UPDATE: SALE CANCELED

The once popular swim and tennis club in North Stamford is being auctioned off on May 1st. The club officially closed down roughly three years ago and the property has since been left vacant. What was once a nice swim and tennis club has now fallen into disrepair and has become a hangout for local hooligans. Legal troubles have apparently led to the club’s demise.

The city is now owed several years of back taxes, and they are auctioning it off on May 1. The property is roughly 13 acres and once included 6 tennis courts, two pools, two club houses, and a good size pond. The property now provides a rare opportunity to purchase 13 RA-1 zoned acres in Fairfield County.

I drove by the property and they have the following sign posted outside:

Sign reads that successful bidder will need to have $183,000 certified check at the time of the sale.

I think there is already an over abundance of swim and tennis clubs in Stamford, so I would be surprised if a developer would want to reopen as such. The property is a somewhat odd shape and includes protective wetlands, so not sure how conducive it would be to building multiple single family lots, this property may be better served as some type of school or retirement home.

(NOT OFFICIAL PHOTO)

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This past weekend I had the chance to walk through 43 West Haviland Lane. West Haviland Lane was was built in the 1960′s which means the entire street is much wider than most old streets in North Stamford. Thus, the street is super accommodating to running/walking.

This particular property is tucked behind another house giving it some privacy from the street. The house was built in 1966 and it looked like most of the house has not been updated since then. This is definitely a property which will require the kitchen to be updated, all new bathrooms, and heating/cooling updates. Electric base boards throughout = high electric bills. However, large rooms with nice hard wood floors could make this property attractive for someone willing to make the updates.

For those concerned about the recent reports of water contamination in the area, I did note that this particular property tested negative for any pesticides. Interestingly enough, it was the only house on West Haviland Lane to be tested…seems like a waste considering the house has been vacant for years!

For more information on this particular property being offered by Raveis, click here.

Another article in today’s Stamford Advocate highlights the growing concern about contaminated drinking wells in and around Scofieldtown. I have been following this investigation closely and it surprised me to see city officials quickly try to pass blame for the contamination of these wells. All early signs pointed to the old Scofieldtown dump as being the source of local water well contamination. However, now the city claims that the real source was the over zealous use of pesticides. This even after an earlier report written by Orion that stated contamination found in wells was far too potent and widespread to be caused by routine use of pesticides.

The city has been mired in the toxic problem since the summer, when federal report of contaminated soil in Scofieldtown Park led city officials to test nearby wells for toxins. Since then, the city has found 33 wells contaminated with one or more of the toxic pesticides chlordane and dieldrin. The city undertook a project to connect water lines to nine affected streets in the fall, at a cost of $3.4 million.

Last month, in a conclusion that upset some nearby homeowners, an environmental consultant hired by the city, TRC Environmental, said groundwater testing carried out by the firm did not show evidence that nearby well contamination was caused by the dump.

The city has already run city water lines to those houses that tested positive. Inst that already an admission of guilt? How can they now get away with halting testing all together? There are houses next door to houses which tested positive which the city has failed to test due to some imaginary line they drew on a map. Seems to me the city is not making these residents health a priority. Not further addressing the issue now will just mean greater liability down the road.