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Showing posts from January, 2023

Editorial: Enfield’s Revised Blight Ordinance Isn’t Ready for a Public Hearing

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  AI generated art via ChatGPT The Enfield Town Council tonight may set a public hearing date for a revised blight ordinance. In its current form, this proposal is not ready for public hearing and needs significant changes before moving forward. Anonymous Complaints While the ordinance itself still requires signed complaints, Enfield’s revised blight complaint form explicitly accepts anonymous complaints and signals that they may still be investigated. That represents a clear shift from the town’s prior policy, which discouraged anonymous filings and stated that the town was not required to investigate them. Historically, Enfield’s practice has been to reject anonymous complaints. For example, on SeeClickFix — the town’s reporting platform — a town official wrote in response to one blight complaint: “All complaints require a signature. Currently this complaint is showing anonymous. Please add your full name and contact information to this complaint.” That was the standard approach...
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Connecticut's warming climate and our mild winter

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  Late day glow, Enfield, Cora Street, Jan. 18, 2023 We could still get a lot of snow. The Blizzard of 1978 struck on Feb. 5 and dumped some two feet of snow. But there's no getting around the realization that our winters in Enfield are warmer, and so far, this Connecticut winter is pathetic.  Connecticut's temperature will see a five-degree Fahrenheit increase in annual temperature by 2050, according to the Connecticut Institute for Resilience and Climate Adaptation (CIRCA), and fewer frost days, from 124 days to 85. The number of days of rain will increase, but most of that will be in the spring and winter. The summer climate will be dry.  Climate Central ranks Connecticut eighth among states that are warming the most, reporting a 3.2°F increase since 1970. The overall temperature rise in the U.S. is 2.6°F.  Connecticut and New England states, especially New Jersey, rank high because of the slowing of the Gulf Stream, which is increasing the warm water near us. T...
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Brainerd Park was family's 'choicest acres' to 'enjoy forever'

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Brainerd Park, January 16, 2023 The Agnes Brainerd Memorial Park may be one of Enfield's most underappreciated assets because of its location near the Massachusetts border. It's reasonable to believe that the most significant users of the park are people who live near it or play sports and not those who reside in the town's more distant neighborhoods. Enfield has no central park, and recreational spaces are throughout the town.  But now that a developer is proposing taking some significant part of this park for a sports complex , we'll learn a lot more about this park in the months ahead. This might increase townwide interest in Brainerd Park and even prompt more people to check it out. The town is considering a proposal to convert the Mass Mutual property into a sports complex of 11 playing fields, hotels, restaurants, retail, a fitness center, and other entertainment. But the plan includes taking some part of Brainerd Park for the fields, including a new softball fiel...
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Enfield is considering a major sports complex

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  Town Council from YouTube There is a proposal to build a sports complex on the Mass Mutual property off Route 5 in North Enfield. It is near the I-91 exit.  This 65-acre site, which a town officials said is vacant, would be repurposed into a sports complex of 11 fields. It would include restaurants, a hotel, retail and a fitness center. It will also include a "family entertainment center," according to the developer Andrew Borgia. Mayor Robert Cressotti called it "an exciting proposal," and some other council members also spoke favorably about it. The presentation at the Jan. 9 meeting is on YouTube, and it begins at 18 minutes . A rendering is displayed at about 49.33 minutes. This has had nearly 1,000 views, so people are aware of it.  Sports complexes aimed at youth are still relatively new ventures, but here's an AP report from 2017 that explains the concept.  The Mass Mutual property was on the town's top 10 taxpayer list for years, according to Enfi...
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