Groton — More than 70 people jammed a Town Council public hearing on Tuesday on whether the town should move forward with a conservation land swap to build its new middle school adjacent to Robert E. Fitch High School.

Groton already is designing the middle school to be built on land known as the “Merritt property” adjacent to the high school, and received approval for $100 million in state funding for its $184 million school construction program, which includes three schools.

But construction of the middle school, which would be built first, is contingent on the swap. The Merritt property is deed-restricted for open space and recreation, so the town must provide an equivalent property for conservation in its place, by transferring the deed restrictions elsewhere.

The town chose a 20-acre property called Boulder Heights, off the end of Colver Avenue, for the swap, and the State Department of Energy and Environmental Protection approved it.

But multiple residents told the council on Tuesday the land is not equivalent.

The parcel is surrounded by highways and apartments and is virtually inaccessible, and one can’t get from one end to the other without scaling a ravine, said Joan Smith of Island Circle South. The Merritt property is 35 acres; Boulder Heights is 20 acres, she said.

“It appears to have been a dumping ground for boulders from nearby construction sites,” Catherine Pratt of Front Street said.

Richard Dixon, who served on the Town Council when voters approved bonding to buy the Merritt property in the late 1980s, said it was intended for conservation. He predicted the town would be sued if it made an error with the transfer of restrictions.

But others warned that Groton would jeopardize $100 million in state funding by disapproving the swap.

Fifty-three percent of town voters approved the school construction plan knowing where the middle school would be built, said Craig Kohler, a member of the former School Facilities Initiative Task Force.

“Not approving this land conversion, after so many before you, including your constituents, have studied it, voted on it and deemed it to be in the best interests of the town, I would think to be a grave mistake,” he said.

The council postponed any action until March 6. Construction on the school is set to begin next year and the facility is set to open in 2020.

If the town doesn’t see the project through, not only will it lose $100 million and possibly never get the money back, but it will have to repair old schools again, school board Chairwoman Kim Shepardson Watson said.

“And guess who gets to pay for that? That would be us. So when we think about what’s sort of at stake, that is what is at stake,” she said.

State Sen. Heather Somers said the state would not give any more “diversity grants” like the one Groton just received to cover 80 percent of one of its schools. The state expects more bad economic news later this week, she said.

“If we don’t use this money now, with the will of the people, I can tell you, you will be going to an empty watering hole,” she said. “There will not be money available for us to ever do a project like this ever again.”

d.straszheim@theday.com