Lingering Questions...

A New London Times article by Stephen Chupaska

Lingering Questions in Fort Trumbull Published on 3/13/2007


Throughout the nine-year legal labyrinth of the Fort Trumbull redevelopment, politicians and citizens alike have been admonishing that “the devil is in the details.”

Now, a group of citizens led by New London Realtor Lori Hopkins has begun to ask questions about something that is at once seemingly simple and extraordinarily complex: Who owns the titles to the properties in Fort Trumbull, and why is this important?

Hopkins, who plans to organize a citizens' group to monitor events at Fort Trumbull, spoke at a recent City Council meeting claiming the New London Development Corporation is not adhering to a state statute that says the municipality must hold the title to property taken or purchased in a development plan.

“This law has been violated,” Hopkins said on March 5. “NLDC claims to own these properties. There is no written agreement that says otherwise, because there is no contract between the city and the NLDC.”

According to the most recent tax assessor's records dating to the end of January of this year, the NLDC holds the titles for most of the property purchased on the peninsula since the quasi-public agency reformed in 1997.

The NLDC does not, however, hold the deeds to the property seized by eminent domain made famous nationwide during the Kelo v. New London case that was argued before the U.S. Supreme Court in 2005.

Those properties belong to the city, which settled with the plaintiffs in the Kelo case last summer and began demolishing the houses last month.

A Feb.20 memorandum from city Law Director Thomas L. Londregan to members of the City Council notes that NLDC has been advised of the state statute.

“I have pointed it out to (NLDC),” Londregan wrote. “There is a clear understanding – so clear that I recall putting it in writing – that the title to this land is to be in the name of the City of New London.”

In May 1998 the City Council voted to authorize the NLDC, then led by former Connecticut College President Claire Gaudiani, as the city's agent in the Fort Trumbull redevelopment.

Londregan, however, also points out there is a “clear understanding between NLDC and the City... that when NLDC has secured possession and title to the entire development parcel will be put in the name of the City of New London.”

In other words, the Fort Trumbull Municipal Development Plan, passed in 2000, divided up the former working-class neighborhood into different numbered parcels, such as 1, 2 and 4A, where the plaintiffs in the Kelo case owned property.

According to the “understanding,” the city would receive titles once all the properties in the parcel were secured.

“That is why properties purchased by NLDC are in NLDC's name,” Londregan continues in his correspondence. “Just until all the properties are collected so as to give one MDP (Municipal Development Plan) parcel to the City.”

Londregan did not return repeated phone calls requesting further comment.

Mayor Margaret Curtin and Councilor Rob Pero are the only members of the current council who remain from the body that voted to name NLDC the city's agent.

Pero downplayed the fact that NLDC still holds titles to property in Fort Trumbull.

“It's not a major issue,” he said.

Pero speculated that the failure of NLDC to transfer the titles to the city is due to administrative delays due to the agency's lack of funding and staff.

There is evidence that there is stagnation with the agency.

NLDC's Web site, for instance, lists erroneous information, such as indicating David Goebel as the executive director, a position he has not held since 2005.

Pero also noted that at some point NLDC will cease to exist.

The city would gain the titles to the property should it sever its relationship with the agency before the project is complete.

The city has had a historically tempestuous relationship over the last decade with NLDC, which was originally funded by the state under the now disgraced Governor John G. Rowland.

Connecticut's Department of Economic and Community Development, which provided NLDC with its initial injection of cash, acts as a “mortgage holder” over the Fort Trumbull project.

In the midst of the municipal election season in August 2005, the City Council's frustration with NLDC reached a fever pitch, and it voted to disengage, or essentially fire, the agency and called for the resignation of Goebel and President Michael Joplin.

Subsequently, the City Council made amends with the agency, though Goebel resigned and was replaced on an interim basis with Greg Coenen, a position he holds today.

Coenen directed questions regarding the status of the titles in Fort Trumbull to NLDC legal counsel Ed O'Connell of the New London firm of Waller, Smith and Palmer.

“The fine points of the law are best addressed by our attorneys,” he said.

O'Connell did not return messages asking for comment. By Stephen Chupaska

Times Staff Writer