Land Swap Opponents Air Their Concerns

More than 100 people crowded into a meeting room at the UConn extension center in Haddam on Thursday night to hear a presentation about the proposed “Haddam land swap” and voice their opposition to the plan.

The “Stop the Swap” forum was presented by the Citizens for Protection of Public Lands, a grassroots group that formed in recent months to oppose a plan to transfer 17.4 state-owned acres in the Tylerville section of Haddam to the owners of the Riverhouse at Goodspeed Station in return for 87 acres the business partners own in Higganum.

The forum featured speeches by several residents and officials who oppose the land swap. No one representing the Riverhouse partners attended or spoke at the meeting.

The forum featured a 15-minute video produced by the opposition group, and which detailed why the organization opposes the swap. It revisited many of the major themes the group has focused on in recent weeks, including assertions that the land swap would set a dangerous precedent that could deter future land sales or donations to the state and questions about whether the 17 acres, which overlook the Connecticut River, were wrongly appraised during the town’s latest revaluation in 2010.

For instance, the video included information that in 2010 the value of all state land in Haddam dropped by about 50 percent, while the value of all state land in neighboring Deep River increased by 2 percent.

In addition, the video said, the 87 acres of forestland that would be swapped under the deal has been logged extensively and under town zoning rules, 61 acres of the property could not be developed.

John Kennedy, the moderator of the event, said the 17 acres is a pivotal property that should not be developed, as the Riverhouse partners have proposed.

“This property is essentially in the middle of Tylerville. Is this the best possible use of the property?”

Phil Miller, the recently elected state House Democrat from Essex, attended the forum and said the best way for residents to voice their opposition to the state is to write personal letters to their senators.

The bill containing the land swap measure is currently pending in the state Senate. It is backed by Sen. Eileen Daily, D-Westbrook, who has said the deal would bring economic benefits to the state, Haddam and East Haddam.

Miller said Daily in the past has always been a staunch supporter of land conservation efforts and that it pained him that she is aiding developers in this issue.

The Riverhouse partners want to build a boutique hotel on the land, as well as associated retail development. They have also discussed the possibility of including an entertainment venue there, a suggestion that has many opponents suggesting that the Goodspeed Opera House might move its theater operations across the river.

Sharon Botelle, an organizer of the forum whose Tylerville property abuts the 17 acres, said she was recently assured by Michael Price, the Goodspeed’s executive director, that the theater is not involved in the land swap.

But Botelle went on to cast doubt on that assertion, noting that Price in 2009 publicly said he dreamed of moving the Goodspeed into a bigger facility where larger productions would be possible.

Todd Gelston, a lifelong resident of East Haddam who has served or serves on state and local land conservation agencies, said he believes Daily has acted unethically in pursuing the swap because it would benefit only the developers and would hurt many residents who would be impacted, directly and indirectly, by the swap.

“I can’t emphasize enough how dangerous this is for future land preservation,” he said.