State To Buy Most of 308 Acre DeLuca Site


CORNWALL — A weighty issue that has been quietly running its course toward what most see as a desired end is the DeLuca property on Music Mountain and River roads.

First Selectman Gordon Ridgway said a letter is being prepared on behalf of the seller as a consent to allow the state to negotiate to buy all or part of the property.

The 308 acres were put on the market last summer by property trustee Francis M. DeLuca. An investment brokerage put out a lengthy prospectus that suggested up to 60 high-end homes could be built there. Homes could sell for up to $750,000. A selling point was not only the location in a rural area, but its proximity to Boston and New York City.

Although 229 acres are in Cornwall, most of the prime building land is on the 79 Falls Village acres.

The offering had Cornwall’s selectmen rallying with Falls Village to steer the outcome.

Not unexpectedly, the proposed sale appears to have been a way to get the state to consider buying a sensitive piece of land that adjoins a state forest.

It includes steep slopes, wetlands, a watershed along the Housatonic River and is accessible from the unimproved River Road. The process for securing necessary town and likely Department of Environmental Protection approvals would not have been an easy one.

Some likened it, potentially, to the Yale Farm Golf Club battle that has yet to be resolved in North Canaan and Norfolk.

Cornwall officials initiated mapping of the property by the Soil Conservation District, to determine exactly what portions are buildable. They gathered legislators, and representatives from the Housatonic Valley Association and the Cornwall Conservation Trust to look at options and issues such as how the adjoining forest would be affected.

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