Except for the occasional bridge, ferry and kayak, the Connecticut River rages through the state virtually unnoticed.
Once home to easy transportation for manufacturers, the Connecticut River now is dotted with more brownfields than facilities with scenic water views. Although the waterway has its share of amenities, the state’s use of its namesake river is spotty at best.
In Haddam — the only Connecticut community bisected by the river — opposing forces debate the highest use of the town’s greatest natural resources.
One side favors private development. By installing facilities to entice people to its shores, these proponents believe, the Connecticut River will be truly appreciated. The waterway will not traverse the town unnoticed and underutilized.
The other side favors conservation. The Connecticut River will outlast any private development that — like so many others — can come and go on its shores. These proponents believe the soundest long-term economic policy lies in maintaining the waterway in a natural state to be utilized in a way that can be enjoyed for generations.
The focus of this debate is a proposed Haddam land swap — 17 acres of river-view land owned by the state Department of Environmental Protection for 87 acres near a state park owned by a private developer. The fight over this land has consumed nearly four years.
“There are always some folks that feel once land is in the hands of the state that it should never go back to a private developer,” said Trevor Furrer, managing member of Riverhouse Properties LLC.
Riverhouse Properties runs a banquet facility immediately adjacent to the 17 acres in question and wants to swap for the land to build a boutique hotel, along with some shops and a restaurant. Supporters of this proposal include the Middlesex County Chamber of Commerce and Haddam First Selectman Paul DeStefano.
Opponents of this land swap — mostly residents, the Connecticut River Gateway Commission and the area’s state representative — say the 87 acres Riverhouse is offering in exchange is not an equal trade. Furthermore, the 17 acres was sold to the state to be used for open space. Handing over that land to private developers would set a dangerous precedent for future river conservation efforts.
“We understand the economic development needs in Haddam,” said Torrance Downes, primary staff for the Connecticut River Gateway Commission. “But there’s a second way to look at economic development in this case … Protecting the river is the better long-term economic plan.”
The controversy began six years ago when former DEP Deputy Commissioner David Leff approached Riverhouse Properties about acquiring the 17 acres, which includes the land all the way down to the river save for the last 700 feet along the riverfront. Leff proposed Riverhouse find a suitable piece of land to swap out for the property in the Tylerville section of Haddam.
Riverhouse — which also runs The Society Room in Hartford — acquired 87 acres adjacent to Cockaponset State Forest in the Higganum section of Haddam, offering the land as an addition to the state park.
One of the opposition’s sticking points is that DEP paid $5.9 million for the land that includes Riverhouse’s desired parcels, while the developer paid $400,000 for its 87-acre parcel.
Furrer said the purchase price doesn’t matter as much as the appraisals that would come after the swap is approved initially. If the appraisals find the 87 acres isn’t worth as much or more than the 17 acres, the deal won’t go through. A 2009 appraisal valued the 17 at $1.1 million and the 87 acres at $1.3 million.
The proposal has been inserted into legislation each of the last three General Assembly sessions. Last year, the swap passed the legislature as part of a larger conveyance bill package, but former Gov. M. Jodi Rell vetoed it. This year, the proposal again sits as part of a larger conveyance bill, Senate Bill 1196.
At a well-attended legislative hearing on March 21, proponents laid out the project’s importance to economic development in Haddam. The groundwater in Tylerville is contaminated with trichloroethylene from 40 years of metal plating work by the Sibley Co. The town has known about the contamination since the early 1980s, but the cleanup has been slow in coming.
DeStefano, the town’s first selectman, said Riverhouse’s development offers Haddam a reason to stimulate lagging regulation and zoning reform in Tylerville, in hopes of making it a thriving area of town.
The land swap prevents further housing developments on the other side of the river on the 87 acres, making them part of Cockaponset State Forest. A housing development would burden the town with further educational expenses, DeStefano said. Developing Tylerville and conserving Higganum better suits the town’s long-term Conservation and Development Plan.
Furrer said Riverhouse’s goal with the development is to enhance Tylerville’s section with the parts of Haddam on the other side of the river, as well as tie into the town of East Haddam.
“The whole idea is tying in the two Haddams to create a Mystic sort of feel,” Furrer said.
But Tylerville has other parcels better suited for a boutique hotel and other development, said State Rep. Philip Miller, D-Essex, whose district includes Haddam. The proposed 17 acres was sold to DEP by Charles Robertson for $5.9 million with the expressed purpose of keeping it as open space.
“It would set a terrible precedent where the state would trade land that was conveyed to them with the expressed expectation that it would be conservation land,” said Miller, who also is the Essex first selectman. “It would set back open space giving by a generation or more.”
The rush to swap the properties and develop the 17 acres is a knee-jerk reaction to a down economy and Haddam’s sagging tax rolls, Miller said. The town needs to think more long-term about the ramifications.
“They are feeling they have to do something to pick up their economic performance,” Miller said. “You have to take your time and do it properly.”
Any development should enhance the natural beauty and use of the river; and no one has a firm idea of what the Riverhouse proposal will look like, Downes said. If all the issues regarding zoning, environmental clean-up, conservation and development can be addressed now — rather than Riverhouse taking possession first before these agreements are made — then the Connecticut River Gateway Commission will withdrawal its objections.
“It is fair to say we did a poor job last time of communicating what our plan is,” Furrer said.
This year Riverhouse Properties is trying to be more proactive with the public about its plans, offering renderings of the development. The natural beauty of the property is important to Riverhouse, too, Furrer said. Its banquet facility oversees the 17 acres in question; and a lot of brides would be upset if the Connecticut River scenic view was ruined.
Conversation vs. Development. Eco-tourism vs. Business District. The best use of natural resources.
The legislature has a tough call to make in coming weeks. So does the governor.
