A bank Trustee for the Wallace H. Foote Family Charitable Trust wants the town of Branford to own and run the 44.6 acre Foote Memorial Park, saying in court papers that “the cost and complexity of maintaining the Park is becoming prohibitive and a burden on the Trust.”
A hearing on the Trust’s effort to divest itself of the property will take place Thursday, Oct. 22, at 10:30 a.m. at Branford’s probate court, which is located on the lower level of Branford Town Hall. Probate Judge Frank Forgione will preside over the hearing.
The trust, the legacy of Wallace (Wally) H. Foote, who died in 1966, is now valued at about $11 million and is overseen by the Trustee, the Bank of America, N.A., in East Hartford. The annual cost of maintaining the park, along with its employees, is about $340,000, the trust’s attorney said in the probate court filing. The Trust also assumes the risk of liability associated with ownership. That risk would be eliminated if ownership is transferred to the town.
The attorney, Kelley Galica Peck, of the law firm of Robinson & Cole, said in a three-page accounting with the Branford probate court, that the town, rather than the Trust, “is in a better position to operate and manage recreational facilities intended to benefit the residents of the town of Branford. … The Trustee has determined that it is in the best interest of the Trust and the Park to transfer ownership and responsibility for the park and the land to the town of Branford.”
Although the Foote Charitable Trust has roughly $11 million in assets, it maintains that “by transferring the park and the land to the Town of Branford, the Trust will be relieved of the extraordinary costs of maintaining a recreational facility independent of the Town’s Parks and Recreation Department.” The head of the town’s recreation department is Alex Palluzzi, Jr.
Trust Says Town Can Do It Cheaper
“Because of various economies of scale, the Town may be better equipped to manage the park and land at a substantially lower cost with its existing personnel and equipment,” the trustee wrote. The Trust says it will continue to pay to maintain the park.
If the proposed transfer of land takes place, grants from the roughly $11 million in assets “can be made to the town for the purpose of maintaining the Park and for other purposes that satisfy the requirements of the Trust,” the Trustee wrote. However, the language here says grants “can be made” not “shall be made.”
The Foote Memorial Park is considered one of the most beautiful in town. It is used year-round by walkers, kids at the playground, school groups and families taking time out for a picnic. Organized sports for kids are seasonal in nature and take place 8 months of the year, the town website says. The park has softball and baseball fields, playgrounds, walking paths and a parking lot. It also has a total of 12 lighted tennis courts, eight clay and four hard courts.
The trust employed two full-time employees, several part-time employees and owns a 2010 Dodge pickup truck used for the maintenance of the park. The jobs would be eliminated.
First Selectman Jamie Cosgrove said in a recent interview with the Eagle that the Trust approached him about transferring title to the town. He said the town’s recreation department and employees would oversee the operation of the park. He also told the Eagle that if the town were to receive the land it would do so under the terms and conditions of the Foote will. He said the park would remain “open space.”
But additional legal safeguards might be required to make sure that the very valuable park land –appraised in 2014 for about $2.7 million – is not sold in the future for another purpose.
The issue has not yet been discussed at public meetings.
The Foote Will
In his 1966 will, Foote said the net income of the trust shall be “expended in the discretion of the Trustees for among other things “to purchase real estate to be used for parks and recreation beaches, along with bathhouses.” These parks and recreation beaches were to be used “for the benefit only of inhabitants of the Town of Branford and their guests … provided no alcoholic beverages shall be sold or used on any property so purchased for the use of the inhabitants of Town of Branford.”
Funds would also be allocated, “in the sole discretion of the Trustees,” toward the support of the Zion Episcopal Church of North Branford and the Trinity Episcopal Church of Branford, “with some preference being given to the Zion Episcopal Church.”
Foote was aware that local banks overseeing the trust might merge or consolidate with another bank in the future. He said the reorganized bank “resulting from such merger or consolidation” shall be “the Trustee of this trust.” At the time of his will, he appointed the First New Haven National Bank as executor of the Wallace H. Foote Family Charitable Trust. The year was 1966.
He also said in his will that “in carrying out the purposes of this trust, I request the Trustees and the officials of the Town of Branford to work cooperatively for the good of the inhabitants of said town.”
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