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Editorial: A legal victory with complications

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...
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Enfield Town Council's unprofessional action

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  Enfield's Town Council is apparently trying to kill a 70-unit housing project in Thompsonville that the Planning and Zoning Commission approved. The Council's behavior has been egregious and unprofessional in pursuit of that goal. It's doing this in secret and risking a lawsuit for murky reasons. Impact Residential Development recently received PZC approval for this project in a 5-2 vote. It was a remarkable and courageous moment for the commission. But the Town Council Republicans want to block it. They are designing in executive session a way to oppose it. They did not let the developer know of their plan until the last minute. Here's the background The developers plan to build this housing on and near the former Strand Theater site, land which the town had acquired. It combines primarily affordable housing and market-rate units with 70 parking spaces. It faced opposition over concerns about on-street parking. The idea is that since this is a transit-oriented develo...
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Location: Enfield, CT 06082, USA
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PZC approves 70-unit housing development in Thompsonville

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  Screen shot from PZC meeting. Site plan of Impact Residential project. Despite parking concerns, the Planning and Zoning Commission approved a 70-unit housing development on the former Strand Theater site. The Commission voted 5-2 Thursday. The action allows Impact Residential to proceed with its project, which includes 56 units of affordable housing. The project met opposition due to fears of increased on-street parking, with opponents including Mayor Ken Nelson. At its Dec. 4 meeting, the Council rejected a grant application that would have assisted developer Impact Residential. Nelson suggested allocating the grant to a "parking structure" instead. "We have to address the parking, which is already a problem, and we just can't make it worse," Nelson said at the earlier meeting. But at Thursday's meeting, PZC Chair Lewis Fiore, highlighting the area's designation as a Transit Oriented District (TOD), argued that rejecting the project would undermine t...
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Rebuilding Thompsonville will take housing and new ideas

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We're on the cusp of doing something extraordinary with Thompsonville, but we're also steps away from making some bad decisions.  Thompsonville needs help. It has a high percentage of absentee owner buildings. When I graduated from Enfield High School in 1972, some properties that were in bad shape then are still in bad shape. Thompsonville needs investment and housing conversions to condos. We need more owner-occupied. The train station and improved bus transit will help a lot.  The town has already invested considerable effort in revitalizing Thompsonville.  Higgins Park, and their busy schedule of seasonal events, may become a traffic generator for new retail in Thompsonville. The Freshwater Pond improvements are stunning. I walk my dog weekly in the area, and she loves it, and so do I. It's beautiful.  However, these efforts to transform Thompsonville into one of the city's most attractive neighborhoods and an investment hub could easily unravel. Achieving a posi...
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Voter turnout will be crucial if Democrats hope to retain Enfield's Council majority

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  In the 2021 municipal election, Enfield Democrats won 7 out of the 11 council seats, helped by a voter turnout of about 7,850 -- a substantial 19% increase over the 2019 municipal election. To maintain a majority, the Democrats will likely need a similarly strong turnout on Nov. 7 But the Democrats face obstacles this time because of revaluation. Property taxes increased by around 10% for many.  Meanwhile, council Republicans are leveraging this increase in taxes. They've taken to their mailers, chastising Democrats as having "gone hog wild with taxes and spending." Aside from being false, this criticism overlooks Enfield's underlying issues — issues for which the Republicans, after 14 years at the helm, cannot evade responsibility. You can think about revaluation like Warren Buffett talks about stock market declines: "Only when the tide goes out do you learn who has been swimming naked." It means everything looked good until the market crashes, and then p...
Location: Enfield, CT 06082, USA
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Enfield finally gets its own Central Park

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  The improvements to Higgins Park, the area behind the town hall, are giving Enfield something it never really had: a central park. This park is large enough for community events and gets many of them. The town is adding parking, exercise stations, and "potential additional walking trails, a sidewalk connecting the upper and lower parking lots, and a brick-paved courtyard that would be built behind Enfield Express," reported the Journal Inquirer on Aug 5th. The new bandstand also seems complete. Enfield has a lot of open space and walking areas, especially around the Scantic River area, but it's never really had a park that the entire town could call its own. Brainerd Park, in the northern part of town, is more of an area for that neighborhood. It's never been a place for town-wide activities. Enfield's central park (i.e. Higgins Park) is especially attractive because of its connection to the walking path across from the town hall along Freshwater Brook that lead...
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Location: Enfield, CT 06082, USA
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If I were running for a seat on the Town Council, here's my platform

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  Local elections can be an opportunity to discuss the issues. If I were running for Town Council, here are some issues that would make up my platform. In no particular order:  It's time to revisit Enfield's flooding risks   Are we prepared for storms that can deliver 5-plus inches of rain in an hour or a day? Climate change is increasing rainfall intensity generally in the Northeast. West Point, NY, recently saw as much as 10 inches of rain over 24 hours in July, and that same storm delivered three to nine inches of rain in Vermont, causing massive damage.    The proposal:  Hold a public information session in the JFK Auditorium on flooding risk in Enfield. Invite people to speak and share their experience with overflowing streams and flooded basements. The hearing will begin with a presentation by town officials reviewing flood maps and risks. It could include scenario discussion. What would happen if we saw 5" or more rain in 24 hours? Let's find out how...
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Enfield Street residents are on the verge of setting the town's future

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Planning and Zoning Commission capture from video on YouTube. Pastel effect added. The Felician Sisters senior and workforce housing project prompted a backlash in Enfield. Enfield Street area residents organized effectively against it. They lined a long stretch of the street with signs in opposition and turned out at various Planning and Zoning Commission hearings to speak against it. They defeated the project and moved on to a new target: Enfield's future.  The goal is to make building any type of multi-family housing difficult. Multi-family has become the key to the town's economic future.  There is a fight in this community over something you need to be aware of, the Plan of Conversation and Development or POCD. This document will set the town's planning direction for the next ten years, and its recommendations are consequential.  The Enfield I grew up in the 1960s is radically different today. We had many, many children back then. In the 1960s, only 13% of household...
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