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Results of the Meeting with Secretary Hughes DNREC
Many land owners are confused about what maintenance of the spillway has to do with hunting on the pond. They are related because it is 1+/- acre in the middle of the spillway that defines the ownership of the pond, including all lands covered with water and every branch and cripple of the pond. This 1 acre is owned by DeLDOT not DNREC. DeLDOT believes that the spillway is owned by DNREC and therefore they do not maintain it. Secretary Hughes uses a parcel of land obtained by DNREC in 1992 to define the pond and not DeLDOT's property. This is not true either because for some land owners he uses the legal definition which is the ordinary plane of the high water mark. When it comes to state contractors hunting the pond he uses a survey. When this contractor wants to have others arrested for hunting on the pond he uses the legal definition and has arrested people hunting along the creek in the past but refuses to take complaints from fishermen or other land owners on the pond who have a legal right to arrest without warrant. State law includes all state and county lands as a state refuge and does not distinguish between DNREC & DeLDOT's land. To stop the confusion between DNREC & DelDOT I urge all those interested in Concord to contact Governor Minner and your state Representatives and Senators.
PROMISES MADE BY SECRETARY HUGHES
1. Mr. Hughes promised to contact Governor Minner in regards to Concord Pond being made a wildlife refuge in 1975. Mr. Huges does not believe the 2 articles printed in the Leader and State Register in 1975 or testimony from the land owners who signed the petition in 1975. In a meeting I had with Governor Minner April 25, 2005 the Governor testified that she witnessed the order that made the pond a refuge in 1975. It was DeLDOT's property that was made a refuge because DNREC did not acquire it's land until 1992.
2. Secretary Hughes Promised to have his engineers look at the spillway. I have received a communication from Joseph Wright (DeLDOT) stating that there is to be a joint inspection between he and Dave Twing (DNREC). Drainage pipes have already been replaced.
a. Met with Dam safety engineer David Twing, Frank Piorko(DNREC), Jeff Reed (DeLDOT) for joint inspection of the spillway. I asked Secretary Hughes for a copy of the inspection report.
3. Secretary Hughes promised to file a test case in the court of Chancery using DNREC's property. This is a waste of tax payer money and Is not what I asked him to do. It is DeLDOT's property that covers our land and only DeLDOT's property that would succeed in the court od Chancery.
4. Secretary Hughes promised he would have the Attorney General determine the exact definition of a public right of way. Under the law it is not legal to discharge firearms at or near a public right of way. Concord Pond is one of the oldest public right of ways in the nation. it is an artificially maintained park.
5. Secretary Hughes promised to remove the duck blinds located on state lands. For 6 Years DNREC's officers refused to remove these blinds and continue to refuse despite the Secretaires order.
6. Secretary Hughes promised to have a professional hunter determine if it is safe to shoot at the posted fishing areas and public park.
7. Secretary Hughes promised to put markers in the water marking DNREC's meets and bounds system. This will mark DNREC's property and no laws will be enforceable outside of this meets and bounds system. Secretary Hughes intends only to apply this system to people outside of what Mr. Emory calls "the pond proper". Mr. Hughes should apply this meets and bounds system to all land owners on all ponds if he is to be fair in his enforcement. The law defines all state ponds by the ordinary plane of the water to the high water mark.
This site is dedicated to the Historic Preservation of Concord Properties and the Environmental restoration of Concord Pond to a wildlife Refuge. In 1935 the Sate was given the deed to concord pond by Everett and Mary Virginia Cannon. This gift was separated from the Cannons Mill or Concord Mill property. For over 300 years the pond and the Concord Mill property were privately owned. Mr. Cannon's gift to the state included 1 acre in the middle of the dam, the pond including the bottom of the pond, branch and cripple. in 1935 Concord pond was a closed system with dams at the front and rear of the dam. it remained a close system until 1965 when the dam at Old Furnace road was replaced with the county tax ditch. The tax ditch ends at the very same location as the former dam. in 1975 Secretary John C. Bryson DNREC signed an order designating Concord Pond as a wildlife refuge. This was done with a petition from all land owners on the pond. In exchange for making the pond a wildlife refuge John Hendrickson gave the state 89+/- acres of land. Mr. Hendrickson and his wife occupied this land with a life estate and upon their death the land went to the state. After they died the Division of Fish and Wildlife (DF&WL) lost the order that made Concord Pond a wildlife refuge. Instead of making the pond a refuge they limited the refuge to just Mr. Hendrickson's property. The DF&WL hired an former employee, surveyors Adams and Kemp to make a survey of Mr. Hendrickson's property and labeled it Concord Pond. For over 300 years it has been called the "Concord mill property". All deeds dating back to 1935 call it that and make no reference to Concord pond or water rights. Adams and Kemp had no right to change this deed and did so without a title search. The The sate still owns the pond but DNREC only enforces title 7 on properties owned by DNREC. Under Title 7 Subchapter II section 736 http://delcode.delaware.gov/title7/c007/sc02/index.shtml#TopOfPage all state lands are considered a wildlife refuge. DNREC has granted hunting rights and private ownership rights to people who have no subaqueous lands and in fact their property is defined by the meandering of the sate pond. Letters from Governor Minner, Patrick Emery and Robert Phillips of the Attorney Generals office imply that these owners have private property (see State Letters above) below the ordinary plain of the water when their deeds do not indicate that.
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