Voters approve Question No. 2

#Middlebury

Connecticut Land Conservation Council Executive Director Amy Blaymore Paterson, left, and Connecticut Forest & Park Association Executive Director Eric Hammerling celebrate passage of ballot Question No. 2 at Hammonasset State Park in Madison Nov. 18 (Connecticut Land Conservation Council photo)

By JANINE SULLIVAN-WILEY

We are now deep in the season of giving thanks and giving gifts. Voters started the season of giving off early on Election Day Nov. 6 when a whopping 85 percent checked “yes” on the second ballot question. They gave a gift to us all, now and future generations. For that I am deeply grateful!

Question No. 2 read “Shall the constitution of the state be amended to require (1 ) a public hearing and the enactment of legislation limited in subject matter to the transfer, sale or disposition of state-owned or state-controlled real property or interests in real property in order for the general assembly to require a state agency to sell, transfer or dispose of any real property or interest in real property that is under the custody or control of the agency, and (2) if such property is under the custody or control of the Department of Agriculture or the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, that such enactment of legislation be passed by a two-thirds vote of the total membership of each house of the General Assembly?”

It is amazing to me that anyone understood what that attorney speak meant unless they had read up on the question beforehand. Put simply, this constitutional amendment requires the Connecticut legislature to hold a public hearing and gain a two-thirds majority vote before any state-owned park, forest, wildlife management area, beach, landmark or farmland can be sold, swapped, or given away. It doesn’t mean the land can’t be sold or swapped; it does ensure the public will have a say before that happens.

Years of work preceded the May 2018 state House and Senate approval of the proposed amendment by more than the required 75 percent super majorities that put the question on the Nov. 6 ballot. As with most ballot questions, many voters did not choose at all. Here in Middlebury, 69 percent of the registered voters (3,942 of the 5,736 total) went to the polls Nov. 6, and 76 percent of those (3,021) voted on the amendment. They favored it overwhelmingly (2,445 for to 576 against).

But enough with the numbers. Why was such a constitutional amendment a good idea, and why was it suggested at all? You can read more about the history online; it was not without political controversy. The story goes back to 2011, and a situation called “The Haddam Land Swap.”

In that proposed transaction, a private developer was to swap 87 acres of forested land for 17 acres of state-owned land that overlooked the Connecticut River and included a view of the Goodspeed Opera House. The deal fell through when appraisers reported the 17 acres had a value $1.3 million greater than the developer’s land and the developer declined to make up the difference in value. At the time, state-owned land could be sold without any input from the public.

Amy Blaymore Paterson, executive director of the Connecticut Land Conservation Council (CLCC) notes that the Haddam Land Swap situation “opened the community’s eyes to the weaknesses of the existing processes, when proposals could be brought up without the time or opportunity for public input. It’s about accountability. It’s about the process.”

Because of this, the CLCC supported Question No. 2, as did the Middlebury Land Trust, many other land trusts, the Connecticut Audubon Society, the Connecticut Forest and Park Association, the Nature Conservancy and many more organizations See the full list online at protectctpubliclands.org.

As we move through this wonderful season, we do so with public lands throughout Connecticut having yet another protection. That is a strong counterpoint to the lands protected by your own Middlebury Land Trust by either ownership or conservation easement. That is a happy holiday thought indeed! Find the MLT website at www.middleburylandtrust.org. Contact this writer at jswspotlight@gmail.com.