When the City of West Haven signed the historic Savin Rock Shorefront conservation easement with the Land Trust in 2007, it ended a 40-year battle to preserve West Haven’s most important public resource from encroaching private development.

On September 8, 2007, Mayor John M. Picard  and members of the Land Trust of West Haven met at the shorefront to mark the historic joint signing of a conservation easement with the Land Trust of West Haven, which protected 39 acres of city-owned shorefront in the Savin Rock and Bradley Point area from private ownership and commercial development. This milestone had become possible on August 27, 2007, when the West Haven City Council voted unanimously to grant the easement to the Land Trust of West Haven.

Under the clear blue skies, the ceremonial signing took place at the gazebo overlooking the Long Island Sound, behind the Savin Rock Conference Center. The public was invited. Since the 1970s, when the blighted homes in the area—as well as Old Savin Rock amusement park—were demolished to pave the way for private commercial development, shoreline conservation watchdog groups, Save Our Shore (SOS) and the Independent Movement for Positive Action (IMPACT), formed and fought to save the West Haven shoreline for public use free from further development.

In 1991 the Land Trust of West Haven, Inc. was formed. Some people originally  from SOS and IMPACT joined forces with the Land Trust to continue their effort to save West Haven’s shorefront property in the Savin Rock area of the shoreline. The signing of the conservation easement ended a four-decade effort by these groups to save the shorefront and leaving the stewardship of the land in the hands of the Land Trust of West Haven and West Haven citizens.

According to the agreement, “The properties will be retained forever in a natural scenic and open space condition.” It specifically allows in perpetuity passive recreational uses and temporary events such as fireworks and festivals. The easement does not give ownership of the land to the Land Trust. The City will continue to own the land but is committed to keeping it as open space for the public’s use.

Many members of the former grass roots shoreline conservation watchdog groups as well as the Land Trust cheered as Mayor Picard, whose late father was a member of SOS, and Land Trust President, Gabe Alvandian, signed the agreement. Onlooker, City Historian and Land Trust member, Bennett W. Dorman, noted that he has been involved in the struggle since its inception forty years ago.

Mayor Picard thanked everyone for their tireless efforts to preserve the scenic shorefront for the public. The easement property stretches from the West Walk condominiums to Bradley Point and the Veterans Memorial Park but does not include Jimmies Restaurant or the Savin Rock Conference Center.

The easement ensures that the shorefront parcels are not sold off to private developers interested in commercial development. Mayor Picard stated that without the agreement, condominiums, apartments or other commercial businesses could have been built on this property.