Land Swap Bill is With Governor

The bill containing the Haddam land swap measure has reached Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s desk and is awaiting his signature.

The governor has 15 days from the time the bill reaches him to vote on it and Malloy is expected to act on the measure sometime in the next week, a spokesman in the governor’s office said Wednesday.

Senate bill 1196 was one of the more controversial measures to move through the General Assembly during the legislature’s spring session, which ended last month.

The bill is a so-called “omnibus conveyance” bill that contains numerous land conveyance proposals, including the Haddam land swap, which is the focus of the controversy surrounding the bill.

The governor is widely expected to sign the bill because it contains numerous other important land proposals in other communities and he does not have line item veto power.

The land swap plan calls for giving the developers of the Riverhouse at Goodspeed station a 17.4 acre parcel near the Connecticut River in exchange for 87 acres the developers own in Higganum and which abut the Cockaponset State Forest.

The banquet facility owners want the land near the river to build retail and other associated developments that would complement their business.

The proposal is vehemently opposed by some residents and by environmental groups who say the swap would set a dangerous precedent for land conservation efforts in Connecticut and could discourage the donation and sale of conservation lands to the state. The 17.4 acres was sold to the state in 2003 and was purchased with state conservation funds.

Environmental groups also have expressed anger and confusion over why Daniel C. Esty, the state’s commissioner of the Department of Environmental Protection has not weighed in on the issue, especially since it is his agency which owns the 17.4 acres.