KENT, Conn.—Frustrated by the continued unruly behavior of visitors and residents who go down North Kent Road to access the beach along the Housatonic River, First Selectman Marty Lindenmayer the week of Monday, Aug. 18, slammed the door shut, closing the road to vehicular traffic until further notice.
Lindenmayer, who objected when former first selectman Bruce Adams closed the road years ago, acknowledged that he now sees the issue from “the other side of the desk.”
“Frankly, I am out of ideas,” he said. “They were parking on both sides of the road [making it too narrow for emergency access], so we posted no parking on one side to create a fire lane, and they park there anyway.
“[Resident State Trooper] Vicki Donohoe has been down there talking to people and handing out trash bags hoping they would use them and it would at least be easier to pick up, but no. There was a party down there Monday night and they left trash all over the place. There was loud music until 1 o’clock in the morning. People are not very considerate.”
The road is now closed from Route 7 to the Housatonic River to deter people from driving down toward the river and “No Parking” signs have been placed along the entrance to North Kent Road at Route 7 to prevent people from parking on the main highway and adjacent private property and walking to the site.
Lindenmayer said it is about a mile to the river. “It’s a long way to drag a cooler along a pretty crappy road,” he said.
Barriers are in place and anyone who attempts to move them or the signs to allow access to the road without approval from the First Selectman will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
“I can’t kick people off the river, but by closing the road, we can prosecute them for trespassing and give them tickets that will bite a little bit,” he said. “I am doing this as a safety, security, sanitary, and ecological response to the number of people throughout the week who have devastated the area with trash, illegal fires, and cooking areas, destruction of the surrounding fields and foliage, as well as the use of the fields and woods for bathroom facilities.”
He said the resident trooper and other law enforcement from Troop L will be on-site this coming weekend and on a regular schedule throughout the coming days to enforce the traffic ban and to ensure that there is enforcement of “No Parking” on Route 7.
He was writing to Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) Commissioner Katie Dykes Thursday, Aug. 21, looking for assistance in finding a permanent solution to the problem. DEEP is the overseer of the property and the town only owns the road.
Other agencies such as the Kent Land Trust and the Housatonic Railroad have property in the area and need to have access.
“People who need to get down there can go down,” Lindenmayer promised. “The barriers will be moveable, but Vicki will be at the entrance on Route 7, and she can ticket people for trespassing. If necessary, we will tow them.”
The problem lies in people seeking recreational access to water during the hot summer months. But it is not only folks from Queens and southern Connecticut causing the problem. “There are locals as well,” Lindenmayer observed. “They want to party, and they can’t have alcohol in the state parks.”
The issue has been ongoing for decades and the board of selectmen dedicated more than an hour of their August meeting to listening to residents who are upset.
After attempts to publicize the problem and to lessen the burden on neighboring property owners and the site, this past weekend was “just as bad and even worse,” Lindenmayer reported. “People sneak down there and there’s no way to stop them. Even with Vicki down there on the weekend, talking with people and handing out garbage bags, they don’t even pick up their junk. There’s not much she can do unless she sees something dangerous.”
The town can’t put a dumpster onsite because the steep and uneven road makes it impossible to transport one to the river’s edge.
Enforcement officers will also keep an eye on River Road on the west side of the river. Although the shore on that side is rocky, he said people sometimes try to wade across the river to reach the sandy shoreline on the east. “People who don’t know how to swim will be carrying children across, so we will keep an eye on that, he said.
The prohibition on access will probably remain in place until mid-September. “People will be thinking about school and other things by then and the weather will be cooler,” he said.
I cannot understand why people are so clueless about ruining a good thing. Very poor manners. Poor respect
I am a resident. I fish that section of river frequently. To suggest there has been rowdy residents there is simply false. Many of the folks swimming and picnicing there come from neighboring areas in New York, lots of them are Guatelmalan and from Dover. Shame that even local reporting has such inaccuracies.
I’ve been fly fishing this area for 40 years, these people aren’t locals. The disrespect they show for the area is beyond comprehension. The garbage left behind is disgusting, and even more so the amount of human excrement in these areas is staggering. These issues are prevalent all along the river from New Milford to Falls Village. More so than anything else the illegal fishing and loading coolers with fish, especially smallmouth bass has caused permanent damage to the fish populations. DEEP is fully to blame for allowing this to occur, while their lack of any enforcement speaks volumes about the agency.
I’ve been fishing/ hunting here for 25 years and echo the statements from my fellow sportsmen. To deny responsible user groups access is not only illegal it’s a federal violation since excise taxes pay for this land through the Pitman/ Roberts act. In my 25 years of using public land I have only run into one DEEP officer. There needs to be permanent solution, responsible user groups cannot access public land due to the railroad bisecting the property. DEEP definitely needs to increase patrols, the illegal take of fish by most likely unlicensed anglers is staggering, not to mention the obscene amount of litter left behind. Tickets, patrols, towing vehicles for illegal parking, all better solutions than denying access.
I will add one more thing, the areas use is specified as dawn until dusk, so 1 am would make whoever was using it a trespasser therefore tickets can be written, cars can be towed, people can be arrested. Responsible users should not be denied access due to government agencies inability to perform their jobs.
Bob, DEEP has done surveys of the river and between that and my fishing results I can tell you there is absolutely no shortage of smallmouth in the river.