"We will look beyond the city," Michele Sullivan, a spokeswoman for the governor said Thursday, if a resolution opposing the Mahan Drive site is passed by the council.

City Council members announced their intention to pass a resolution opposing expansion and consolidation of Three Rivers at the Mahan Drive site, at the first meeting of the Coalition Against Mahan Drive Expansion Tuesday.

The resolution will be considered July 7. Aldermen Ben Lathrop, Todd Postler, Bob Booth, John Paul Mereen and Sophie Noblick have indicated support for it.

The governor has allocated $75 million to the consolidation of the college and repeatedly has said local support is needed for the project before the money is spent.

Sullivan said while local support is a strong consideration, the feasibility of the project also is important. She said two other sites which had local support were rejected because they were not practical.

The other two sites proposed are both downtown: one by the waterfront and one on Chestnut Street. City officials have said the waterfront site doesn't have enough parking and is not big enough and the Chestnut Street site would require extensive environmental cleanup.

"Let him (move the college). He won't be governor when we build this school," state Rep. Jack Malone, D-Norwich, said.

Malone said the state Office of Policy and Management doesn't know which site is best for the community, the community does.

"It's the typical governor," Malone said. "If he doesn't get his way, he is vindictive and mean to people."

The Rev. David Cannon, a member of the State Community College Board of Trustees, welcomed the governor's move, saying Three Rivers could not afford to delay consolidation any longer.

"I'd be the first to take it out of Norwich," said Cannon, who lives in Preston. "I don't think they deserve it and they squandered their chance."

Cannon said numerous sites, including one off Route 12 near Norwich Hospital in Preston, one of the first proposed locations for the campus. "I think Waterford, New London may be interested," he said. "To move us closer to the population center of the students we serve may be the wisest move. Norwich Hospital made best sense."

Mayor Arthur Lathrop, a Republican, said he will not support the resolution even though he knows the Mahan site will cause more traffic congestion.

"Politics, however, frequently requires making less then ideal choices, and rather than lose the college from Norwich I would support its construction at Mahan Drive," Lathrop said. "I believe this resolution is ill-advised and to my mind will harm Norwich."

Lathrop said he was concerned the City Council is pandering for votes in a municipal election year. A charter change three years ago ended the precinct system in the city and council members now run at-large.

"It will be a blow to our city should Three Rivers be moved elsewhere and council members should carefully consider this before seeking votes from the immediate Mahan Drive neighborhood," Lathrop said.

"(This) is unfortunate," said Alderman Ben Lathrop, who publicly read the resolution at the meeting on Tuesday. "(But) that particular site is not the best site."

He said he is concerned Norwich will lose the community college.

"I am not trying to kill the project," Ben Lathrop, who is not related to the mayor, said. "Our intention was to support the community." Lathrop said the Mahan Drive site has already caused a serious traffic mess as well as flooding concerns.

He said the city needs to do some "brainstorming" in order to come up with a better site.

"I think the governor is being insensitive," Postler said. "(The Mahan Drive site) does not address the traffic problem nor the water issue."

Postler said the city has tried to work with the governor's office to present a reasonable solution. He said he would like to see some money used to restore the Mahan Drive and New London Turnpike sites and create a build a third campus downtown.

Staff writer Brian Lyman contributed to this story.