New Britain herald., 1929-07-26

!
 Act of condemnation can be legally
 operative which ignores the time
 honored judicial procedure for taking
 property by eminent domain and pro-
 vides no means for determining just
 compensation for the property taken.
 Subsequent to the overruling of
 their demurrer to the complaint the
 defendants filed an answer. The plaintiff filed it's motion to strike out the allegations of the answer which
 were new matter, because ten of the paragraphs of the answer are legal
 conclusions or repetitions of aver
 ment5 in the demurrer to the com-
 plaint, and because eighteen para
 graphs and part of another paragraph
 arc irrelevant, immaterial and frivol-
 GUS. Thereafter the plaintiff filed a demurrer to the ten paragraphs aver
 rcd in the motion to be legal conclu-
 sions upon the same ground and as
 to the other nineteen paragraphs of
 the answer referred to in the mo-
 tion as irrelevant, immaterial and
 frivolous, it demurred because the
 court had already decided that the
 Act under which these proceedings
 are brought determined the neces-
 sity for the taking, leaving the sole
 question for judicial determination
 the compensation to be paid as to
 which these paragraphs of the an-
 swer have no bearing. The demurrer
 was rightly sustained as to para
 graphs l ?, 3, 4, the last half of 28, 20, 32, 34 and 35. Legal con-
 clusions have no place in an answer.
 To pass upon the demurrer to the
 other paragraphs requires US to give
 summary of their allegations
 which we regard as relevant to sev-
 eral defenses which they apparently
 raise: The petition alleges and the
 defendants admit that the State
 owned on June 25, 1925, and ever
 since has owned certain land and
 buildings in East Lyme as the site
 of a Tuberculosis Sanatarium, an
 institution used and operated for the
 benefit of the public of the state.
 The answer alleges that the land
 sought to be taken has a frontage
 of about A50 feet on a sandy beach
 on the shore of Long Island Sound,
 suitable for bathing beach and in-
 dispensable to the use and enjoy ment of the property and the chief
 element of its value. The taking of
 391 feet of the beach would grcatl-'
 lessen the value of the entire tract
 and cut off access from the remain
 ing property to the beach and de-
 stroy it's value as shore property.
 In 1918 the State acquired an old
 wooden structure formerly used as
 Q hotel located on land adjoining
 that sought to be taken; these are
 used for the treatment of children
 afflicted with glandular and bone
 tuberculosis. The land of the State is 400 feet in depth and amply sui
 ficient to accommodate a large fire
 proof sanitarium building. It has 97 feet of frontage on broad sand
 beach and is adapted for bathing beach and for other purposes of the
 sanitarium and amply sufficient for all of it's needs. For a long time prior to the institution of this action other property in this vicinity front ing on bathinG beach has been and now is available by purchase. The defendants since the State acquired this property have been and still arc :, willing that the children in the sani. tarium should use their bathing | beach and the children have used il Ss both above and below high water 1 mark.
 Reject Condemnation Bill
 In 1923 this commission in asking the General Assembly for an appro , priation represented that it's lano l was ample for this fire-proof build. : ing. The appropriation was ther 5 granted but the building has never l been begun. On June 14th, 1922, 2 : member of the commission wrote ir : its behalf to one of the defendants l asking if it were possible to purchase l any part of their property and in re l ply defendants notified him theil : property was not for sale. At tho
 opening of the session of the Genera
 Assembly in January, 1929, a bil
 was introduced authorizing the com o mission to buy all of the defendant ! land, and if unable to agree with tht aa owners, authorizing it through tn 7, attorney-General to condemn tn | same in the name of the state, ant ]. directing him to proceed as providet '' in section 51S6 of the General Stat . utes and appropriating S100,000 O i so much thereof as may be neces u sary to carry out the provisions o : this act. The bill was rejected. Sub :, sequently q substitute bill was re a ported to the House Of Representa- u u tivcs directing the commission t u purchase part of defendants lanc e beng about one-half of its area an e onc-half of the beach frontage; i Il the event that the commission shoul : he unable to agree with the owners ' directing it through the attorney : general to institute condamnatio C proceedings to acquire the describe Il land under the provisions of sectio C 5186. The substitute bill failed 0 u passage.
 e Meanwhile an appropriation bi C was passed and approved appropr C atinG $25 5,000 for the purpose of at . ! tItII lIlS lollu etuJOlllIllS lHt SIlC l. o the sanitarium and directing tn t commission to acquire in the nam Y Of the State such land as the con e mission may require for such pun C pose. This bill has nevel, been rt = pcalcd and is now in full force. Dul IL ing the session of the General A, $ sembly of 1923, the commission mad :, an aGl cement with defendant $ through the medium O. the Cove $ nor, th@t without monetary consiC IL cratic they would decd to the stat e not more than sixty feet in widt ee of the land sought to be condemne( 'II upon the express condition propose d by the commission that it would rt n frain from attempting thereafter b le condemnation proceedings to acquil 'e any of defendants land. The agree J. ment is embodied in a letter (