A Look at Branford’s New Downtown Open Space [PHOTOS]

When asked if he was excited about Branford’s first open space acquisition downtown, Branford Land Trust Director was quick to note that the town’s beloved is really a big piece of open space, which has been used for passive recreation for more than a century.

But continue on from the Green, straight down Hillside Avenue and you will arrive at the town’s recently acquired seven-acre parcel of open space that will become the only downtown park with hiking trails and benches.

Branford Land Trust will work with the town in managing the open space but the has jurisdiction over the maintenance of the property, which runs parallel to Ivy and Cedar streets and stops just before the edge of North Main Street.

At, where the group officially accepted the open space, BLT secured conservation restrictions for the property. Basically, Horne said BLT will be able to monitor how the town uses the open space in the future to prevent the placement of cell towers or municipal buildings on the property. While the town has no plans to do that, Horne said, “It’s not out of the question that some future administration would do that.”

The Branford RTM will next have to accept the open space at their for the transfer to be official. 

Stan Konesky, Ivy Street resident who attended last week’s BOS meeting, was vocal regarding the preservation of the property. He was happy to know that the BLT would protect against any development on the hillside. Of the threat of the town developing the property in the future, Horne said, “It’s that kind of thing that the neighbors wanted to protect against.”

Horne took Patch up Hillside Avenue, past the old Linsley House, which is slated for demolition, to the main entrance of where the park will be. Where there are crude paths now, Horne said the plans are six-foot wide gravel walkways for people to transverse. Though the hilly characteristics of the park will stay, Horne envisions the hiking area to be easy for most to access and utilize.

Though there’s no firm plans for trail clearing and park design, Horne said he envisions an Eagle Scout taking on part of the park restoration and volunteer organizations like the BLT and even political committees getting together to make the area passable for passive recreation. There are plans for park benches and wildlife plaques to dot the trails.

While a peaceful vision now exists for this open space parcel, Horne tells that a much different fate could have been. Original plans for the space included blasting down the existing wooded hill, just beyond Hillside Avenue, to make way for single-family houses. The hillside, he said, would have been brought down some 40 feet.

Branford developer Alex Vigliotti of Vigliotti Construction who owns the property, has been trying to secure approval to build for more than a decade. He has been turned down repeatedly by the for his ideas starting in the early 2000s. Horne, who has been following the issue, said a small waterway that runs parallel to Cedar Street has contributed to the denial of construction for Vigliotti.

Finally, Vigliotti has secured the right to build three age-restricted housing complexes called Founder’s Village, behind Rose Hill Apartments on Rose Street, which he also owns. The three apartment buildings will sit just below the open space park, which he has given to the town. If you want to learn more about Vigliotti’s dealings with the town to secure building rights over the years, check out the New Haven Register coverage here.

Meandering through the trails already existing on the open space parcel, Horne called the property valuable for passive recreation. “It gives people in the center of town a place where they can go walk in the woods like the Short Beach preserve,” he said.

Envisioning it as an extension of the already well-utilized Town Green, Horne said, “I think this is going to be a real amenity for the center of Town. You can go to and have a cup of coffee and then go for a walk up on the hill.”