CRDA: No eminent domain in East Hartford
“On Jan. 15, representatives from the Connecticut Regional Development Authority met with East Hartford’s Town Council to answer questions about the authority’s purpose and what powers it had in the town of East Hartford. The CRDA was founded last year under a bill in the state legislature known as SB22.
“The powers of CRDA, including eminent domain, are in the city of Hartford and nowhere else,” Freimuth said. Freimuth said that CRDA’s reach in East Hartford extends only to the management of the Rentschler Field complex. “Rentschler Field is the reason the mayor of East Hartford is on the board of CRDA,” Freimuth said.
Freimuth said the CRDA is also allowed to provide project assistance in a “regional area” consisting of the seven towns that share borders with Hartford – including East Hartford – if the town’s legislature approves. “It’s an attempt to combine some regional economies,” Freimuth said. “How we can link these together is the focus of CRDA.”
Pajer, Evan. Reminder News 17 January 2013.