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The possible site for a Connecticut National Guard base: Courtesy of the Middletown Westfield Residents AssociationCongresswoman Rosa DeLauro and Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz are asking Governor Jodi Rell, as the commander in chief of the Connecticut National Guard, to reject a plan to build an army training facility on farmland in Middletown.

Under the 2005 federal law known as BRAC or the Base Relocation and Closure Act a new Army training facility should be located in Middletown. The Army Corps of Engineers has chosen an 88 acre site there that includes a farm and wetlands. Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz says she wants the facility to be built in Connecticut, but she points to the state’s so-called “smart growth” policies that encourage development on former industrial areas, rather than on farms.

“Preservation of farmland and open space is in the best interest of all of the citizens in Connecticut,especially when we see our state is losing farmland at the fastest rate in the country. And we think it’s very important that the Army should take that into consideration."

Bysiewicz and other opponents are suggesting the army look at other sites, including one formerly used by Pratt and Whitney. Diane McCartin of the Army Corps of Engineers says the extent of contamination on that site is unknown. McCartin says the Army has considered twenty sites and the one they’ve chosen has enough acreage and the access needed for Army vehicles. The Army Corps of Engineers is meeting with Middletown citizens at the end of August. The Middletown City Common Council will be voting next week on a resolution rejecting the proposed site.