Posts

Showing posts from December, 2023

The School Audit Is Done. Why Won’t Enfield Release It Before You Vote?

Image
  Enfield Town Hall The town has the audit triggered by the $5.6 million shortfall in the Board of Education budget — but it won’t release it until after the election. We have an election in five days. Voters are being asked to decide on school board leadership and budget oversight without knowing what happened to $5.6 million of their money. That’s wrong. Voters deserve this information before they cast their ballots. Background During the shortfall, the Enfield Board of Education had a Democratic majority. After Republicans won control of the Town Council and Board of Education, council Republicans sharply criticized the prior board’s budget management. Board members — both Democratic and Republican — appeared before the council to explain what happened. They cited several factors: -- The state cut special-education reimbursements from above 90% to the low 60s. -- Special-education enrollment rose sharply after the budget was set. -- Other costs, including insurance, increased. A...
Post a Comment
Read more

PZC approves 70-unit housing development in Thompsonville

Image
  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...
Post a Comment
Read more

Rebuilding Thompsonville will take housing and new ideas

Image
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...
Post a Comment
Read more