Town Gains 85 Acres of Open Space

    It has been a quiet but persistent legal battle carried out over the last 10-plus years, and now it has been concluded. By order of a New Haven Superior Court judge, the town took possession of 85.54 acres of open space in September and shortly it will transfer the wetland and woodland parcels to the Madison Land Conservation Trust.

    The preservation of the property–six parcels, some of which run along the Neck River–is possible because the town, its tax collector, and two different town attorneys refused to concede defeat. The properties are a part of the Neck River Farms development, now more commonly known as the neighborhoods on and around Bartlett Drive and Quail Run.

    According to files in the town land use office, developers Robert W. Scott and D. William Owens, Jr., received approvals from the Planning and Zoning Commission to subdivide a 365-acre parcel off Opening Hill Road, creating a total of 145 building lots. The year was 1988. Portions of the property were protected as wetlands and the approvals also required that “approximately 52 acres be deeded” as open space to the “North River Farms Association.” Over the next several years homes were built on the property on roads known as Bartlett Drive, Quail Run and Partridge Lane, among others.

    The open spaces carved out of the 365-acre parcel are at various locations. Some borders Guilford to the west and another borders a piece of Cockaponset State Forest to the east. Another parcel borders a section of the Neck River. Development continued over the years and eventually the subdivision’s open space was listed on the town’s Grand List in 1996. The owner was the Neck River Farms Association.

    The association, however, did not exist. The developer had never moved forward with its organization, nor did it deed the open space and wetlands parcels to the association. The town contended taxes were owed. The legal contest began. A Superior Court judge ruled the developer owed the back taxes. The developer filed an appeal in May, 1998. In December, 2001, its appeal was denied.

    Alma Carroll, director of town services and tax collector, explains, “At that point the taxes had still not been paid.”

    She asked Attorney Richard Beatty, a former town attorney who continued to work on this case with Carroll, to begin foreclosure proceedings. He did in April 2002.

    Several actions and counteractions were tried, Carroll said, but the foreclosure was moving forward. In November 2006 Scott and Owens, listed as president and vice president of the non-functioning Neck River Farms Association, paid their personal tax liability on the properties.

    “All the open space lots, however, remained in the name of the homeowners association, which only existed in name. The town had no association to contact or send bills to,” Carroll explained.

    To take title to the six open space properties, the town asked for a stipulated judgment from the court.

    “In June, 2007 we were told the court had dismissed our request. We had the option to reopen the case within a four month period,” Carroll said.

    Beatty suggested it was time to turn the case over to the present town attorney, William Clendenen. Clendenen filed to reopen the case in October 2007. In May of this year a Superior Court judge reviewed the case. She requested evidence that all homeowners in the original development be notified of the town’s pending foreclosure action.

    Approximately 150 letters were mailed. The judge approved the foreclosure request.

    The town now owns six separate parcels of wetlands and open space totaling 85.54 acres along Bartlett Drive and Quail Run. The Madison Land Conservation Trust has agreed to take ownership of the properties, which include frontage along the Neck River, wetlands, woodlands, streams, and a variety of natural habitats.

    The Board of Selectmen earlier this month approved the transfer of the parcels to the land trust. The Board of Finance must also agree, and then a town meeting will be called. The town charter requires a town meeting vote to transfer town property.

    Carroll said, “It’s been a long story, but it has a happy ending.”