Background on Wesleyan University’s Plans for the Future of its Long Lane Tract, as Presented by Vice President and Secretary Peter Patton
Statement Prepared for a Special Meeting of the Middletown Board of Education
Release date: Monday, Oct. 21, 2002
In 2000, Wesleyan University acquired the 160-acre Long Lane tract from the state of Connecticut for $16 million. Working with outside consultants, it undertook a land use study for the site, as well as an assessment of environmental issues to be addressed during the transition in ownership. Wesleyan officials have kept municipal authorities apprised of findings at each step in these processes. In addition, during the summer of 2000, Wesleyan invited members of the Middletown Board of Education to inspect the lands that lie west of Long Lane because the Board saw potential to use the site for a new high school. The Board decided that site lacked sufficient buildable acres for its purposes and moved to consider other sites.
The land use study conducted for Wesleyan by Sasaki Associates Inc. of Boston considered four sets of values: market viability, relevance to Wesleyan’s core mission of teaching and research, value to Middletown, and the environmental consequences of each development option. The result, in 2001, was a delineation of initiatives to benefit the University’s mission, the University’s financial goals and civic interests. The study yielded long-term plans for five distinct tracts of land defined by topography and proximity to campus and existing roadways. The University currently intends to implement these plans, as outlined below:
- In the northeast quadrant, a 40-acre tract contiguous with the Freeman Athletic Center will be used for the construction of new athletic facilities. Included will be indoor facilities for sports to be relocated from Fayerweather Gymnasium, which is slated for conversion to a university center, and outdoor playing fields for University and civic use.
34 acres in the southeast quadrant and 30 acres along the western perimeter will be held as open space, with trails created for public enjoyment and for instruction related to the arts and environmental sciences. (It should be noted that 51 of the 64 acres in these two tracts are considered unusable for development because they comprise wetlands or wetlands buffers or because they slope too steeply.)
- 30 acres at the southern end of Long Lane adjacent to Wadsworth Street (10 acres to the west and 20 to the east of Long Lane) will be reserved for future academic needs of the University.
- Sasaki recommended that 16 acres to the north, across Long Lane from the recreation lands, be developed as a retirement community. This tract is zoned for single-family dwellings, and the use would be consonant with University and community purposes, as they have been expressed to Wesleyan administrators and to the consultants.
The environmental analyses revealed significant impediments to near-term development, particularly on parcels that currently or formerly sited buildings associated with the Long Lane School. The 38 buildings that currently comprise the school have very limited reuse potential due to code violations and the existing retrofit for their use as a detention facility. Demolition has been recommended for all but the historic residential structure on the west side of Long Lane. The site features a complex underground infrastructure that must be removed. In addition to the existing buildings, which contain substantial amounts of asbestos and lead, the cleanup will include the sites of former buildings which were simply bulldozed, burying asbestos and lead and contaminating the surrounding soil, as well as removal of topsoil in much of the area destined for open space, due to contamination with pesticides.
Terms of the sale agreement with the State of Connecticut obligate the state for cleanup costs, but no work can begin until the state vacates the site, which still houses female inhabitants of the Long Lane School. It is estimated that the environmental cleanup will take at least a year after the site is vacant.
Wesleyan will bear the cost of demolition and, under the terms of the sale agreement with the state, be reimbursed for the cost of the cleanup.
Click here to read President Bennet's remarks to the Board of Education.
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