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Old Saybrook

"De l’audace, encore de l’audace, et toujours de l’audace."

This is what greets you if you try to use your public river access in Deep River.

Our opinion: If you don't want the public near your property, don't buy property that has deeded public access!

Not everyone thinks this way. Read the Hartford Courant article to see what happened last summer in Deep River.

But the town of Deep River and the public are fighting back. At a recent public meeting, the town of Deep River was fiven a strong message of suppport for its fight against people who are trying to confiscate public land for private use. (They seem perfectly happy to let the town plow and maintain the road they live on, but don't want anyone else to drive on it.) Click here for more.

And that's not the only good news. The Essex Board of Selectmen has demonstrated that towns can tell property owners to cut this nonsense out - and make it stick. Click here for more.

And the town government of Old Saybrook has taken the same stance regarding public access points on Long Island Sound. Click here for that story.

Support yor local government by letting them know you appreciate their efforts on your behalf.

Don't let anyone take your river away from you.

This story © 2001, The Hartford Courant, reproduced with their kind permission. Please respect the Courant's ownership of this material. You may print this page for your personal use, or refer others to this page, but may not otherwise copy or retransmit this information in any form.

Rights Of Passage To River In Dispute
By CLAUDIA VAN NES
The Hartford Courant
June 19, 2001
DEEP RIVER - Debate over whether a public boat launch on the
Connecticut River is blocked by private property is leading to a court
showdown.
Dan and Scottie Bloch, of Brockway Ferry Road, do not want small-boat
owners parking along a portion of the road they say they own. They have
put a chain across the lower part of the road that leads to the river.
The Blochs started legal action when they learned that town-generated
brochures alerting kayakers and canoeists to where they can launch their
vessels mentioned the Brockway Ferry site.
The issue of ownership of parts of roads leading to the river has been
boiling in many waterside communities. Some property owners have either
intentionally or in ignorance claimed as their own municipally owned
rights-of-way and have put up "no trespassing'' signs, shrubs, trees,
fences, walls and even structures.
In the Brockway Ferry case, the brochure has added a twist.
The park and recreation commission received a $9,400 grant for the
brochure and signage and worked in conjunction with Torrence Downs of
the Connecticut River Estuary Regional Planning Agency. When Downs
and the commission had a meeting with residents on what to include in the
publication, "the only people who showed up were residents of Brockway
Ferry Road,'' says Downs.
Because of their concerns, a compromise was reached. The sides decided
the brochure would feature a star at the end of Brockway Ferry but not
directions of how to get there. A small area was also cleared over the last
100 feet for two cars to park, the most cars the commission assumes will be
on the site at any one time.
But the compromise did not stop the Blochs. Their attorney, John Bennet
of Essex, obtained a quit-claim deed from the original owner of the
property, William Doane Lyon.
The town argues that the Lyon family previously deeded the road to the
town and the town approved it in the 1960s. The land on both sides was
subdivided, houses went up and public utilities wires were installed. The
town argues that it plows regularly in the winter and replaces the gravel
periodically.
The commission maintains the last 100 feet from the end of the road to the
river, commission member and Zoning Enforcement Officer Cathy Jefferson
said Monday. The commission has marked boundaries and clears trees and
brush.
Bennet, however, says he found a clause in the town deed that says if the
road is abandoned, discontinued or not used for highway purposes, the
ownership reverts to Lyon. He claims that since the town no longer uses
the last 100 feet as a highway, the quit-claim deed makes the Blochs the
owners.
"There's no road at the end but what would be the point of having a road
there? So you could drive into the Connecticut River?" said Jefferson. "The
DEP wouldn't allow a road even if you wanted one, and the town has
consistently maintained the area.''
Bennet said he expects the matter will be aired in court Friday when the
Blochs will either seek an injunction against the town or proceed directly to
ask the court to make a ruling.
Meanwhile, the brochures, finished about two weeks ago, gather dust. "If
we can't use Brockway Ferry, the brochures are no good,'' says Downs.

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