The town is seeking permission to acquire the property at 155 Ingham Hill Road for $93,555. The Planning Commission voted unanimously at its meeting on April 3 to approve the move, and a public hearing is likely to be held next month for residents to approve the purchase.

The 12.6 acres are next to town-owned land, including the Great Cedars Conservation Area and The Preserve. The property was previously owned by David Brown, and a 1999 agreement stated that it would be offered to the town first upon Brown’s death. Brown passed earlier this year. The Board of Selectmen voted unanimously to endorse the potential purchase at a meeting last month.

By law, the town needed to submit the potential purchase to the Planning Commission to determine if the purchase was in concert with the town’s Plan of Conservation and Development.

In a letter to the commission, First Selectman Carl Fortuna noted that the town’s 2023 Plan of Conservation and Development recommends the town acquire open space in the area north of I-95 as well as land that provides connections between existing open space like The Preserve and Great Cedars. This land would do both.

At the Planning Commission meeting, Selectmen Matt Pugliese shared further information about the property. Pugliese said there is no exact plan yet for how the property could be used. Instead, he said the selectmen would like to see the town focus on acquiring the land and then develop a proposed use. Pugliese noted access to the town Preserve off the property and suggested that trails could be cut linking the two properties. Pugliese said the Board of Selectmen, Parks and Recreation, and the town plan would be consulted on finding a new use for the property.

Pugliese said the money for the purchase would come from an off-budget account the town has set up for land acquisitions. The fund has over $200,000 in it, according to Pugliese, which is more than enough to cover the potential purchase.

Pugliese said the property contains the Hay House, which Brown used to live in, a Buddhist structure. It also has a conservation easement, which Pugliese said should assuage any worries about overdeveloping the property. Pugliese and Fortuna said the town would be respectful of the structure’s importance to the Buddhist religion if it acquired the property. As for the Hay House, Pugliese said Brown’s hope was that it be used for some kind of educational artistic use.

Fortuna said that now that the Planning Commission has approved the purchase, the next step would be for the selectmen to refer the matter to the Board of Finance (BOF) and then for that board to refer the matter to a town meeting. Fortuna said the BOF meets later this month and that he anticipates a town meeting will be held in mid-May, though he doesn’t have an exact date in mind.

David Brown

Pugliese called Brown “a recognizable person” who was well known for his farmstand at the Planning Commission meeting. An obituary from Brown’s passing in January noted that Brown was a staple around Old Saybrook and beyond.

“Farmer Brown” became a fixture of the Connecticut shoreline community and was well known for his jam, eggs, produce, honey, paintings, and Lhasa Apso-derived dogs (a breed originating in Tibet). He hosted an annual “daffodil brunch” every spring at The Hay House when tens of thousands of daffodils bloomed throughout the farm,” the obituary stated in part.