Eminent domain ruled out at Sandy Hook

“Susan and George Oberstadt feared Wednesday night that they might be forced to lose their lifelong home on Riverside Road.

After an almost two-hour debate with town officials about their 3-acre home and adjoining vacant lot that abuts the Sandy Hook Elementary School property, the Oberstadts were relieved to hear from town leaders that eminent domain is not an option. The Board of Selectmen and Board of Finance were also part of this discussion.

“At least they’re not going to throw us out on the curb of Riverside; they do have compassion,” Susan Oberstadt said after the Legislative Council debated the acquisition of the two-lot property where she has lived for 68 of her 69 years. The Oberstadts’ two-bedroom house, 500 feet from the current school entrance on Dickinson Drive, is where they raised their children. Susan Oberstadt, her children and two of her grandchildren attended Sandy Hook Elementary School, and George Oberstadt was a bus driver for the school for three decades.”

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Hutson, Nanci. newstimes.com 18 December 2013.