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08/16/2022 09:18 AMThe push to preserve and protect Deer Lake may finally be coming to its conclusion, according to Pathfinders President Ted Langevin.
Pathfinders, the non-profit organization working to preserve the more than 250-acre property as permanent open space, said that while no deal has been finalized between the property’s current owners, the Connecticut Yankee Council (CYC) of the Boy Scouts of America , and Pathfinders, Langevin says they are talking over the “last little details.”
“Basically, where we are right now is finishing the last little details of the contract and hoping for that to finish up, and we’ll set a closing date after that,” Langevin explained.
The Connecticut Yankee Council announced its intentions to sell Deer Lake during the fall of 2021. The Trust for Public Land, an organization devoted to conservation, submitted an offer to purchase the property for $2,400,000 which was rejected. Pathfinders also submitted a higher offer which, too, was rejected. A few months after announcing intent to sell, the Council announced that an agreement to sell the property to a private party had been reached. Controversy erupted when it was learned that the private party, Margaret Streicker, was a member of the Counci and had offered more than twice the appraised value of the land, leading to speculation that a sale might be tainted by a conflict-of-interest issue.
That potential deal drew so much ire from residents and conservationists that Attorney General William Tong began an investigation into the “legality” of the deal between the Council and a board member.
Compounding matters, a lawsuit filed in May by Madison resident David Stephenson claimed that Council’s 1985 acceptance of funds for and the establishment of a bird sanctuary on the property precluded any sale of the land or at least a portion of it.
Langevin said that the lawsuit has been dropped as a result of the current negotiations with Pathfinders. If the Council accepts Pathfinder’s bid and formalizes the sale, Pathfinders has said it will honor Stephenson’s wish to preserve the bird sanctuary.
“That lawsuit has been dropped,” Langevin said.
Langevin is optimistic CYC will accept and finalize the sale to Pathfinders.
“I think we are very hopeful at this point. We are proud of what we have been able to accomplish so far, but we do not have it finished yet, so we are still anxious to get it signed. We are at the stage where we are negotiating back and forth between the lawyers, and trying to get this to a point where we can put pen to paper.”
Conservationists and local land trusts consider Deer Lake as a critical component of the larger system of trails and preserved land in the Chatfield Hollow area. According to the Trust for Public Land, the parcel contains a number of rare and threatened species and that preservation of the land will allow for a huge swath of protected land that will be part merged with the renowned Connecticut Blue Trail.