Daily to Discuss Land Swap With East Haddam Democrats

 State Sen. Eileen Daily, D-Westbrook, is scheduled to speak Thursday night to the East Haddam Democratic Town Committee about the controversial land swap proposal in Haddam.

The committee meets at 7 p.m. at the old Grange Hall on Town Street in East Haddam.

The committee asked Daily to address the land swap issue because there is mounting opposition to the plan in his town, said Brad Parker, a former first selectman in East Haddam and chair of the Democratic Town Committee.

“A lot of people in East Haddam are concerned about it,” he said. “People are pretty adamant about the legislature taking land that was supposed to be kept as open space.”

Under the land swap proposal backed by Daily the state would swap 17 acres it owns near the Connecticut River in Haddam for an 87-acre parcel that abuts the Cockanponset State Park in Higganum. The swap would be made with the owners of the Riverhouse at Goodspeed Station, who want the 17 acres because it abuts their banquet facility in the Tylerville section of Haddam.

The business partners have said they want to build a boutique hotel and other associated retail development on the river land. The 87 acres in Higganum, they have said, abuts the state forest and could be added to it. Besides increasing the size of the park, it would give residents two new points of access into the property. The land is currently approved for a housing subdivision.

East Haddam has a strong open space program, Parker said, and has bought or helped purchased hundreds of acres in town to be kept as open space, including the former Echo Farm in Moodus. That property was purchased in conjunction with the state, which also owns the former Sunrise Resort nearby. People in town are concerned that if the state can swap the Haddam land for development it could do the same with the Sunrise property and maybe even Echo Farm.

“If it happens there (in Haddam) it can happen anywhere,” he said. “People here in town are very concerned about maintaining the character of our town.”