Solving the Villages Impasse

I attended a hearing at Town Hall last week that was supposed to take public comment on the results of the HUD required Environmental Impact Study on the proposed Villages Housing development. As expected, the public comments quickly turned to a different subject because of rumors based on half truths, innuendo and scare tactics. The end result of the fear mongering that went viral in town in advance of the hearing is that a considerable number of people in town were led to believe a false premise, that the Mohegans were responsible for delaying a project that could bring jobs to Montville. The hearing quickly turned to the proposed TCP or Traditional Cultural Boundary and Montville-Mohegan relationships in general exactly, in my opinion, as the developer hoped it would.

The developer is having a difficult time getting state and federal funding for the Villages project and is laying the blame at the feet of the Mohegan Tribe because of the proposed TCB. But the real source of their difficulty is the HUD Environmental Impact Study that was triggered by their own request for state and federal funding long before there was any issue at all. What they are not telling anyone is that they would be having this HUD difficulty even if the Mohegan Tribe were not involved in any way. They would be having this same HUD difficulty if they attempted to build on property located anywhere in the nation that contained the kind of findings that were detailed in the Environmental Impact Study. They would be having this HUD difficulty - no matter what - and they are seeking to put the blame on someone else rather than accepting responsibility for their own actions. The developer chose the site and chose federal funding route for the project and it is that decision that triggered the study, not the Mohegans. The Tribe did not ask for it, the developer requested the study in order to secure the federal funding. To the developer’s chagrin, the study found things that they either didn’t know existed or that they hoped could be explained away. It was the developer’s decision that delayed this project, not the Mohegans, and to their shame, the developer is allowing residents to succumb to the lie rather than take responsibility for it.

That Impact study is concluding that the project would be located on and likely cause extreme damage to sites of archeological and/or cultural significance, including but not limited to Fort Uncas. At this point it’s too late to put the cat back in the bag. The one indisputable fact is that that the feds found it. Whether or not anyone previously knew the location of the fort is immaterial; its existence is now a matter of public record in the Environmental Impact Study and its destiny may become subject to federal law because of that.

Fort Uncas was a military fort that played prominently in the history of our town in the early days of the settlement of what was to become Montville, back in the 1600’s. Some people have the impression that it is only a Mohegan sacred site, which it certainly is, but the truth is that it is also an archeological site of significant importance to the history of the settlement of southeastern Connecticut. It bears the name of Uncas because it was built on a portion of Mohegan Hill, in the middle of Mohegan territory with the permission and support of the tribe, under the leadership of Uncas, who was Sachem of the Mohegan tribe. This rise subsequently became known as Fort Hill. This fort figured prominently in three different wars, the loss of any one of which would have made settlement of southeastern Connecticut untenable. Warriors of the Mohegan tribe fought three wars together with the English and the American settlers against the Narragansett, against a consortium of tribes in the King Philip’s war and against the Pequots, all of which were wars of extermination against the settlers. The goal in all three wars was to wipe the settlers completely from the face of the earth in this area, and Mohegan blood was shed to prevent that. Had Fort Uncas not been there Montville might not even exist today. The fort has a place in the history of this area of equal importance to the residents of Montville – including Mohegans - as does the Alamo in south Texas. Added to that is the cultural significance that the Tribe gives to the place because of its association with one of their greatest tribal leaders Uncas, for whom our town is named. All this is recorded in the history books.

It is findings like these in the HUD mandated Environmental Impact Study that is giving the Villages developer so much heartburn, and they are attempting to blame it on the Tribe. That’s just wrong on so many levels. The proposed TCB came about because of the impact study, not independently of it.

Rather than becoming upset that the existence of this archaeologically significant site is holding up a development project (that may not get the federal funding it is seeking anyway because of the Impact study) we should be working with the developers and the Tribe to find ways to restore the site. Placing it on the National Registry of Historical Places would bring more tourism into town, which would be good for all our businesses. The site can be managed in a way that is both good for business and respectful of the cultural significance that the Tribe attaches to it. Other tribes have accomplished this with similar sites that are significant to them and so can this one. But that won’t happen if the Villages project is built where proposed because as shown at the hearing by the town historian, the fort is inside the footprint of the apartment complex towards the east corner. In order to build the complex, the site of the fort would be blasted into oblivion and bulldozed away as the developer tries to remove the very deep ledge on which the fort was built. Fort Uncas may be the most prominent such site on the hill but may not be the only one.

Why does there have to be a winner and a looser in this situation? Former 1^st Selectman and Town Councilor Russ Beetham described a land swap that he personally did himself many years ago. One of the speakers at the hearing picked up on what Russ said and after describing what a terrible place Fort Hill is to try to build a housing complex on, and how unsafe it would be for any residents who lived there because of the way Route 32 is constructed, suggested that the developer talk to the tribe and offer to trade that site for some other land that could be federally financed. It worked for Russ, who grew up with the Mohegans right there on Mohegan Hill, so why wouldn’t it work for the developers? It’s something to think about because it could end this impasse.  The Villages project could go forward in a new location. The Town could then work with the Tribe to restore the site as a monument to our shared history in memory of the settlers and Mohegan warriors who together sacrificed their lives there so that one day you and I could live here in a town called Montville. Everybody wins.