Fromson-Strassler Vote, Saturday

Photo: Special Town Meeting discussion, September 9, 2021

A public vote takes place on Saturday, September 18, on the proposed sale of the Fromson-Strassler property to Aspetuck Land Trust.

Voting machines will be set up in the Town Hall Meeting Room from noon until 8:00 pm. There will be no absentee ballots.

The ballot will call for a yes or no vote on whether the roughly 86 acres of town-owned land should be sold to the Land Trust for $1.14 million. The town has owned the vacant and unimproved land in the northwest part of Weston since 2003. Aspetuck Land Trust wants to add it to adjoining land for preservation as open space.

Discussion took place in a Special Town Meeting on September 9 in front of Town Hall. By our count, 13 citizens attended. Questions mainly centered around how Aspetuck Land Trust will maintain Upper Parish Drive — the property’s main point of entry — and the valuation of the land.

It turns out that Upper Parish, long thought to be private, is owned by the town but was never accepted as a Town road, meaning it is not maintained by the Department of Public Works. Under the terms of the proposed sale, Aspetuck Land Trust will take ownership of the road, which they have pledged to improve and maintain.

The valuation of the land has been the subject of much discussion, and is part of the back story.

The back story

The property gets its common name from former owners Howard Fromson and David Strassler who, in 1998, obtained Conservation Commission approval and building permits for eight residential lots on the land. But they later changed direction, and applied for permits to build 18 lots of affordable housing.

The Planning and Zoning Commission rejected that application, primarily on the basis that a new inlands wetlands application had not been filed, that a proposed access road was unsafe, and that planned septic systems were inadequate.

Mr. Fromson and Mr. Strassler sued. In mid-2002, the court ruled in favor of P&Z. Potential further legal action and future development were forestalled when, in 2003, the Town proposed purchasing the property for $2.25 million and voters approved bonding to do so.

The value today

The potential sale value of the land — roughly half of what the town paid for it in 2003 — first became known when appraisals were conducted in 2018, upon Town and Aspetuck Land Trust officials learning that a State grant opportunity, if won, could cover 65 percent of the transaction.

The Land Trust did win the grant, and provided its 35 percent match from donations, the lion’s share from the estate of Daniel E. Offutt III.

Last month, in the August 19 Board meeting, Selectman Stephan Grozinger summed up why the land’s value was less than it was in 2003. He said the property’s development potential, according to appraisals, is “speculative,” and possibly limited to at most two lots. It has a rugged, rocky topography, plenty of wetlands, and an Eversource power transmission easement cuts a swath down the middle.

Mr. Grozinger pointed out that, with the threat of ongoing litigation, the town may have bought the property “kind of under duress.” He noted that “the housing bubble burst” only a few years after the acquisition, took several years to bottom out, and since then an increase in State regulation makes developing land more difficult.

“An appropriate price at the time”

Asked if the town overpaid, Mr. Grozinger said, “I doubt it,” and pointed out that the then-sitting Selectmen and the voting public concluded it was “an appropriate price at the time.”

Mr. Grozinger dispelled the notion that the Town was selling to the Land Trust at a discount. “This is the demonstrated value of the land as it stands today,” he said. “This is what we would sell it to a developer for.”

The land has enormous environmental value, according to Aspetuck Land Trust director David Brant, who addressed the Selectmen and the public at the August 19 meeting. His 17-minute overview of how Fromson-Strassler completes some of his organization’s long-held preservation ambitions can be seen at the 21-minute mark of the August 19 Board of Selectmen video.

As First Selectwoman Samantha Nestor pointed out that evening, Fromson-Strassler was purchased at a time the Town was banking property for possible future municipal use. It was not set aside as open space. But if the sale to Aspetuck Land Trust consummates, a deed restriction ensures it will be preserved as open space in perpetuity.

Where the money would go

According to Town Administrator Jonathan Luiz, because Fromson-Strassler was acquired by the town with a bond, proceeds from the sale of the land can only be used for two purposes: retiring debt and capital projects.

Editor’s Note: We previously published the “back story” section of this article on September 8, 2021.