NU Land Trust Will Have Independent Board Oversight | Real Estate

The 9,500 acres of open space in Connecticut owned by Northeast Utilities will be assured of preservation for at least another ten years, as part of a sweeping agreement to win the state?s blessing for NU?s pending merger with Boston-based NSTAR.

And nearly 1,000 acres of that land ? sparkling gems among the 375 tracts owned by NU ? will be placed in an irrevocable land trust controlled by an independent board with appointed members, the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection told me today. The trust will provide stewardship for 188 acres on King?s Island in Enfield and Suffield; 723 acres on Skiff Mountain in Sharon; 57 acres off Hanover Road in Newtown; and 13 acres off Bartlett Road in Waterford.

Northeast Utilities has agreed to place 1,000 acres, including 188 acres on King's Island in Enfield and Suffield, shown here, in a land trust . Photo Courtesy of William Hosley.

The agreement with the state extends for another 10 years an open space a memorandum of understanding with the DEEP that was set to expire in June, 2014. That memorandum is intended to identify and help protect ?environmentally sensitive property owned by the utility.?

The land trust will be formed within a year of the closing of the NU-NSTAR, expected by mid-April, and the four properties will be transferred into the trust within two years of the closing.

The agreement, announced by the state and NU Tuesday, also says:

?NU commits to work with DEEP to explore opportunities to ensure and/or expand public access to the properties held by the NU preservation land trust for passive recreation, where such public access is appropriate and consistent with any use of these properties in support of NU?s business activities.?

The Connecticut Fund for the Environment, which campaigned to extend the memorandum, said it was pleased with the outcome.

?Our main goal was to get the MOU extended,? Jessica Morowitz, an attorney for the New Haven-based non-profit that seeks to preserve open space, told me today. ?The donation of land is even better than we expected.?

Here is a list of nearly 375 parcels owned by NU posted on CFE?s web site.

NU also has agreed to work with the state and other ?historical and cultural stakeholders? to preserve the ?Venture Smith Homestead.?

Archeologists are excavating the site in Haddam Neck where Venture Smith, a freed slave, built an impressive home in the late 1700s. The site is on the grounds of the now shutdown Connecticut Yankee nuclear power plant. NU has a 49-percent stake in the property and would gain a majority share in its merger with NSTAR.

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Source: http://courantblogs.com/ct-real-estate/nu-land-trust-will-have-independent-board-oversight/

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