The Trust for Public Land (TPL), which has been an active acquirer and preserver of land in Connecticut since 1986, is in negotiations to purchase 288 acres of rolling fields and tobacco barns in the northern section of town that would be preserved as farmland and open and recreational space. The land is currently owned by commercial landlord Griffin Industrial Realty Inc., which first proposed its Meadowood residential development in 1999 as a 640-home subdivision that would include around 160 (or 25%) affordable dwellings. The town rejected the project several times, ultimately leading to a prolonged court battle that wasn’t settled until almost a decade later, when Simsbury agreed to allow Griffin to proceed with development of 296 homes — including 88 affordable units — as long as it remediated the site. The cleanup was completed in 2014, town records show, but the development never happened.
https://www.hartfordbusiness.com/article/6m-simsbury-land-sale-would-sink-controversial-affordable-housing-development