May 13, 2013

Attorney General George Jepsen today issued the following statement on tomorrow’s local referendum about the ongoing dispute over the former YMCA property, known as Firefly Farms, located at 96 Button Road in North Stonington:

“While I respect the referendum process and have no position on the question presented, it is important to clarify that that the open space restriction on 96 Button Road will remain in place unless and until a court of competent jurisdiction rules otherwise.

“Despite any statement to the contrary, the outcome of tomorrow’s referendum will not guarantee that my office or a court will take any particular action or position with respect to this property. Further, any suggestion that my office has reached any agreement about future use of this property is simply false.

“I have made no commitment to support a court action to remove or modify the current land use restrictions. In fact, the transaction described in the referendum has not yet been presented to my office for review.

“I take very seriously my responsibility to protect the public’s interest in conservation restrictions and will carefully scrutinize any proposal before taking a position in court.”

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