Holly Pond Gets Some Influential Friends

A group formed to promote the well-being of Holly Pond has been revived, and they're looking into installing a fish ladder near the dam between Darien's Weed Beach Park and Stamford's Cove Island Park.

A week ago, about 50 people—including First Selectman Jayme Stevenson, Selectman John Lundeen and four state legislators representing Darien and Stamford attended a meeting of the group, which has been revived by SoundWaters, an environmental education agency headquartered at Cove Island Park in a former house that overlooks the saltwater pond.

"Like our neighbors on both sides of the Pond, SoundWaters cares about the history, current status and future possibilities for Holly Pond," SoundWaters declares on its website. "We have taken the lead in reviving the “Friends of Holly Pond,” so that our neighbors can take a role in learning about and improving our special place."

SoundWaters's website has dedicated a page on its website to educating the public about the body of water, and the organization "will post all data, past reports and current activities about the pond," in order to help people better understand its role in the environment and the challenges to keeping it healthy.

One of the purposes of last week's meeting, according to the minutes posted on the website, was "to identify important issues, learn about the history and current status of funding and projects, and identify next steps to restore and protect the health and safety of Holly Pond."

Participants at the meeting discussed water quality of the pond and the need for testing it, dredging, the condition of the dam and getting state funds for projects. State Sen. Carlo Leone said he had been able to set aside $480,000 in the state budget for Holly Pond projects, but that money would be used on other projects around the state if local officials couldn't find a use for the money.

According to the minutes of the meeting posted online by SoundWaters, Leone "urged the group to reach consensus on a project, even if it’s not exactly what everyone wants, as a way of demonstrating to the Legislature that Holly Pond has a constituency that is willing to work together."

State Reps. William Tong and Gerald Fox of Stamford were also at the meeting, as was state Rep. Terrie Wood of Darien.

Two officials from the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection were also at the meeting. They spoke about state plans to add a fish ladder to the dam, allowing fish to enter the pond. Fish ladders allow fish to jump from one basin to another, increasingly higher, and are often built to allow fish to spawn upstream.

The group agreed to meet again on April 25 at SoundWaters in Stamford's Cove Park.

Little publicity appears to have surrounded last Wednesday's meeting. Darien First Selectman Jayme Stevenson on Monday tipped off Darien Patch about the revived group's existence.

The Darien Department of Public Works Web page on the town government website has a one-line link at the bottom to the SoundWaters Web page, another example of town information being hidden on the Town Hall website.

Editor's note: Holly Pond was the purported location of a sea serpent sighting, according to a Boston Daily Globe article which was probably a fictional account, since no local newspaper carried news of the tumult that the Globe said had been caused.

This article originally was published on Wednesday. The timestamp has been changed for layout purposes on the Home page of Darien Patch.