Enfield Things

Campaign signs, South Road at Freshwater Blvd.  State Rep. John Santanella won his Democratic primary with 83% of the vote in an unofficial count, a 5-to-1 landslide. That's an extraordinary margin, and it matters beyond this race because of his dual role at the Capitol and on the Town Council. His challenger, Tom Tyler, the former town attorney, has the qualifications and experience to be an effective lawmaker. But he did not persuade Democratic primary voters that they should replace Santanella. Santanella emerges considerably stronger from this primary than he entered it. The results demonstrated that the Democrats are more unified than divided. The result does not predict November. But it tells Republicans that Santanella enters the general election with Democratic primary voters firmly behind him. The Republicans have selected Kelly Hemmeler as their candidate. Beyond Santanella's showing, Hemmeler may not get much help from the top of the ticket. Republican gubernatorial ...

A new state law allows towns to cut assessments for owner-occupied homes from 5% to 35%. East Windsor just approved a 15% reduction.  A decrease in homeowner assessments may cut tax burdens on owner-occupied properties but raise them on commercial properties. East Windsor is the second town to approve this assessment reduction, now allowed under state law. Photo: Former Macy's building.  East Windsor is lowering assessed value on owner-occupied homes by 15%. It is the second town in the state to take advantage of a new state law that allows local communities to lower assessments anywhere from 5% to 35% on an owner-occupied primary residence — single and two-family homes, as well as condos. New Milford went first, and set a 10% assessment reduction. If East Windsor's 15% reduction were adopted by Enfield, it might work like this: A home with a market value of $300,000 has an assessed value of $210,000. A 15% reduction would lower the assessment on this home to $178,500. The tax...

The Connecticut Superior Court ruling Tuesday validated State Rep. John Santanella's complaint. This is a clear win, and allows him to avoid an August 11 Democratic primary against his challenger, former town attorney Tom Tyler. Tyler can appeal, but absent that, Santanella can shift his focus to November. But a winning legal outcome is not the same as a winning narrative outcome. This was an honest mistake by the Tyler campaign, a consequence of some flawed official guidance and a decision to rely on that guidance. The court found that the Democratic registrar provided petition sheets four days before state law allowed, and that the state-supplied forms lacked a legally required statement from circulators on the number of signatures gathered — a defect that invalidated all of Tyler's petitions. The ruling also notes that there was no evidence the Tyler campaign exercised due diligence to confirm the official guidance. Connecticut election law doesn't allow for honest mista...

Town Council members tour the Annex's infrastructure, peering inside utility closets. The former Fermi High School -- which closed in 2016 and is now known as the Enfield Annex -- has become a deep part of the community. Whether it's the swimming pool, space for wrestling, the student robotics competition team Buzz Robotics, summer camp or its many other uses, the building has a broad base of support. Last week, some of those supporters turned out to urge Town Council members to preserve the facility. The future of the former Fermi High School has lingered on the periphery of town discussions for years. No longer. The Town Council tour of the Annex was intended to help members see firsthand the remedial infrastructure work needed, from utility closets to the boiler room and roof. But residents saw it as a chance to show the council how important the building is to the town. A large crowd turned out, some with signs urging support for the Annex. Among those at the school was Jef...

Image from lawsuit. What the lawsuit is seeking. Tom Tyler, the former town attorney, has gathered enough signatures to challenge state Rep. John Santanella in a Democratic primary. But there is now an effort being made to invalidate the challenge. In a lawsuit filed this week in Connecticut Superior Court, Santanella is arguing that election rules were violated. If he succeeds, the primary challenge may be tossed out. The Tyler campaign is saying that they followed the rules and guidance they received from town officials.  The lawsuit was brought to light by Tyler, who posted on Facebook that Santanella was seeking to remove him from the ballot. Specifically, the suit claims the Democratic registrar provided petition sheets four days before state law allowed. To challenge Santanella, Tyler needed 225 signatures; 299 were accepted. Santanella’s lawsuit seeks to invalidate the petition sheets allegedly provided early, which could leave Tyler short of the number needed to appear on t...

  Five years before the Annex's future became a live debate, residents were already telling the town what they wanted it to be. The 2020–21 community survey never asked about the Fermi building, but about 20 people raised it on their own (out of 512). Fermi might not have been top-of-mind -- but recreation clearly was. This chart ranks the ten themes Enfield residents raised most often in the open-ended, write-in portions of the 2020–21 town community survey, which drew 512 respondents. Each bar shows how many comments mentioned that theme; the colors flag whether it read mainly as a frustration (red), a wish (green), or an answer to the survey's redevelopment questions (navy). Many residents raised several issues at once: One person might have asked for both more recreation and lower taxes. Source. Town of Enfield community survey, conducted December 4, 2020 through March 11, 2021, with 512 participants. Method. Comments were grouped into themes by Claude Opus 4.8, an Anthropi...