The city of Stamford has reportedly issued a letter of intent that could pave the way for developer Building and Land Technology (BLT) to relocate the South End boatyard to city-owned land at Shippan Point.
The boatyard has been a topic of controversy since an August 2012 announcement that Westport hedge fund giant Bridgewater Associates would construct a new, 750,000-square-foot headquarters on the South End waterfront of Stamford’s Harbor Point development, which would require the boatyard to be moved.
The letter of intent, which was signed in late 2012, gives Harbor Point developer BLT the right to use city-owned property as it determines a new home for the boatyard, according to published reports. A price has not yet been negotiated for the property, reports state, with city officials saying the letter of intent simply allows the planning and review process to get underway.
No it DOES NOT give the mayor the authority or clears the way for BLT to build. This story has been in-accurately reported by one of our newspaper reporters here in Stamford. This piece of land is called an “Easement” which has already been protected as open space back in 1999 and 2004. The Mayor is not allowed to grant the easement on his own because it violates our city’s charter law AND has to be voted on and approved by all the cities boards which has not happened yet. They haven’t even been officially notifed yet and there is a group that is currently blocking this attempt called Save Our Boatyard, a group of local residents and boaters trying to protect the curent 14 acre working boatyard site. If anyone is interested they ca contact me for further detail as saveourboatyard@gmail.com