Groton Open Space Association

State Appellate Court To Hear GOSA’s Mystic Estates Appeal

GROTON–The state Appellate Court in Hartford has agreed to hear the appeal of the Groton Open Space Association against a lower court ruling that favored developers of the proposed 48-house Mystic Estates subdivision on the Merritt property on Fort Hill, GOSA was notified Dec. 20, 2004.

The Appellate Court’s action came in response to GOSA’s request for a higher court review of a decision last September by New London Superior Court Judge D. Michael Hurley. The judge had upheld, against GOSA’s challenge, the Town of Groton Planning Commission’s approval the subdivision. The current would-be developer is Ravenswood Construction LLC, of Cheshire.

Parties in land-use court cases do not have an automatic right to appeal to the Appellate Court but must instead ask the Appellate Court for permission to appeal. Legal sources said it could take up to 18 months for the Appellate Court, having decided to hear the case, to examine the issues and come up with a ruling.

Meanwhile, the separate legal contest, tracing back to April, 2003–between GOSA and the property’s owner, F.L. Merritt Inc., on one side and Ravenswood on the other side–is moving into decisive phases. A pre-trial hearing was held Friday, Dec. 17, 2004, at Superior Court, New London, to determine whether a resolution could be worked out without need for a trial, which would probably take place in the Spring. The hearing is to be continued early in January. Both GOSA and Ravenswood claim to have a contract to buy the property. GOSA’s contract was signed April 14, 2003, by GOSA and F.L. Merritt Inc. GOSA plans to buy the 76-acre property for $1 million, with the aid of an already secured $650,000 state grant, and preserve the land as open space. Ravenswood has an unsigned contract that it claims to be valid.