Land Swap Foes Taking New Tack

Calling the Haddam land swap the “worst piece of legislative chicanery” they’ve seen in years, opponents of the plan urged local residents Thursday to lobby their elected leaders to force the repeal of the state law that approved the swap.

“We want to right this thing, we want to take Haddam back,” said Gerry Matthews, moderator of a meeting that attracted a standing-room only crowd of over 250 people Thursday night. “We need to convince the town leaders to do the right thing. We need you guys to make phone calls, email - contact your friends.”

Martin Mador, the legislative and political chair for the Sierra Club in Connecticut, gave a history of the land swap controversy and said the best way for opponents to continue fighting the plan, which was approved by the state this past spring, is to get local town leaders to come up with a better plan for spurring economic development in the area where the swap is proposed. Those leaders also must support efforts to get the state to repeal the swap law.

“Allowing developers to call the shots like this is a backward way to run a town, or a state, for that matter,” Mador said.

“We have to fight for our backyard here,” said Melissa Schlag, who has spearheaded opposition to the swap. “We have to make sure they make the right decisions for our town.”

Thursday’s meeting was called by the Citizens for the Protection of Public Lands, the grassroots group that organized earlier this year to oppose the swap.

The swap plan calls for giving about 17 acres near the Connecticut River in the Tylerville section of Haddam to the developers of the Riverhouse at Goodspeed Station in return for 87.7 acres the developers own in Higganum.

The developers want the land near the river to build a boutique hotel and associated retail development to complement their banquet facility. The state supported the swap, in part, because the Higganum land would get added to the Cockaponset State Forest. The General Assembly this spring approved the swap over the opposition of not only local residents but numerous environmental groups across the state.

The leader of one of those groups, Margaret Miner, executive director of the Rivers Alliance of Connecticut, said her group and others are looking at the statewide implications of the Haddam land swap and trying to determine if it is legal. The state bought the Haddam property several years ago with conservation funds and some have argued the deed for the land calls for the land to be kept in conservation.

“Will Haddam do the right thing here or is this a done deal as people fear?” said state Rep. Phillip J. Miller, D-Essex. The town, he added, should undertake a comprehensive plan for the area where the swap is proposed in Tylerville village and press its own interests with the state. He called on opponents of the swap to keep putting pressure on Haddam’s leaders to get them to act.

Miner said he believes Daniel C. Esty, commissioner of the state’s Department of Environmental Protection, has misrepresented the language of the deed for the 17 acres when Esty said recently that it does not require the state to conserve the land.

Such comments by state leaders, Miner added, adds to the frustration among local residents and the sense the state is not listening to their concerns.

“All we want is a level playing field here, that’s not too much to ask for,” Miner said.

“You, the citizens of Haddam, have the opportunity not to allow Tylerville to become the next Moodus,” said Rob Smith, a retired official with the DEP. “It’s up to you now to take the decision of design-making away from the developer.”

Haddam’s first selectman, Paul DeStefano, supports the swap and has said he sees it as an important way to kick-start economic development in his town.

But John D. Kennedy of Deep River, an architect and member of the grassroots group that opposes the land swap, said local and state leaders have made up their minds about the proposal without ever asking the public it’s opinion of the deal.

“There’s not much in this project for you, but there’s a lot in it for the Riverhouse,” Kennedy said. “I believe Tylerville could be a wonderful village. Tylerville has what the Riverhouse is taking. To have a single entity controlling the center of your town is not a good idea. There are opportunities to reverse this thing, if that’s what you want to do.”