CTFishTalk.com: Bantam 09-05 - Connecticut Lake Reports ( CT Lake Reports ) - A Community Built for Connecticut Fisherman.

Flipper · Joined: 21 May 2010 Posts: 347 Location: Enfield

Blumenthal had written the town a letter stating that it was illegal for them to restrict access, and they took down the sign. The basis was that the person that donated the land had donated it for public use - not town of Morris residents use. I can tell you that I will be launching and fishing from that launch , and if I did happen to get a ticket, would certainly fight it in court! I am going to look for the post that has this info and repost.
_________________
Go big or go home!

Flipper · Joined: 21 May 2010 Posts: 347 Location: Enfield

This post was from thevinman and has the links to all information needed:

To your point; the town can certainly try and close the launch entirely and to everyone, yes, but they would be in violation of the original land owner's wishes. "The property was given to the town by the Whittlesey and Harrison families in 1963, with the restriction that it be used for recreational use."

You are also correct in that they can also charge a fee. In all your examples, non-residents can (read: they are not restricted from) access to these waters. But, that is not what is happening here.

The position of the town through it's actions has been to "restrict access to a municipal park to its residents and their guests." and ONLY its residents and their guests. No ramp fee, no non-resident sticker, no parking fees. No non-resident access option what so ever from a municipal launch. This is wrong.

The Attorney General of the State of Connecticut believes the actions of the Town of Morris to be wrong as well, hence his letter to the First Selectman Karen D. Paradis advising her that restricting the boat launch to only residents would be very difficult to defend against a constitutional challenge. He used Leydon v. Greenwich as an example. Upon receipt of the Attorney General's correspondence the Town of Morris removed the "residents only" signage that was posted at the boat launch.

Again, for a municipality to restrict access only to residents of the municipality remains the point of contention, not the entire closure of the launch. This is precedent case law and a real letter from the Attorney General to First Selectman Karen D. Paradis. I'm not making this up.

Here is more on the letter from the AG, in case you will not take my word for it:
http://www.registercitizen.com/articles/2009/09/09/news/doc4aa7307b11d5a740304390.txt

Here is more on some of the proposed "legal" options (including fees and stickers) and a reiteration of the AG issue with the actions of the town of Morris to bar non-residents:
http://www.countytimes.com/articles/2010/03/11/news/litchfield/doc4b9917c967d7e885240564.txt

Here are the official Connecticut Judicial documents of Leydon v. Greenwich
http://www.jud.ct.gov/external/supapp/Cases/AROcr/257cr116.pdf

If you believe any of my other statements to be inaccurate, I welcome the discussion. This is an important issue to all sportsman.
_________________
Go big or go home!

hila2006 · Joined: 22 Jul 2011 Posts: 582 Location: Ellington

Wow, quite the battle of the years. Lot's of towns all around New England are dong this kind of crap. Hey thanks Phil for the help. So where's Point Folly? Sorry still don't know a damn thing about this state, but we hoping to hit Bantam in a week or so. Thanks for everyone's help.
John

PECo · Joined: 06 Oct 2009 Posts: 5203 Location: Avon, CT

John

Point Folly is on the north shore of Bantam Lake, on the Bantam side of the town of Litchfield.

You're new to Connecticut, so I'll clue you into something that I had to learn when I moved to the state from Chicago six years ago. A lot of the little towns in Connecticut are part of bigger towns for governmental purposes. Bantam is part of Litchfield and Lakeside is part of Morris. In my part of the state, Unionville is part of Farmington, Collinsville is part of Canton, and Weatogue and Tariffville are parts of Simsbury. You'll get used to it.

Phil
_________________
Don't forget to wear sunscreen and don't litter!

watthe555 · Joined: 11 Jun 2011 Posts: 120

i also heard this law that if a body of water is a certain amount of acres or more it cannot be private, just something i heard but not too sure about.

SeaDog1 · Joined: 21 Dec 2009 Posts: 2629

Hi,

Never heard of a law indicating acreage requirement to be designated private.
Many bodies of water in Ct. are private or town owned and of various acreages.

SeaDog1

hila2006 · Joined: 22 Jul 2011 Posts: 582 Location: Ellington

Hey Phil, thanks again. There's a lot to get used to for sure. Where the wife and I come from is actually only 3 miles from the Rindge NH border, so we spent quite a bit of time in southern New Hampshire as well as Mass. I'm hoping to get time to hit Bantam on Sunday, we're going to stay in Wolcott an extra day to leave ourselves extra time. Hopefully we'll run into you sometime to say thanks for the friendly info. Point Folly it is.

John