DEP's Griswold Airport Land Deal Draws Scrutiny

Attorney General Probing Pact That Opened Up Development

By KIM MARTINEAU

Courant Staff Writer

January 15, 2008

MADISON =97

In trading away a valuable easement at the edge of Hammonasset Beach = State=20 Park =97 the most visited park in the state =97 the state Department of=20 Environmental Protection disregarded a policy meant to protect the = public trust,=20 a state watchdog agency contends.

The easement deal, made seven = years=20 ago, opened the former Griswold Airport to more extensive development = and is=20 being investigated by the state attorney general. It appears to have = been=20 approved without appraisals or public notification, despite strong = public=20 interest in saving the airport, which borders a state wildlife preserve, = from=20 development.

The watchdog agency, the Connecticut Council on=20 Environmental Quality, helped the DEP craft the policy for transferring = state=20 land and land rights after complaints from the public in the = 1980s.

"The=20 state was basically doing a favor for the developer and being very = reckless with=20 the public trust," said Keith Ainsworth, a New Haven environmental = lawyer who=20 has asked the state to void the deal.

For years, the airport's = owners=20 begged the DEP to trade them state land that borders their property = along Route=20 1, in exchange for land at the back of the airport. Without an expanded = driveway=20 through the state right of way, the tumbledown airfield had limited = prospects=20 for development.

The DEP refused to trade its Route 1 frontage = but=20 agreed, in 2000, to double the size of the right of way for the airport=20 driveway. In return, the public received a tiny conservation easement at = the=20 back of the 42-acre property.

At the time the deal was = negotiated, a=20 publishing company had plans to build offices on the airport property = =97 a plan=20 that never materialized.

Months after the DEP approved the swap, = a luxury=20 condo developer, Leyland Alliance, signed a contract to buy the airport. = With=20 the access problem solved, Leyland won town approval for a zone change = that=20 quadrupled the number of homes allowed to be built.

Leyland said = any=20 investigation into the easement deal has no bearing on its proposed = condo=20 project, Madison Landing, which is now awaiting final approval. "It's a = question=20 of DEP policy," said Leyland attorney Thomas Cody of Robinson & Cole = in=20 Hartford.

Questions about the easement exchange may come too = late for=20 the state to reverse the transaction, as critics of Madison Landing = would like.=20 But it was on lawmakers' minds when they passed a law last year = requiring public=20 notification and the chance for comment and environmental review before = the=20 state trades away land or land rights.

The need for greater = transparency=20 became apparent after another state agency, in 2005, agreed to transfer = 250=20 acres of open land at Norwich State Hospital for $1. Environmental = groups=20 criticized that deal, along with the earlier one in = Madison.

"It's old=20 history but it's not good history," said Margaret Miner, head of Rivers = Alliance=20 of Connecticut, an environmental group that pushed for the law. "We = don't want=20 to see it repeated again."

DEP Commissioner Gina McCarthy said = the agency=20 is working on a policy to better protect state lands, and taxpayers' = interest,=20 in line with the new legislation. The policy will include public = notification=20 and formal appraisals before any DEP land or land rights are = transferred.=20

McCarthy pointed out, through a spokesman, that the Madison = easement=20 exchange was approved by a previous commissioner with encouragement from = local=20 officials.

In Madison, a geography professor who lives near the = airport=20 uncovered the easement swap while researching deeds at town hall. Last = year, the=20 Rivers Alliance filed a complaint with the environmental quality = council, which=20 was created in 1971, in part, to investigate complaints and allegations = of=20 violations of environmental laws. In reviewing the Madison complaint, = the=20 council found that the DEP had ignored the policy meant to protect the = public=20 trust.

The former DEP commissioner, Arthur Rocque Jr., had = approved the=20 easement exchange without public notification, appraisals or justifying = its=20 compatibility with park purposes, the council found. Rocque, it turns = out, had=20 ignored a policy crafted by the DEP and the Council on Environmental = Quality in=20 1990.

"We were disappointed to find that the policy had receded = to the=20 back of the files and wasn't being followed anymore," said Karl Wagener, = the=20 council's executive director.

His opinion was forwarded to the = state=20 auditors, who, in turn, referred the case to Attorney General Richard=20 Blumenthal, whose office reviewed the contract language in 2000 but did = not=20 analyze its content. The concerns echoed a complaint Blumenthal had = already=20 received from Ainsworth, who represents residents fighting Madison = Landing.=20 Reached Monday, Blumenthal said he is investigating and unable to say if = the=20 state might have the authority to rescind the deal.

One problem=20 hampering the investigation is that Rocque and others involved in the = deal have=20 since retired. "We are seeking to track them down and gain their = cooperation,"=20 Blumenthal said.

Opened in the 1930s, the airport drew = small-plane=20 enthusiasts but never turned a profit. As the Griswold family searched = for a=20 buyer in the late 1980s, they kept running into the problem of access = from Route=20 1, a review of state records shows.

The state had allowed the = Griswolds=20 to build a narrow road from Route 1, through state land, but the = easement was=20 valid only as long as the airport was used for aviation. In 1987, acting = DEP=20 Commissioner John Anderson lifted the restriction but failed to spell = out=20 whether the easement could pass to future owners and allow water and = power=20 lines.

A Branford developer in 1996 proposed building a golf = course on=20 the site. To acquire the needed frontage on Route 1, the developer asked = the DEP=20 for a land swap that internally drew condemnation.

Roger = Kinderman,=20 supervisor of Hammonasset, estimated that the state land was worth = "hundreds of=20 thousands of dollars," and suggested that the state buy the=20 airport.

"Perhaps since we already own the only access to this = airport,=20 we should buy the airport and develop an expanded, modern campground = which could=20 also be Connecticut's only salt water boating access," he proposed. =

The=20 wildlife division worried that development might degrade the state = nature=20 preserve nearby. "Exchanging road frontage owned by DEP would only help=20 facilitate the encroachment on the natural area preserve," wrote Peter = Bogue,=20 assistant director.

"I do not see the benefit to the state on = this one,"=20 echoed James Moulton, an inland fisheries director. "But it might be = worth it if=20 the trade includes all the marsh/wetland abutting the Hammonasset = River."=20

A year later, a new developer came in with plans to build an = office=20 complex for a local publishing company, Business & Legal Reports. = Rather=20 than pursue the land swap, BLR's law firms =97 Robinson & Cole and = Marlowe,=20 Snow & Atticks in Madison =97 offered to trade a small conservation = easement=20 at the back of the airport for a larger right of way on Route 1. An = engineering=20 firm owned by Robert Landino, a state lawmaker at the time, was hired to = design=20 the office complex.

In 1998, after the town rezoned the airport = for=20 commercial use, a DEP appraiser found, at the developer's urging, that = the wider=20 easement would not raise the value of the airport. She valued the extra = frontage=20 at $23,000.

That same year, BLR found an alternative site in Old=20 Saybrook, leaving the airport open to a new developer. In January 2000, = the DEP=20 approved the wider easement and four months later, Leyland signed a = contract to=20 buy the airport. In exchange, the public received a "conservation" = easement for=20 one-fifth of an acre on which the owner retained the right to build a = nature=20 center.

Landino's design firm, BL Cos., was kept on, along with = Robinson=20 & Cole and Marlowe, Snow & Atticks. Last year, Leyland finally = purchased=20 the airport, for $4.4 million.

The wider easement allowed a = safer=20 driveway to be built, those involved in both development proposals say. = They=20 insist the airport could have been developed without the expanded right = of way,=20 though the DEP's thick file on the negotiations suggests=20 otherwise.

Contact Kim Martineau at kmartineau@courant.com.

Courant.com

DEP's Griswold Airport Land Deal Draws Scrutiny

Attorney General Probing Pact That Opened Up Development