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Showing posts from December, 2023

Why This Year’s Enfield Holiday Market Might Be the Best One Yet

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Christina Tetreault has a very specific challenge for this year's Enfield Holiday Market: how do you build a crafts fair that appeals not just to women, but to the people who are hardest to shop for—men? "I'm trying to make a market that will cater to shopping that everyone needs to do," said Tetreault, a market organizer. And that means a market has items that offer potential gifts, which may be great gifts for men. She has made it a mission to increase the variety and depth of the market. Town Support Matters The Enfield Holiday Market is unique. The Town of Enfield sponsors the event and provides the space at no cost. The town's support goes a long way to helping makers of independent crafts survive. The November-December timeframe accounts for most of their sales and determines whether they break even for the year. This year's market begins Saturday, Nov. 29, at Fermi -- Enfield Annex -- at 10 a.m. and runs through 2 p.m. It continues on Sundays through De...
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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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