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"I'd like to thank the Eriksen family for making this available and to the Conservation Commission for pursuing this," Selectman Jerry Murphy said after Conservation Commission Chairman Alice Dew told the board that she and her members had walked the parcel and spoken to Ms. Eriksen's family.
"Gertrude expressed a great deal of interest in keeping this property as open space for passive recreation, and her family is attempting to make her wishes a reality," Mrs. Dew told the board.
"As a younger woman, she enjoyed seeing children from Huckleberry come up to her horses and offer them carrots on their way home from school," she said.
Selectman Joni Park moved and the selectmen unanimously approved having the appraisal conducted as soon as possible and then getting a report from the Planning Commission so that the selectmen could send the proposed purchase to the Board of Finance and then a special town meeting.
"The Brookfield Conservation Commission sees this piece of property and the thoughtfulness of Gertrude's relatives as a once in a lifetime opportunity to purchase this beautiful parcel to keep as open space in perpetuity," Mrs. Dew said.
She said that Ms. Eriksen's family "has expressed the need to have the transaction completed by Oct. 1.
Mrs. Dew said that CCA, an engineering firm in Brookfield, has completed an A-2 survey, which will be paid through the Open Space Fund.
The town's Plan of Conservation and Development, which was last updated in 2002, called for the town, which has much less land than neighboring New Milford and Newtown, for example, to add more open space.
In 1999, voters at referendum approved the purchase of the Happy Landings Farm on Whisconier Road and the Burr Farm, near Dinglebrook Road and Obtuse Road South.
Since then, the town also has purchased the 18-acre Gurski parcel near Route 133 and is restoring parts of it to provide educational experiences for the town's youth.
Mrs. Dew said that the Conservation Commission believes that it could rent the home and outbuildings on the Eriksen parcel to generate income "for improvements and maintenance on the property."
She said that the farm could be used "as an educational experience for school children with the potential for gardens and other educational environmental opportunities."
Some residents have indicated that the town's purchases are helping to retain Brookfield's rural character.
Brookfield reportedly grew faster, per capita, than any of Connecticut's 169 municipalities during the 1960s, and by the mid-1970s it had been transformed into a suburban community.
In some instances the purchases also have kept land from being developed into housing, which might increase tax burdens with more students in the schools.
