Community News

Cheryl Heller, chairman of the Economic Development Commission, has reached out to the Planning and Zoning Commission seeking to discuss the list of goals assigned to the EDC in that document that have not yet been fully addressed. 

“They want to figure how to be involved so it fits what they want to do,” P&Z Chairman Christopher Schaut reported to his colleagues at Tuesday night’s regular meeting. 

“It’s not bad to involve other organizations, he said, but added that the POCD is not due for revision for another three years. The most recent POCD was completed in 2019, and new versions are required only every 10 years. 

During its meeting Tuesday, the commissioners also heard that the P&Z has formally engaged a lawyer in reference to more than $57,000 in fines levied since 2023 against Love Simply, LLC, a Route 44 business that altered the exterior of a Village District building without getting special permits for the work.

Late last year, the P&Z approved a plan for remediation and restoration of the building, but it continued to hold discussions with legal counsel about how the approval would affect potential fines or compliance issues. Schaut said further discussion will take place in executive session.

Zoning Enforcement Officer Stacey Sefcik reported that she has had a mixed record of success in clearing up zoning violations in the town in recent months. A Route 44 property owner in West Norfolk has made great improvement in clearing away blight on his property, she said, but another landowner on Litchfield Road will soon be presented with a cease-and-desist order for violations she did not specify.

George’s Garage is again in violation for storing a large commercial truck at the business location. The gas station owner was granted a modified special permit last winter to create a 50-foot-by-80-foot storage building in which to temporarily house vehicles towed to the premises, to provide outside parking for 10 vehicles and to permit the lease of a newly created parking space for a third-party tractor trailer on property across Route 44 from the garage.

“At the public hearing we stated that the [third-party] truck shouldn’t be at the gas station, so I consider it a violation,” she told the P&Z members, adding that she would follow standard procedure in out a first notice to the property owner “and will see where it goes from there.”

She also told the commissioners that the land use department will follow the building inspector in arranging for online permit applications through PermitLink. “Once it is up and running, we will use it for zoning and wetlands permits,” she said. “The benefit is people can put in applications from their homes, and we can take credit cards, which we can’t do now.”

She added that all departments will be able to easily see if applicants have received all the permits they need from other departments.

The Board of Finance agreed Tuesday night to allow the Rails to Trails Committee to use surplus town funds for short-term funding to pay for work on the construction of the North Brook Trail.

The committee received a permit from the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection in March for the trail and immediately went out to bid. It awarded a $774,000 contract to Yield Industries and currently has about $400,000 in a 2023 state grant to begin construction. Work will be confined to phase one of the work until word is received about a second grant to pay the difference between the two sums.

The town must pay the contractor as the work is done and then apply to the state for reimbursement. By lending itself the money, the town will save the interest that would accrue from a bank loan. Work is expected to start in August and Tirrell said he expects the funds to be reimbursed by January.

“I like to avoid debt in the short term if we can,” agreed Finance Chairman Michael Sconyers.

Visitors to the center of town will have noticed that the brickwork that formed the walkway in front of the Royal Arcanum building has been torn up and that the Public Works Department is preparing to pour concrete in its place.

Brick pavers have been esthetically alluring for streetscape planners in different municipalities for decades but many towns—Norfolk is no exception—have found them to be impractical. New England winters cause the pavers to become uneven and form hazardous surfaces.

First Selectman Henry Tirrell said that money for the project is being drawn from the roads account using sums left over after roads have been paved. So far, Old Colony Road has been resurfaced and work is anticipated on Laurel Way Extension. Tirrell hopes there will be enough left over to pay for further sidewalk replacement around Station Place.

Norfolk now has not one, but two new employees in the building officials’ office: John Papp and Jonathan Abbott who have taken over the roles of building inspector and assistant building inspector. They replace James Clarke, who retired at the end of April after serving the town for nearly nine years.

Papp and Abbott, who will take the state’s examination to be certified as a building official in coming weeks, will collaborate in covering the office on Thursdays from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. and in doing inspections.

In Connecticut, building inspectors review plans to ensure sure homes and businesses conform to the Connecticut State Building Code, visit work sites to certify that foundations, framing, electrical wiring, plumbing and the like match the approved plans and inspect old or damaged buildings to determine that they are safe.

In addition to course work and a demanding state examination, building officials must have three to five-years-experience in construction. At present, there is a dearth of building inspectors in Connecticut and Papp, who lives in Warren, is serving multiple towns

The Norfolk office is open Thursdays from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. and appointments for inspections can be scheduled during those and other hours. To ease the crunch for contractors and homeowners, online permitting and payments must now be made through Permitlink, an online service that now houses all Norfolk’s relevant forms.

For assistance with ongoing building permits or inspections contact Papp at 860-846-5506, 860-542-6986 or via email a buildingofficial@norfolkct.org.

The Building Official’s office is located in Town Hall, 19 Maple Avenue.

The Rails to Trails Committee is “two signatures away” from starting construction of the North Brook Trail, according to committee chairman Robert Gilchrest.

He told his committee Thursday night that the $774,406 contract between Yield Industries and the town has been approved by town counsel. A performance and materials bond will be connected with the package, along with the project’s specifications and drawings. 

“It makes a completed contract,” Gilchrest told his board members. All that remains is to have First Selectman Henry Tirrell]and Yield’s president Craig Bothroyd, sign it and work can start in August. 

The town will start paying for the project using the $399,000 state grant it received in 2023 but has yet to receive confirmation that a second state grant of $226,000 will awarded. After much delay on the part of the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, the state issued a final permit for the trail work this March, three years after the town received the first grant. In the meantime, beaver activity along the trail route changed the topography, requiring a redesign of the boardwalk and trail at an additional cost.

Gilchrest said he was told that grant awards will be announced in September. He remains optimistic that the town will get the additional funding, but said the town has enough money in hand to do virtually all the work to a point beyond the boardwalk. “After that, it would be up to us if we don’t get the second grant,” he said.

The town will also have to file for an extension for its current grant because the money will not all be expended by the September 26 deadline. “We have to apply by July 28,” he said, “documenting the reasons why.” He said he has been assured the extension will be granted.

The committee will ask to borrow money to start the project from the town. Normally, it would take out a bank loan to pay the contractor’s bills while it waits for reimbursement from the state. But the construction timeframe will be short, and Tirrell is comfortable with using town money and having the committee reimburse the local government.

Committee member Matt Riiska explained that if the town were to seek a bank loan, it would entail lawyer’s fees and interest payments, which can be avoided by using town money. “Henry spoke to the town treasurer, and the town has enough money in its capital reserve account,” said Riiska.

In a poll taken at the end of a Connecticut Main Street Center program Wednesday night, Norfolk residents expressed guarded optimism about the possibility of animating the town’s village center.

Connecticut Main Street Center (CMSC) provides education, training, resources and technical assistance to communities seeking to rejuvenate their local economies. In this region, it is partnering with the Northwest Hills Council of Governments.

The program explored residents’ perception of what a Main Street means for a town, the problems they see with the town center and the potential for growth.

Most of those attending the meeting described a Main Street as a locus not just for business, but also as a place for community events, a place “to stroll, relax, eat and drink.”

Those attending referred repeatedly to geographic obstacles the town faces in developing its center: a state highway that cuts it in half and the lack of space in the center for business development. 

A woman referred to the “walkability” of the downtown area. “We should call it uptown, because everything is up,” she quipped.

Still another person commented on the limiting size of the commercial district, with little opportunity to build new or renovate existing structures for commercial use. 

Participants described the village center as “so unwalkable,” “boring, always closed,” “lacking in critical mass,” “non-existent” and “charming but not functioning.”

The conversation grew cheerier when the planners asked about social events. The list grew longer and longer as the respondents listed Infinity Hall concerts, the Yale Chamber Music Series, Weekend in Norfolk events, Friday Nights on the Green, art shows and more.

Session leader Kristin Lopez said that key to building a vibrant downtown lies in the energy and determination of the people. “Great downtowns don’t happen organically,” she said. “There is always a group of people behind the initiatives. You can write your own future, but without a plan, it will remain status quo. If you can move the needle one degree, 50 years down the road things will have changed.”

When asked if there is sufficient community interest and political will to undertake a long-term effort, one respondent said yes; seven voted maybe, and one said no, there are too many significant barriers to growth.

The Connecticut Main Street representatives said they could schedule subsequent workshops, the next one on the topic of “Main Street Momentum.”

No sooner has Norfolk celebrated the nation’s 250th anniversary with a community bash on the Village Green, than it has turned its eyes toward its next round of revelries.

The 11th annual Weekend in Norfolk (WIN) begins Friday, July 31, and runs through Sunday, August 2, featuring music, art, food and fun.

At the heart of this year’s festivities is the newly expanded Sidewalk Sunday, set for August 2, from noon to 4:00 p.m. on Robertson Plaza. With the street closed to traffic, the plaza will become a pedestrian haven where visitors can browse handmade goods, meet local creators and even purchase books autographed right on the spot. To add to the atmosphere, live music will fill the air. 

WIN delivers nonstop music, most of it free. The weekend kicks off Friday night with a free concert on the Green featuring Travelin’ Trout, plus a ticketed performance at Yale’s Music Shed. The momentum builds Saturday with a free Emerging Artists concert at the Music Shed and live performances on Robertson Plaza by the Roys, Hitchcock & Mead trio, Elias Neuman-Donihue, Three Seater and the Grantville Dogs, all sponsored by National Iron Bank.

Sunday, catch performances by Andy Styles, Just Playing Around and the Mudgetones on Robertson Plaza, plus a children’s concert and ice cream social at the Music Shed. The weekend also includes a ticketed performance by the Litchfield County Choral Union at the Music Shed.

At the Norfolk Historical Society, visitors can step into an exhibit that brings the Revolutionary War era to life. The society also offers a self-guided stroll through the Historic District.

This summer, WIN offers standout art exhibitions such as the Centennial Exhibition of Aton Forest, honoring conservation pioneers Dr. Frank Egler and photographer Happy Kitchel Egler at the Hub, the 19th annual Norfolk Artists & Friends show at the Art Barn and featured works by JanaLee Cherneski at the Norfolk Library. Visitors can also attend an open studio with Hilary VanWright and take a behind-the-scenes library tour to uncover hidden treasures.

Explore the full lineup that updates daily at Weekend in Norfolk.

Norfolk has a peculiar penchant for forests, with approximately 85 to 90 percent of its rugged terrain blanketed by working forests, biological field stations and state parks. Thousands of acres of that land were conserved and dedicated to scientific study by two early pioneers in forest stewardship, Dr. Frank Egler and Ted Childs.

Both men were brought to Norfolk as youths, Egler with his family in the 1920s, and Childs in the early 1930s. Childs and his family eventually conserved and studied 6,400 acres in Great Mountain Forest, while botanist Egler amassed the 1,500 acres that became Aton Forest. 

2026 is Aton Forest’s centennial year and a series of events and an exhibition—Celebrating the Spirit of Frank Egler’s Aton Forest”—will commemorate the achievements of Egler and his wife, conservationist Happy Kitchel. 

The celebration begins Friday afternoon, July 10, at 4:30 p.m. when Aton Forest president and chief steward Billy Gridley, speaks at the Hub, reflecting on what defines Aton Forest today and what its future holds following the recent acquisition of Kitchel’s 965-acre Spaulding Pond Preserve in South Norfolk. 

Gridley will also use the occasion to launch his recently published book, “The Spirit of Aton Forest: Frank Egler, Rebel Ecologist in Pursuit of Science and Natural Area Protection.” 

Following Gridley’s talk, festivities will continue during this week’s Friday Nights on the Green event, with Aton Forest presenting the fiddler, singer and songwriter Kathleen Parks.

Complementing the Hub exhibition are subsequent lectures by Dr. Susan Masino of Trinity College, who will speak on “Nature & Brain Health: Minding the Gaps,” on Sunday, July 12, at 4:00 p.m. at Battell Chapel, and Dr. James Lendemer of the New York State Museum, who will present the Aton Forest Science Lecture II & Walk, on Friday, July 17, also at 4:00 p.m. He will deliver a 45-minute program at the Hub on “Mason Hale’s Aton Forest Lichen Collection: 70 Years Later Report,” followed by a walk in the forest. 

Editor’s note: In this new series we will visit the various departments, boards and committees that make the town function, offering thumbnail sketches of their duties and responsibilities. This week we look at the Board of Selectmen.

The Board of Selectmen is composed of three elected members, with the first selectman as the chief town administrator and two additional board members with whom he meets at least monthly. The political composition of the board requires minority representation so no one party can fill all the seats.

The first selectman and his or her board oversee the operation of the general government, ranging from the maintenance of the town’s cemeteries to negotiating issues such as the recovery from a major gas spill.

 “The scope seems to be anything that doesn’t fall into any other department,” said the town’s first selectman, Henry Tirrell. “It can be pretty wild.”

For example, the selectmen’s office handles building permit applications, issues household hazardous waste tickets and a variety of permits and handles the town energy assistance program.       

As chief administrator, the first selectman develops the municipal portion of the budget for each fiscal year, amassing departmental budget requests in the first three months of the year, vetting them with his full board, and presenting a spending plan to the Board of Finance. After discussion and any revision, the budget goes to a public hearing and town meeting vote.

Because it falls to the selectmen to oversee municipal buildings, local roads and bridges, vehicles, equipment and the like, a first selectman also has a visionary role. Looking ahead, Tirrell would like to institute a capital plan to prepare for major purchases. This would incrementally build funding for big-ticket items, probably over a five-year span, and smooth out fluctuations in taxation.

Tonight [Friday] Norfolk will pull out all the stops to celebrate America’s 250th anniversary on the Norfolk Village Green. The community-wide event, which features a patriotic parade, a bell ringing ceremony, live music from Kettle Creek, a pie-baking contest and a community barbecue, begins at 6:00 p.m. when the parade starts at the Town Hall and progresses down Maple Avenue to the Village Green. 

During the evening there will be a procession of decorated bikes, scooters or wagons, as well as colonial games, a dunk tank and a touch-a-truck station. In keeping with the historic nature of the event, there will also be demonstrations of traditional crafts such as blacksmithing, chair caning and glassblowing.

The Norfolk Historical Society will add value to the evening by opening its headquarters adjacent to the Green from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. to allow revelers to tour its summer exhibit, “Norfolk—1776.” The display offers a snapshot of the town during the Revolutionary War. 

The museum will also be open Saturday and Sunday, from 1:00 to 5:00 p.m. both days.