Towns can consider buying Candlewood Lake
Robert Miller, Staff Writer
Updated 10:35 p.m., Thursday, October 20, 2011
WOW! A MILLION QUESTIONS FLOOD THE MIND! INTERESTING IS THE FIRST THOUGHT. FIVE TOWNS TAKING ON THE STEWARDSHIP OF A NATURAL RESOURCE. BREATH-TAKING IS THE SECOND THOUGHT. COULD A REGIONAL GOVERNMENT BE FAR BEHIND? THE AMALGAMATION OF FIVE TOWNS INTO A "QUASI-GOVERNMENT" OF THE PEOPLE BY THE PEOPLE AND FOR THE PEOPLE. COULD THIS BECOME A BETTER BASS FISHING DESTINATION FOR NEW ENGLAND? THINK OF THE TAX GENERATION POSSIBILITIES! DOES THIS MEAN LOWER TAXES FOR THE REGION? HOW WOULD THIS NEW ORGANIZATION RULE THE REGION ... BY POPULATION REPRESENTATION WHICH IS ONLY FAIR. DANBURY AND NEW MILFORD OF COURSE WOULD HAVE THE MAJORITY OF THE VOTING POWER IN THE SCENARIO OR PERHAPS BY ACREAGE OF LAKE IN EACH TOWN IN WHICH CASE NEW FAIRFIELD BECOMES TOP DOG WITH MAJORITY RULE. BUT LET'S NOT GET AHEAD OF OUR SELF ... PERHAPS THERE IS A BETTER WAY AS THE FLOOD OF QUESTIONS RECEDE ITS DECEMBER AND THE DRAW-DOWN IS IN FULL SWING REVEALING THE MUD, MUCK AND MISERY OF THE STEWARDSHIP. WE MUST WAIT UNTIL SPRING THAW TO CONTINUE.
- Towns bordering Candlewood Lake will begin talks about buying the lake. Photo: ST, File Photo/ David W.arple / The News-Times File Photo
BROOKFIELD -- Built more than 80 years ago to produce electricity, Candlewood Lake may become a publicly owned lake managed primarily for recreation and the environment.
The Housatonic Valley Council of Elected Officials on Thursday authorized its executive director, Jon Chew, to set up meetings to discuss purchasing the lake from its current owner, FirstLight Power Resources. Candlewood Lake, at 5,420 acres, is the largest inland body of water in the state.
The council met Thursday at Brookfield Town Hall.
New Fairfield First Selectman John Hodge, chairman of the council and a member of Candlewood Lake Authority, told the council that FirstLight officials raised the purchase issue during discussions FirstLight between and the authority this week.
"They're very agreeable to selling it off," Hodge said
The buyers and owners would be the five towns that border the lake -- Brookfield, Danbury, New Fairfield, New Milford and Sherman. Hodge estimated the lake might cost $10 million, based on FirstLight's estimates of its worth.
Hodge said ownership would allow the towns to control what he called "a jewel of the region."
Charles Burnham, spokesman for FirstLight, said Thursday that FirstLight mentioned the sale to town leaders as something they might find advantageous.
"We welcome the discussion of this option," Burnham said.
Hodge said Thursday the authority and area town leaders want to manage the lake to increase its value to western Connecticut.
"As the lake goes, so goes the region," Hodge said.
Hodge said FirstLight, as a company interested in increasing it profits, has less interest in the lake as a center of recreation.
"FirstLight is there to make money," he said.
Hodge said, the towns and Candlewood Lake Authority would like the annual drawdown of the lake to last a full 60 days or longer. The drawdown lowers the lake by several feet every year to kill the Eurasian watermilfoil growing near its shoreline.
"In an ideal world, the drawdown would begin the first week of December and last for 60 days or so," he said. "But FirstLight has told us one of the most profitable times to make electricity is near Christmas."
Burnham pointed out that FirstLight agreed this spring not to pump water into the lake to reduce the chance of zebra mussels getting into the lake. That meant the company wasn't generating power at its Rocky River hydroelectric plant in New Milford.
"It's been difficult to make it profitable," Burnham said.
Hodge said Thursday it might take five years to discuss all the issues surrounding a purchase and reach a deal with the utility.
The towns will have to decide whether they would continue to generate power at the Rocky River plant or simply use it to raise or lower the lake, he said.
"But let's see where it leads," Hodge said.
More Information
A Candlewood Lake timeline 1926: Connecticut Light and Power Co. begins work on creating Candlewood Lake. 1928: The lake is filled with water pumped up from the Housatonic River via the Rocky River hydroelectric plant in New Milford. 1999: As electric utility deregulation begins in Connecticut, CL&P and area towns sign an agreement to guarantee the lake's future existence. 2006: Northeast Utilities, the parent company of CL&P, sells its five hydroelectric plants on the Housatonic River in Connecticut and one in Massachusetts to Energy Capital Partners for $1.34 billion. Energy Capital Partners sets up FirstLight Power Resources to manage its operations here. 2008: Energy Capital Partners sell FirstLight to the multi-national Suez Energy North America for a reported $1.9 billion. 2011: Towns begin discussing possible purchase of the lake from FirstLight.
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Contact Robert Miller
at bmiller@newstimes.com
or at 203-731-3345.
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