Fundraising falls short

#MiddleburyCT #KellyRoad #SaveHistoricMiddlebury

Heavy equipment sits at the 124 Kelly Road site in Middlebury where a park was proposed. The site will instead become a 14-house subdivision across the street from Memorial Middle School. (Marjorie Needham photo)

By MARJORIE NEEDHAM

As of press time, site preparation for a 14-house subdivision across the street from Memorial Middle School in Middlebury seemed to be under way. Heavy equipment is on site and land clearing has begun. Save Historic Middlebury (SHM) tried but failed to raise the funds to purchase the 35 acres and turn it into a multi-use park. SHM Middlebury President Nick Stuller had negotiated a contract with the property owner that called for a March 1 $1 million payment on a total purchase price of $2 million, but fundraising efforts fell short. Given a grace period of 10 days, Stuller continued to ask for funds, but time ran out on his effort to save the land from development.

Wednesday, March 11, SHM received official notice from the owner of the 124 Kelly Road property that they terminated the purchase contract due to SHM’s inability to make the March 1 payment. They further shared they would start work on the pre-approved residential development the following week.

On Friday, March 20, Stuller was still asking for pledges in hopes the owner would sell since digging had not begun. Now, it seems likely 14 houses will stand where SHM hoped to see a park instead.

“I wish I could have done more and better. A lot of people joined forces to try and make it happen. It’s really unfortunate,” Stuller said. “When we took a tour of that property late spring last year, a number of volunteers said they didn’t know why the town hadn’t purchased the property explicitly for this reason (a park). It was available for sale for years. It got cleared by the EPA for development years ago.”

In an effort to raise funds for the purchase, SHM had run ads that showed an aerial view of the acreage and listed plans for the property that included hiking trails, open fields for enjoying nature, Rochambeau/Washington markers, history and agricultural classes, after school programs, preservation and study of the Nathaniel Richardson homesite, relocation to the site of an 1850 home gifted to SHM and preservation trades classes at the relocated house. A presentation on the property (the 8-24-2025 video) and a series of still shots (the 9-4-2025 video) can be viewed at shmiddlebury.wordpress.com/videos.