Politics & Government

The Haddam Land Swap's Twists and Turns

The more than year-long saga came to an end this week. Here's a look at some of the top headlines and stories from the controversy.

 

They petitioned the governor, organized rallies targeting state officials, testified before the legislature, held numerous public meetings and even lead a protest march through a popular local farmer’s market. But what finally sunk the so-called “Haddam land swap” were not the efforts of opponents, but simply the almighty dollar.

In the end, the 17.4 acres near the Connecticut River that the state tried to swap away for 87 acres of forest land in Higganum just proved to be too expensive to make the deal equitable for the state. The developer who sought the land, which it wanted to develop commercially, backed out of the deal Tuesday after negotiations deadlocked over appraisals for the river view land showed the property was worth $1.3 million more than the Higganum land. State law required the swap land to be at least as much as, if not more valuable than, the state land.

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Though the financial impasse, and not the efforts of opponents, is what finally sank the deal, the swap opponents this week still embraced the outcome as a vindication of their efforts, in part because it represented such a major turn of events in the saga.

Here’s a compilation of many of the twists and turns in the issue over the past year.

Find out what's happening in The Haddams-Killingworthwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

 

 


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