Residents Question Planned Agricultural Use of Harris Property; Suggest Recreational Center Instead

Even though plans are already well in the works for creating an Agricultural Center on the Harris Property in East Haddam, several residents voiced at a recent Board of Selectman meeting that they would rather see the property used for other purposes, namely, a recreational center and additional fields for local sports. 

"This land has potential to be of recreational use," one resident said at the meeting. "I do think there is an interest in it. With the fields we have now, many teams wait around to use the field."

First Selectman Mark Walter brought up that the town was striving to put fields behind the middle school. Walter stated that there was a "perfect opportunity behind the middle school" for fields. But he said other options could be discussed, but the town "needed to do something that the land lends itself to." 

Craig Mansfield, the town's facilities director, stated that the town recently brought in a UCONN agricultural group to assess the fields at the middle school. He stated the town took several of those suggestions with how to move forward with improving those fields. 

But a few of the residents responded that they were not in favor of using the middle school for the town's central fields location, partly due to the Middle School fields' close proximity to the skate park.

Some residents stated that the Harris Property was an ideal location for recreational use.

"The Harris property is central to East Haddam," another resident stated, reasoning that the location made it ideal for fields.

"I feel like there's a field here, and there, and over there," another resident added. "There's not a comprehensive plan where they are all together. How nice would that be if they were all together? All in one place to address the needs of track and tennis, and so on. It would be a strong resource for the town."

"I think the one thing that we’re asking is that that be put on hold, until we determine the use of that property," another resident said.

Another concern that was raised was that the property was not being used for what Mr. Harris wanted it to be.

"I talked to him this week," said one resident. "And he was very upset that something was trumping athletics. He and his family devoted his life to athletics. He would like to see it used specifically for athletic fields. He isn't pleased with how the property was being handled. He did give us a hometown discount for this property."

"The reality is that we purchased that property at full price," responded Walter. "And this agricultural component of the Harris Property has been going on for several years now and has been well organized, but it still has to go through the public process, so there is opportunity for feedback and discussion. We could still get both the agricultural center and fields."

Walter also stated their was a committee in the works that would look at the Middle School property and explore options there. One of the residents who spoke at the meeting offered to work on the committee.