Author: kathrynwboughton@gmail.com

Norfolk’s town bus has started running again after the town’s only driver became ill. Those without vehicles, or who are unable to drive because of physical challenges, were marooned without access to the town’s service, which provides rides for doctor’s appointments, grocery shopping, social programs and for other errands.

Barbara Gomez, who with Tara Yard, schedules transportation out of the selectmen’s office, said the van is in high demand. “We restrict it to those without cars or those who have challenges,” she said. “We just can’t pick up everyone. We have quite a few people who use it all the time. Some people have things they do every week, and I hate to change those times.” 

But Selectman Sandy Evans, who oversees the program, said having only one driver makes it difficult. “If she wants to take a vacation or is ill, we have to cancel the service,” she said. “We are looking for another driver, but the hours and the days are sporadic, so it’s hard to find someone to put up with that.”

When staff is in place, rides can be booked on Mondays, Thursdays and Fridays in Norfolk and points such as Canaan, Winsted and Torrington. Voluntary donations are accepted. If a rider needs to go farther afield, to UConn Medical Center in Farmington, for instance, there is a $5 fee. The town budgets more than $27,000 a year to fund the service.

Gomez said the wheelchair-accessible bus is too large for the town’s needs. “We might have an outing or two a year, but it carries 12 people, and we never fill it.” 

At 10 years old, the vehicle is also getting close to its useful life span, but Evans said there is no active plan to replace it. “It’s had some issues and was down for a while for repairs. We have casually discussed replacing it,” she said, “but with everything that is going on, I don’t think this is the time.”

The bus was purchased through a grant from the Evan Hughes Memorial Foundation, which funds scholarships, operations and medical assistance. Evans said that grants would be available to help with purchase a new vehicle but would not cover the entire cost.

Rides are also available one day a week, on Wednesday, through the Northwest Connecticut Transit District, which operates a Dial-a-Ride curb-to-curb service in 14 small towns. Based in Torrington, NWCT will transport Norfolk riders locally as well as to Torrington and Winsted. It is commonly used by the elderly and disabled who do not have their own transportation to get to appointments or to go shopping, but is available to all ages.

Michael Criss, chairman of NWCT’s Board of Directors, said the senior population is becoming an ever-larger demographic, placing heavier demands on a transportation system that is already taxed. He is trying to increase the amount of service offered, but said a lack of drivers is a chronic problem throughout the transportation industry.

“It’s a huge problem,” he said. “It’s state-wide. We’ve increased our pay rates to $20 to $25 an hour and we will pay for training, but the commercial lines pay more and offer more hours.” He added that since the Covid pandemic it has been difficult to lure applicants.

The RITS service, which offers transport to medical appointments at a greater distance does not have a sufficient number of vehicles for the demand and rides are already booked through the end of the year. “It was set up as a trial,” Criss said, “and there has been unexpectedly high demand. It is a program that needs a lot of work.” 

He said vehicles for the program are channeled from the state DOT through the Northwest Hills Council of Government, which decides where they will be assigned.

Geer Village in Canaan also provides transportation services, but no longer takes part in the NWCT RITS District program. “It dropped out a couple of years ago,” Criss said. 

In Norfolk, fully 58 percent of the population is currently aged 45 years or older, with those over 65 representing nearly 28 percent. If the current population trend continues, as it is expected to do, the pressure on public transportation will surely increase.

—Newsletter Editor

First Selectman Matt Riiska met this week with representatives of Cardinal Engineering and a contractor to talk about what can be done to push forward construction of a temporary bridge at Smith Road.

He is still compiling information to forward to the Army Corps of Engineers and the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection in attempt to get clearance to build the structure. The bridge would allow South Norfolk residents direct access to Route 272 more than 14 months after flash floods swept away spans on Old Goshen Road and Smith Road. It would also allow emergency responders direct access from 272 to the families on Smith Road and on the south end of Old Goshen Road.

Cardinal has done a sketch for the agencies of what the temporary span would look like. Riiska hopes to have the information ready by Monday. Meanwhile, he has met with both state senator Lisa Seminara and state representative Maria Horn, seeking their backing in moving the temporary bridge forward. 

—Newsletter Editor

New Jersey Resources (NJR) is ready to flip the switch on its solar array at the Norfolk transfer station. The company will test the substantial array next week. 

“They have to do a release to make sure it meets all the standards for the building inspector and fire marshal,” said First Selectman Matt Riiska. “Then the utility can do the final hook up. They hope that will happen in the next two weeks.”

The multi-year project began when Riiska established the Norfolk Energy Advisory Committee (NEAC) in 2018. Lodestar of Avon won the competitive bid for the project, and it was approved at town meeting in 2022. The project has since been sold to NJR. 

The 13-acre solar array has been under construction since February by CTEC Solar, a Bloomfield-based company. During much of that time, the town received $1,750 a month for the lease of the land, but on July 1 that increased to $42,000 a year. That sum increases annually by 1.5 percent.

An interconnect agreement was reached with Eversource so the energy produced can be sent to the grid. All application fees, legal contracts and installation costs have been absorbed by Lodestar and NJR. NJR will maintain the array and the area around it.

The project comes with significant environmental benefits and is expected to offset carbon emissions by 4,249 metric tons annually.

—Newsletter Editor

Botelle students joined with other elementary school students from Barkhamsted, Colebrook and Hartland to converge on the Riverton Fairgrounds Wednesday morning for River Day. During the morning, the children were divided by grade to explore different aspects of aquatic life.

The lower grades grabbed magnifying glasses and peered into trays of algae-laden water, using spoons to push the plants aside to reveal insects and larvae; they learned about fly-fishing, and heard about water safety and siltation. They petted a K9 conservation dog named Callie, trained to sniff out poachers as well as fish and bears, and visited a beaver dam. 

Third graders went to Peoples Forest where they learned about the indigenous people who once lived there; fourth graders went to the Metropolitan District Commission dam in Colebrook; fifth graders visited the DEEP Fishing Trailer and the river gauge station, while sixth graders learned about waterpower and early American industry by hiking along behind the Hitchcock Chair factory. 

The day ended with lunch, field games and ice cream before the children boarded buses at 1:00 p.m.

—Newsletter Editor

The Fire House Building Committee will meet next Tuesday to consider construction management bids received from Newfield Construction in Hartford and Downes Construction Company of New Britain.

Newfield’s bid for overseeing construction of the new fire house is $629,600, remarkably closed to Downes’ bid of $634,400. 

Downes has worked with the building committee on the first phase of the project, developing the $9.3 million cost estimate. It has also helped to create a list of items that could be eliminated or altered to reduce the price tag. First Selectman Matt Riiska said he is slated to meet with the architects, Silver Petrucelli, on Friday to go over that list. 

“We will make a decision next week on which company we will go with,” Riiska said. “We are not required to take the lowest bid, especially when they are that close, but we will meet with Newfield to give the committee a chance to hear what they have to say. We have to consider what is best for the town.”

A special meeting has been called for Tuesday at 6:00 p.m. in the fire house. After discussion with Newfield, the committee will review the two management proposals and decide. The agenda, including a Zoom link, is posted here.

—Newsletter Editor

Say it isn’t so! The good news is the Farmers Market Committee will, indeed, have a Farmers and Artisans Holiday Market on Saturday, December 7, from 10:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m. The bad news is that it will be the last market for the foreseeable future.

“At this time, we do not have any plans to continue the farm markets beyond the holiday market in December,” said Lisa Auclair, chairman of the committee. “The committee will continue to meet monthly this year, and we will decide where we go from there.”

She explained that the group has worked for 18 years to plan and produce the farm markets, first weekly during summer and fall, and then on a reduced schedule of three markets since last Christmas.

“We will miss the market very much,” said Auclair. “We have so many fond memories, have made many great friends and hope this last market in December will be a festive celebration of the many years we shared.” 

The market will honor its association with its long-time vendors by making this market free for only 35 vendors. Those interested should read the Policies and Procedures, fill out a Vendor Application and return it to manager Angie Bollard.

The market was nearly cancelled last year when both Auclair and Bollard announced they would step down. At the eleventh hour, Chelsea Ryll offered to manage pop-up markets during the summer and winter Weekend in Norfolk celebrations and at Christmas. In turn, Bollard joined the committee and Auclair agreed to continue as chair. 

“Currently, we have taken over the community garden and hope to continue that project going forth,” said Auclair. “We have all been at this for a long time and are ready to focus on something new.”

The beds, located on Botelle School grounds, are prepared annually with help from Region 7 agriculture students and some seeds are planted with Botelle students on Earth Day. Some of the food is shared with the Food Pantry, while committee members use the rest.

—Newsletter Editor

Have you noticed that the historic directional sign on the northwest corner of the Village Green is missing? The sign was removed and refurbished this summer by artist Madeline Falk and is now awaiting improvements to the frame and the posts that support it, said First Selectman Matt Riiska.

“Madeline’s work is done, and we received the sign back three or four weeks ago,” Riiska said. “Now we are talking with a local contractor about how to install it. It needs a couple of things—bracketing and better poles. It also needs to be sealed better.”

Currently, round posts support two rectangular panels set at a 90-degree angle to one another. In addition to giving the mileage to nearby communities, the panels bear the likenesses of a jackrabbit and a stag. An early photo of it from 1917 shows it in place on the village green with a soaring elm tree close behind it.

The decorative painting was originally done in the 19th century by an unknown artist and was replicated in 1965 by Raymond Dowden, then the director of the Yale summer school of art at Norfolk. The original is in the Norfolk Historical Society’s collection. 

Riiska said the sign is vulnerable to motorists and has had to be restored more than once. “That thing has been hit so many times,” he said. Granite pillars now form a protective triangle in front of it. 

The sign, which is removed from its site every winter to protect it, will not be put back in place until next spring.

—Newsletter Editor

The Planning and Zoning Commission Tuesday night approved both a definition of a dog park and the regulations that would govern it.

The issue came before the commission when the Friends of the Norfolk Dog Park, Inc., petitioned for a text amendment reducing the required acreage from 20 acres to two acres. 

A dog park was approved for Westside Road in March 2023 following a long public hearing that elicited hours of testimony and more than 60 letters supporting and opposing the park. Plans for that park fell through, however, and the Friends are seeking a new location. They argued it will be easier to identify a new site if only two acres are required.

When the dog park was first proposed, the zoning regulations did not include “dog park” specifically and the application was considered under the rules for recreational facilities, which require 20 acres. 

The first order of business was to define a dog park. Members settled on a simple declarative sentence: A dog park is a parcel of land with an enclosed area for the off-leash exercise of dogs under the supervision of their guardians.

Discussion then turned to parking and signage, with members deciding that the commission did not have the authority to regulate parking on public streets and that park rules and regulations should be clearly posted. 

The most difficult question was a setback regulation. Some members felt a 50-foot setback would be the minimum needed to minimize the impact on neighbors. Jordan Stern argued that such a deep setback would be too restrictive on a two-acre lot, but Edward Barron wanted the 50-foot setback to be off-limits altogether for animal owners and their on-leash pets. “If they are allowed to run around in the setback there is no setback,” he said. He asserted that the regulations should restrict the animals only to off-leash exercise within the fenced-in area.

The final vote approved the 50-foot setback (for both the parking lot and the fenced enclosure), struck the on-street parking prohibition, established signage regulations and directed that dogs must be leashed except within the enclosure.

—Newsletter Editor

First Selectman Matt Riiska has begun the DEEP paperwork needed to get permission to install a temporary bridge on Smith Road, where the existing span and another nearby were swept away by a flash flood in 2023.

Left with a narrow, twisting road with several steep hills as the only access for fire trucks and ambulances,South Norfolk residents have been petitioning for a temporary structure to ensure their safety. The town wants to install a three-culvert bridge to serve until the state starts to make permanent improvements starting in 2026.

Riiska said CHA Solutions, a firm hired by DEEP, forwarded the wetlands study it did for the state to the town. The first selectman will forward the study to the Army Corps of Engineers, which must also approve the temporary bridge.

He said he will meet with state senator Lisa Seminara and state representative Maria Horn to see if they can help expedite the application.  

—Newsletter Editor

Downes Construction Co., construction managers for the new firehouse project, presented a $9.3 million cost estimate to the Firehouse Building Committee Wednesday night. The estimate is the first of two and still included items that fire department members had already considered removing.

Downes representative Jeffrey Anderson, vice president of preconstruction, led the committee through the estimate, saying the figure would be refined after the building committee decides which items it will remove or change.

A list of 13 areas for possible reduction was presented, but no price tags were attached. 

First Selectman Matt Riiska said, “We’re still hammering everything out. We removed the stone veneer and some windows—originally the whole back part of the building was glass—and we’ve talked about changing the flooring in the meeting room. The architects put in a lot of costs for kitting out the kitchen and some of the guys are looking at used commercial equipment.”

Another cost reduction would come from removing the windows at the top of the hose tower, replacing them with siding that gives the illusion of windows. The committee also nixed a decorative drop to the roof on the back side of the building to lessen labor costs.

“One of the big things is the three-bay garage,” Riiska said. “We are looking at a Morton Building, which is basically a prefabricated steel building that you can dress up. Most industrial buildings are built that way.”

He said Downes will go over the possible reductions with the architects next week and the building committee will meet to discuss them late in the month or in early October. 

Anderson warned that contractors are extremely busy and that it might be difficult to find the various kinds of equipment needed for the firehouse. The town wants to go out to bid after Thanksgiving. 

—Newsletter Editor