A decade-old conflict between the town of East Lyme in Connecticut and development company New England National (NEN) is finally headed towards possible resolution as both sides have agreed to enter mediation proceedings. The conflict is over land the city sold to New England National which the company claims the city knowingly overvalued.

In 2008 the town and NEN signed an agreement to settle the dispute, but NEN, then in bankruptcy proceedings, later claimed that East Lyme reneged on several of the stipulations in that agreement and filed a lawsuit in response. The bankruptcy court was asked to rule on the new charges, but determined that the conflict pre-dated the bankruptcy filing of NEN and thus was outside of its jurisdiction, allowing the lawsuit to proceed.

East Lyme initially had trouble fielding a group to take part in the mediation due to internal squabbles among its Board of Finance, with some members questioning the procedure used to select participants in this controversial matter. After the Board was allowed the right to make changes to the specific people chosen to participate, the mediation was able to move forward with the blessing of the court and the town.

The land in question, near Darrow Pond in East Lyme, remains undeveloped and control over its development cannot be transferred to another entity until the dispute with NEN is settled, giving the town extra incentive to be cooperative in the mediation attempts.