Author: kathrynwboughton@gmail.com

With remediation of the gas spill complete except for continued testing, the Torrington Area Health District this week sent letters to two families still displaced from their Route 44 homes telling them that they can now go home.

“The letters said the homes now meet acceptable criteria, so they can move back,” said First Selectman Matt Riiska. He said he did not know what the families would decide. 

Since November 2022 the Town has paid for temporary housing for the families, which will end now that the houses have been cleared. “To the best of my knowledge, that’s our position,” Riiska said. “Torrington Area Health and the Department of Health are saying the houses meet the criteria and standards for occupation.” The standard is based on occupancy “24 hours a day, 350 days a year for 30 years.”

“We have been reimbursed by insurance, so that has worked out,” Riiska said. “Our attorneys are still working with the insurance companies to document everything.”

—Newsletter Editor

The Planning and Zoning Commission Tuesday night approved an application for a three-lot subdivision at 305 Mountain Road on a parcel owned by Carlene Laughlin.

She proposed dividing a 57.5-acre parcel into three lots to accommodate construction of two additional structures to be deeded to family members. The new lots would be just under 7 acres and about 7.5 acres.

Allied Engineering, which brought the proposal before the Planning and Zoning Commission for Laughlin, said there is currently a single-family home on the existing parcel. The land is covered by forest and has both wetlands and ledge, with thin soil over the rock. Nevertheless, soil tests have determined the lots to be able to accommodate four-bedroom houses with no impact on stormwater runoff.

—Newsletter Editor 

The fate of the Norfolk Farmers Market appears to be settled for another year. The future of the popular market hung in the balance for several months after Farmers Market Committee Chairman Lisa Auclair and market manager Angie Bollard both announced their desire to step down.

At its last meeting, however, the committee had a surprise offer from Chelsea Ryll to manage pop-up markets during the summer and winter Weekend in Norfolk celebrations and at Christmas. The first pop-up market will be staged at Botelle School Feb. 24 during Winter WIN.

In turn, Auclair agreed to continue as chairman for another year and all other members of the committee agreed to continue. Bollard also joined the committee.

“At this time, we are just focusing on the two WIN events and the holiday market in December,” Auclair said. “But we are meeting at the Hub on Tuesday, January 9, at 5:00 p.m. The meeting is open to the public if anyone would like to weigh in or join our efforts in collaborating on what the future of the market looks like.” 

Those who cannot make the meeting but who have suggestions about the future of the market or would like to join the committee can email marketmaster@norfolkfarmersmarket.org.

Ryll has lived in Norfolk for three years and is mother to a toddler and stepmother to two young adults. She is employed as an energy consultant for Brilliant Solar, a privately owned solar company. Locally. she acts as a liaison for special events at the Hub and works at the Yale Summer Music School.

—Newsletter Editor

In a geological timeframe, it is only a historical blip, but the weather station started in 1932 by Edward “Ted” Childs in Great Mountain Forest (GMF) has provided valuable insights into climatological changes affecting the region for nearly a century.

Now, after 92 years in the same location, the weather station has been moved to a new site. Over Thanksgiving weekend, the station, officially designated as Norfolk 2SW by the National Weather Service, was moved about one-third of a mile from its original home on private land to a new site adjacent to the GMF office at 201 Windrow Road.

Little else changed. The new location has only slight variations in climatological conditions and the task of monitoring the station is still carried on by Russell Russ, who has had the task for two decades. 

“I’ve been doing it since 2003 when I took over from my father [who was also named Russell Russ]. Ted Childs used to do the readings, and my father worked with him and then took over from him and did it for 50 years. There were a few people who did it for a while after my father died, but it was not being done very well—the records weren’t being kept, so I took it on.”

“I came up with the idea of moving the station almost two years ago,” said Russ, who is a full-time property manager and forester for GMF. The 6,000-acre ecological laboratory created by Yale-trained forester Childs in the 20th century is now run as a conservation legacy organization under the supervision of trustees.

GMF has a strong educational mission, of which the weather station is one component. The national database generated by members of the Cooperative Weather Observer Program is the cornerstone of the nation’s weather history and serves as primary data for research into global climate change. Norfolk’s station is one of about 170 in Connecticut, and one of only 25 that send readings to the National Climatic Data Center to be archived on a national level.

As such, consistency of its readings is important. “The move had to go through multiple approval levels, but I come here every day anyway, so makes sense to have it here where I work,” Russ said. “We had an easement on the Childs’ property, but now it is under the Great Mountain Forest umbrella, and it will go on after I depart.”

He predicts there may be small changes in the readings but said the move will be noted in the National Weather Service’s records to account for any anomalies. “It’s really not that big a deal to them,” Russ said. “Yes, it moved, but it is well within their station relocation model. It’s not like there is a building right next to it now or pavement around it that would change the temperature. That’s why the Weather Service likes this station, because of its consistency.”

Russ is still working with the same equipment that Childs installed so long ago. The Weather Service did have a fenced location where it installed automated weather equipment after 9/11 because it wanted to monitor wind patterns in case a dirty bomb was detonated in New York City. 

“They put in fancy equipment that shot information to a satellite, then they ran out of money,” Russ said. “It quit transmitting six months ago, so they went back to volunteers to take readings—which is me reading both a digital and an old-style mercury thermometer. I measure the rain that falls into a bucket and the snow that falls on the ground and on a snow board. We’ve never missed a day with humans doing the monitoring.”

Doing the work requires dedication, however. Russ, who lives in Colebrook, drives nine miles to get to the station. “It’s not easy to come in every day at a certain time,” he admitted. “I have to pay attention because you have to track what happened during day—if it snowed, when did start, when did stop, when did it change to rain? Which way is the wind blowing? Is it sunny or cloudy? 

“I don’t go away that often, but when do, I automatically follow the weather for a few days,” he continued. “Then I will go through a day and not notice. But here, it’s a natural thing.”

People often ask him about the weather, and he replies, “I record the weather, I don’t predict it.” But he admits that the “last few years have been a little strange. We’re still getting the precipitation, but lately it has been rain.”

The busiest time of the year comes when he must recalculate all the readings so they can be compared to previous years. “It takes a lot of work, but I enjoy it—what was the warmest day? Year? Month? People always want to know how much snow we got.”

“It’s sort of a way of life,” Russ concluded. “It’s a commitment, which makes it tricky. When I am gone, someone else will have to do it.”

—Newsletter Editor

The first fruit of Botelle Elementary School’s 2023-24 theme, “Celebrating All and Creating Community” has ripened in the form of a colorful paper quilt. 

September’s focus was Celebrating Creativity, with Botelle art teacher Shana Bazelmans initiating a community-wide effort to create a community quilt using paper patches from students, staff members and various people in the greater community—firefighters, EMTs, local shopkeepers, librarians, bankers, municipal employees and town volunteers. 

All were asked to use a small paper triangle in anyway they pleased—drawing a picture or perhaps an abstract design—using any color pen, pencil, colored pencils or markers. Now the quilt is assembled it will be displayed at the library and other locations around town.

First Selectman Matt Riiska brought a mixture of good and bad news to the Board of Finance Tuesday night, giving them an update on the financial consequences of a year full of emergencies.

“It’s been an awful year financially,” he said, “from the gas spill to snow in the spring, to floods—but the way I look at it is, no one has gotten hurt, and we will make it work.”

The gas spill and the July flash floods cost the town dearly. Riiska noted that the federal government has refused FEMA emergency funds because Connecticut did not meet the $6 million threshold for damage. Norfolk alone had $5.8 million in damage to two bridges, but FEMA did not consider those as part of its tally because there were Connecticut sources of funding for them. Indeed, the state has agreed to do the engineering and construction for the bridges, holding the town harmless except for engineering and oversight during construction. 

Nevertheless, the town had to pay $567,000 to repair infrastructure following the floods. There are still two culverts left to repair, for a total of about another $225,000.

Riiska said that he has applied for the $209,000 the town accrued in LoCIP funding, which will decrease the deficit to $369,000. He has instructed Public Works foreman Troy LeMere not to expend road funds unless necessary. “We have about $143,000 that we haven’t spent, which would leave a balance of $215,647,” he said. “We’ve been very diligent about not doing road work unless it was absolutely necessary. But those are optimistic numbers. I can’t say that we won’t encounter catastrophic road work during the winter and spring.”

He is looking for other avenues of funding, “but it’s one of those situations where there is not a lot you can do about it.”

He noted that residents on Smith and Old Goshen roads have expressed concerns about emergency access to their homes with the bridges out. Riiska is investigating the costs of temporary bridges. “Starting this minute, those permanent bridges will not be built for another three years,” he said. 

He learned just before the meeting that it would cost a total of $444,000 to purchase and install a temporary bridge. This would be on top of the $369,000 shortfall for road work. “We might need a supplemental tax if we did that,” he said. 

The temporary bridge would be strong enough to support a fire truck and would have a lifespan of up to 10 years. Riiska said it could serve Smith Road while construction takes place on Old Goshen Road, and then be dismantled and sold when no longer needed.

He said cleanup from last November’s gas spill continues. Maple Avenue’s reclamation work is nearly done, but two families are still displaced on Route 44 where recent testing showed more contamination. “We’re chasing things in areas where we originally worked and were not allowed to finish,” he said.

When the fire alarm goes off, it sets in motion well-rehearsed procedures designed to prevent loss of life and property. But how do companies handle major conflagrations such as the fire at the Langendoerfer home that are beyond the capacity of one company to control?

Sunday’s fire was a textbook illustration of mutual aid and coordinated response.

“All incidents start and end local,” said Jon Barbagallo, public information officer for the Norfolk Volunteer Fire Department. “The first officer on the scene makes the determination based on necessity. Sunday morning’s fire started with the Norfolk fire department and ambulance, but active structure fires automatically cue Litchfield Dispatch to send mutual aid.” 

“Sunday’s fire was an immediate second alarm,” Barbagallo said. “It wasn’t necessarily equipment that was needed—what we requested was a manpower strike team. We needed interior firefighters for crew relief, so they brought in Thomaston, Watertown, Harwinton and Woodbury. It was the biggest response we have had since last November’s gas spill.”

The strike team gathered at the Drakeville Fire House in Torrington and responded to Norfolk from there. Barbagallo said there were probably 50 active firefighters on the scene Sunday night.

The regional fire departments have developed plans for mutual aid and Litchfield Dispatch knows which resources to dispatch and in which order. Practices are held throughout the year to give firefighters experience in responding to a scene. 

County coordinators add to the organization of services. “County coordinators assist the incident commander with shortfalls,” said Barbagallo. “They collect ID tags, help with the staging area, keeping track of what equipment is where, who can come to the scene and who will back up other companies by manning their firehouses. Coordinators free the incident commander up when you have a flood of people coming in.”

The county coordinators and incident commander use special command boards that were purchased through regional funds and that are scattered around the county—Norfolk has one in its firehouse.

The firefighters were called to Langendoerfer residence at 3:48 a.m. with many leaving the scene by mid-morning. But the work was not yet over. All the equipment had to be cleaned, dried and returned to the fire trucks in readiness for another call.

“That wasn’t complete until Monday night,” Barbagallo said. “That’s the advantage of having multiple trucks—for a day our backup truck was the lead truck so there was no reduction in service.”

Norfolk does not own a ladder truck, the most expensive piece of equipment, but Barbagallo said there are four in neighboring towns that can come to a scene. 

The Norfolk Community Association, a non-profit group dedicated to beautifying Norfolk’s common areas, will unveil its first installation for a proposed sculpture trail Saturday, September 2, at 2:00 p.m. in Robertson Plaza.

“Many of the projects we do are restorations of existing monuments,” said NCA Co-President Doreen Kelly, “but Norfolk is challenging because it is so divided by Route 44. We thought a sculpture trail could join the different parts of town.”

They approached Jon Riedeman, who specializes in wildlife sculptures, to create their first original sculpture, “Owl of Good Fortune.” 

“We decided we wanted an owl,” Kelly said. “Owls are indigenous to Norfolk—this one is a great horned owl—and the sculpture will sit on the plaza with a view of City Meadow and Haystack Mountain where they live. We wanted the first sculpture to be placed where it will be very visible.”

It took more than a year to complete the sculpture, which is cast in bronze and mounted on a granite pedestal.

Kelly said the NCA hopes to install one new sculpture every year, funded through private donations and grants. “If our wish could come true, we would have many. I would say there will be at least 10 over a very long period of time. We’ve had a lot of public interest in this project. We consider this as a way to re-enforce Norfolk’s identity.”

Walter Godlewski, NCA treasurer and co-chairman of the sculpture initiative, said Norfolk has a rich artistic history and is home to several significant monuments, many of which the NCA has worked to restore in the past few years. “While we will continue our preservation and beautification efforts, our latest project provides an exciting additional focus for the organization,” he said.

The Norfolk Land Trust is encouraging residents to get outside and enjoy summer in the South Norfolk Woodlands. There is one trail open, an easy to moderate 2.8 mile trail (out and back). It winds through a deciduous and coniferous forest to a glacial erratic.

There is also a short walk to a small pond and future bird blind. This 235-acre preserve of forest, swamp and wetland was purchased in 2022. The trail begins at a driveway with parking at 220 Bruey Road, 4.1 miles from Village Green via Route 272 South, Winchester Road and Bruey Road.