road. The LLC is affiliated with local developer Tom Tobacco, according to the documents.<\/p>\n

On April 28, the city\u2019s budget committee voted to fund the purchase of the westernmost six acres of land owned by H & T Holdings, LLC. The property will be maintained as a protected parcel in the nature preserve used for outdoor recreation, city officials said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have been having conversations over the last several months with the Tobacco family who purchased the property, which had existing residential houses on it,\u201d Bristol Mayor Ellen Zoppo-Sassu said. \u201cThe developer demolished those houses and are recreating a new footprint for residential development. That residential development may include some level of mining for sand and gravel for future builds. But in addition to that property, there are six acres of core forest, which literally stuck out like a thumb within the preserve.<\/p>\n

According to Zoppo-Sassu, the Tobaccos agreed to sell the property to the city.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had originally spoken to the Board of Finance about deferring the $250,000 that is in our capital budget for boardwalk repairs around the pond,\u201d she said. \u201cThe boardwalk\u2019s have deteriorated over 20 years and that project has been delayed for years. I was concerned about any liability there to the city and asked to put the project back on the budget. However, I thought protecting the core forest was more important. So I asked the Friend\u2019s of the Hoppers if they were willing to trade and use those dollars to secure the six acres. They agreed to use that money and understood there were competing priorities.\u201d<\/p>\n

Zoppo-Sassu said another funding source opened up shortly afterwards. The city sold a large empty parcel at 894 Middle St., part of a reclaimed brownfield that sits across from EPSN, she said. The money from the sale went into the city\u2019s capital lands reserve fund, where all money is distributed if the city acquires or sells property. The sale of Bristol Fire Company No. 3 station at 81 Church Ave., which was put up for sale by the city in February, will also help replenish the fund, she added.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was enough money in the fund to use to go toward securing the six acres at the Hoppers,\u201d Zoppo-Sassu said. \u201cWe had a healthy balance in the fund because of the remaining money from when Wheeler Health bought their downtown parcel and from the sale of 894 Middle Street. So there is no impact to the budget and no impact to the taxpayers.\u201d<\/p>\n

The city said it will acquire the six-acre property for $380,000, but the sale has not been finalized yet, according to the mayor.<\/p>\n

The Friends of the Hoppers Birge Pond Nature Preserve<\/a>, a group dedicated to its preservation, has been fighting since last summer<\/a> over a previous proposal to excavate 145,000 cubic yards of sand and soil from the \u201cmiddle of the preserve.\u201d But after intense pushback from the community, the developer modified the plan to include a smaller, but still controversial, excavation of 50,000 cubic yards. Now the goal is mostly to redevelop the remaining six acres for residential use, Zoppo-Sassu\u00a0said.<\/p>\n

Michelle Rudy, president of The Friends of The Hoppers, said she was relieved to hear the city was going to acquire the parcel.<\/p>\n

\u201cA small victory for all living things! The land is home to many trees, mountain laurel, forest birds, bobcats, bear and deer and many other animals and plants. Carter\u2019s Spring, on the land, was the place to go for people of the past to get pure drinking water. And for the people of the present, the hiking trails in this area provide a calming refuge from the bustle of modern life. We are thrilled that this six-acre parcel is on its way toward protection,\u201d Rudy said in a Facebook post.<\/p>\n

Rudy also said that she\u2019s sad to see the remaining six acres be developed. She said that The Friends of The Hoppers group will continue to advocate for the preservation of the entire preserve and will fight any further development.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s bittersweet for us because, while this is a victory, the developer still has six acres in the preserve,\u201d Rudy said. \u201cThis will ensure that the six acres the city acquires will be preserved for the future. Those hiking trails will remain and people will be able to enjoy the beauty of the natural area. But the other six acres are currently being developed by the developer. They are actively taking down beautiful oak trees and bringing in heavy equipment. Sadly, you can still see the destruction from the hiking trails.\u201d<\/p>\n

Zoppo-Sassu said that the $250,000 earmarked for rebuilding the boardwalk along Birge Pond will mostly likely be approved in the budget cycle next year.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce open space is gone, you can never reclaim it,\u201d Zoppo-Sassu said. \u201cI believe that in our planning and development, which guides a lot of our principles for quality of life, is very clear that protecting open space should be done. We had the means, the opportunity and a willing buyer who understands the sensitive nature of the area and was willing to sell a portion back. That core forest will now be protected.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stephen Underwood can be reached at sunderwood@courant.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In a boost for advocates fighting to save a portion of the Hoppers Birge Pond Nature Preserve in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":624579,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[175267,30451,20242,15861,192,15862,983,7221,45812,63356,6632,3930,79,270417],"class_list":["post-624578","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-birge-pond","tag-bristol","tag-connecticut-news","tag-ct-news","tag-environment","tag-hartford-courant","tag-local-news","tag-nature","tag-nature-preserve","tag-outdoor-recreation","tag-outdoors","tag-recreation","tag-science","tag-the-hoppers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/624578","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=624578"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/624578\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/624579"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=624578"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=624578"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=624578"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}