Enfield's economic decline and how to fix it

 

Enfield Planning and Zoning Commission, September meeting to discuss town's overall plan.

Enfield is facing several significant problems. Our population is declining, our commercial shopping area is in trouble, and we don't have enough multifamily housing, the type that appeals to young people and empty nesters.

I graduated from EHS in 1972 and have lived most of my adult life in other cities. But I've been back here for some years and worry about the town's future.

Here's a fast breakdown of this history, the problems, and potential fixes.

The once happening town

From 1950 to 1970, Enfield's population increased from 15,500 to 46,000, its high point. The completion of I-91 and houses priced low enough for a factory worker's wage encouraged this growth. The town needed to build schools faster to keep up with demand. My class was on double sessions at EHS while the town raced to finish Fermi.

As it built schools, Enfield was also planning for the future. For instance, the town bought 500 acres of land between Hazard Avenue and South Road for an industrial park. It approved a $5 million bond or nearly $40 million in today's dollars. It also put the zoning and infrastructure in place for the town's commercial retail development

A Hartford Courant report from Dec. 17, 1970, said this about the industrial park: "The site is considered by professionals to be one of the best in New England, and one of the five being developed in the state, with Enfield's site considered the best in the state."

Enfield's incredible commercial development

Enfield became a regional shopping center thanks to the town's farsighted planning. The first mall, Enfield Mall, opened in 1969 and was quickly followed by Enfield Square, which would make the town "the shopping center for northern Connecticut," said C. Samuel Kissinger, the town manager, reported the Courant Sept. 4, 1969. With further development of the town's commercial areas, Kissinger said Enfield will become "the shopping center for New England."

But Macy's closed its Enfield Square stores in 2016, followed by Sears and many smaller shops. Ecommerce was beginning to have impacts. But Enfield was also declining in spending power as its population fell and grew older. That was hurting the mall as well.

Enfield population expectations fall short

The forecast for Enfield's population was 70,000 by 1990. But 1970 remained the high point in Enfield's population.

Hartford County gained 1% in population since the 2010 census. Meanwhile, Enfield declined 6% or 2,500 people over this same period. The population decline is a consequence of Connecticut's stagnant growth following the loss of much of its factory base. But even accounting for the state's problems, Enfield's population problems are exceptional.

"You're the first community I've encountered that has also seen a decline in the adult population," said Donald Poland, an urban planner at Goman York Property Advisors and the town's planning consultant, speaking at the Planning and Zoning Commission Sept. 28 meeting.

The disappearing younger generation

Why did the population decline? Once the Baby Boom generation -- my generation -- left for college, the military, and jobs all over the country, family sizes became smaller. In 1960, only 13% of housing units in the U.S. were occupied by 1-person; today, it's 28%, according to Enfield's draft Plan of Conservation of Development.

The town has also lost 14% of its 17 and under population since 2010.

Data from Enfield's Plan of Conservation and Development

Enfield's economic dashboard is flashing red

Apart from the impact of online shopping, Enfield's demographics is also weakening retail demand. The Enfield Square Mall "suffers from contracting population, smaller households, less disposable income, and changing consumer behaviors," according to the town's conservation and development plan.

The Enfield labor market, which is Enfield and the five surrounding communities, has lost more than 10,000 jobs in the past 30 years, a 23% decline.

"If your population losses continue, if your job losses continue," Poland said to the planning commission, "the picture is not going to get better moving forward."

In 2011, the mall's assessed value was $61 million, today, it's assessed at $7 million, and at the current mill rate, the town has lost $900,000 in property taxes, Poland said. "So where does that money come from? It shifts the tax burden to the residential property."

It's just not the mall that's a problem. The pandemic has accelerated the reduction in office space use, affecting the town's corporate office parks.

Enfield's need for multifamily housing

The rejection of the Felician Sisters' 250-unit housing project illustrates the town's problem. This project would have increased our population and provided housing for working people making a minimum of $40,000 and seniors. This plan had zero impact on the neighborhood, but it failed because any multifamily housing in our single-family neighborhoods will always hit a NIMBY wall.

But multifamily housing can turn Enfield around. Poland told a story about one community similar to our town, resistant to multifamily housing. But that town had a profound shift in its thinking. Poland recalled that town officials told him, "we need those households to support that retail." That town was considering 400-plus units.

Enfield will need multifamily housing of hundreds of units in the mall area and the commercial district. It will help reverse the population decline, help anchor our retail district, create a walkable community, and make Enfield a better place to do business and live.

Consider this: Asnuntuck Community College draws hundreds of young people into our town. The students have plenty of fast food spots to choose from as they enter Enfield, but housing? They are in the age group interested in smaller, affordable, and modern rentals and condos in a walkable area, but we've done nothing to encourage them to live here. Middletown, for instance, has high-rise condos downtown, near its movie theater complex and independent restaurants.

Enfield's leadership problem

In the 1980s, I was a newspaper reporter and eventually editorial page editor at the New Britain Herald. I even wrote a published city history. As Enfield was booming decades ago, New Britain was hemorrhaging jobs and population. Its industrial base collapsed, and its retail was displaced by West Farms Mall and Berlin Turnpike shopping centers.

As Enfield's population declines, New Britain's population is edging back up. A reversal in fortune. New Britain is getting new apartments, brewpubs, and restaurants. The CTFastrak has helped, but a coherent vision has helped even more.

About 10 years ago, New Britain, a heavily Democratic city, elected a 20-something Republican, Erin Stewart, whose vision included creating a city that appealed to young people. I write this not to endorse Republicans or Democrats; on a local level, voters usually elect those with good ideas. Stewart just won her 5th term.

But what New Britain has that Enfield does not is a strong mayor form of government. It is a form of government that makes one person responsible for articulating a vision for the community.

In contrast, Enfield's government is fractured. The PZC is charged with planning the town's future, a job that should be the responsibility of elected leadership. Enfield ought to consider changing how it organizes its government. Otherwise, it is risking continuing its sleepwalk into economic decline.

What do Enfield residents want?

Comments from 2022 Enfield Capitol Region Council of Governments survey. Presented at Planning, Zoning Commission meeting June 30.  

Enfield residents want a stable tax base, but you can't get that without economic growth. Businesses aren't going to invest in a town that is losing its population, growing older, and spending less.

Our town also wants a community that they genuinely like. We all miss the heydays of the mall and being able to walk around, meet people and grab a bite to eat.

But we can't get the town we want unless Enfield begins investing in itself. Otherwise, we will get more warehouses or other types of development we don't want. The train station will help Thompsonville somewhat, but the economic future of our town isn't in Thompsonville. It's too small and its growth potential is limited. We're at an inflection point as consequential as faced in the 1960s.

When the Capitol Region Council of Governments surveyed residents earlier, people indicated they wanted fun things, brewpubs, indoor golf, movies, and restaurants. They want walkability. But that's just a start. My take is they want a town as exciting as Enfield once was now long ago. It's still within our power to create that town, but we must work as a community to make it happen. It won't happen on its own.