Community News

Norfolk is hungry for a new restaurant. That was clear Thursday night when applause erupted in Infinity Hall as David Rosenfeld, co-founder of the GoodWorks Entertainment Group promised to reopen that concert hall’s dining area.

The move comes two months after the Norfolk Pub, the town’s only evening dining venue was closed. “The minute [the Pub] closed, it was, ‘We are opening a restaurant,’” Rosenfeld told the near-capacity crowd of Norfolk residents who gathered to hear his plans.

Rosenfeld and partner Tyler Grill purchased the hall and its sister location in Hartford in 2019. They then experimented with operating music festivals in Rhode Island, Connecticut and Maine, but found them unprofitable. Now the entertainment group is refocusing on its concert halls. “The festivals didn’t meet our original mission,” he said. “Now, we are excited to re-engage here.”

Originally, both the Norfolk and Hartford sites had restaurants, but running full-service restaurants at both venues was “almost guaranteed to lose money,” he said. Rosenfeld commented on the frustration patrons experienced when up to 300 people flowed into the building, all wanting to eat within 60 to 90 minutes before the show. Long lines for drinks at intermission were another logjam that left people dissatisfied.

Then Covid hit and restaurant service was never fully restored after that. Currently the venue does not serve food at all, having yielded that portion of its business to the Norfolk Pub.

The new restaurant, which he hopes to open in mid-June, would offer a small, readily adaptable American bistro menu and would be open Thursdays through Sundays. “It might be casual fare, but we want to upgrade the wine list,” he added. “All will have four-star ratings.”

He predicts that even on concerts nights, introducing a simpler menu and modern technology will ease the pressure points. Patrons will be to order online and pay electronically. They will also be able order take-out or carry their own meals to the mezzanine level, again reducing wait times and frustration.

In other changes, Rosenfeld said the number of shows presented will be increased to 50 a year with broader diversity and the venue will be available to host events.

About 30 townspeople gathered Monday night to pass the $9.4 million 2026-2027 municipal budget.

The meeting generated little discussion and was completed in about 12 minutes, according to First Selectman Henry Tirrell. “Everything passed,” he reported. “There were a couple of questions about the Minimum Budget Requirement (MBR) for the school that [Superintendent Kevin Case] explained, and a couple of people wondered about the gas spill settlement—but that was all.” 

The MBR requires towns to fund their schools at no less than the previous year. This year, because Botelle School had fewer special education expenses, Norfolk’s budgeted amount was less than in 2024-25. The state Department of Education objected, threatening to withhold future Education Cost Sharing funds. 

Case and town officials negotiated a settlement with the state by adding some $58,000 to the current budget to meet the MBR. The money will not be expended and will be returned to the town surplus account at the end of the fiscal year.

Tirrell explained the final settlement for the gas spill, which was set at $585,000 and covered less obvious expenses incurred by the town during the reclamation process. It is in addition to monies the insurance company paid during the actual construction phase. 

Tirrell told the audience that part of the settlement will be used to pay legal fees incurred while trying to reach an agreement with the insurance company. The remainder will be budgeted to pay $270,000 for a second plow truck next year and pay $130,000 toward the growing fund for a new fire truck. The fire truck is expected to cost over $1 million dollars. 

The Board of Finance did not have a quorum and could not set the mill rate after the meeting. It will meet in special session next Tuesday, May 19.

The City Meadow Committee focused its discussion on appearances when it met in special session Tuesday evening—the appearance of Robertson Plaza and of City Meadow.

Members noted that First Selectman Henry Tirrell is going to remove the Town Crier board on the front of the Hub and that he would like to relocate it to the plaza. Even though the committee is not in charge of the plaza, it overlooks City Meadow and he sought the opinion of the committee members.

Members were leery of this relocation, however, remarking that the bulletin board announcing town events often becomes unsightly even within days of being organized. 

It was suggested that a kiosk be placed on the plaza that could display the Town Crier notices on one side and signage on the other describing why wetlands such as the City Meadow are important. 

Some members commented that there are already two other sites in the town center where notices are posted and questioned whether another is needed on the plaza.

The rehabilitation of the City Meadow wetlands, which has been overrun by invasives, was reported to be “progressing appropriately” with more invasives being removed last week. The invasives must be eradicated before native plants can be installed. 

Co-chair Libby Borden referred to the dead trees that have fallen in the meadow and the importance they have in wetlands. But she suggested that they are not attractive as currently situated and suggested that their straight boles could be arranged to spell out “Icebox,” the sobriquet applied to the town.

It was estimated that replacement of deteriorated boards in the meadow’s boardwalk will cost about $2,000. 

The committee hopes to activate an independent website for the City Meadow within weeks.

The committee has received requests from groups who wish to visit the meadow, but have declined, saying “we are not yet ready for guests.”

Housatonic Heritage and Great Mountain Forest will offer a three-day environmental writing retreat from August 7 through 9 at the Yale Camp on Canaan Mountain. 

This retreat is inspired by the life and legacy of longtime New York Times nature columnist, prolific author and outdoorsman Hal Borland, who lived in Salisbury. The courses will emphasize accurate and evocative description, encouraging writers to tap into their scientific and environmental concerns and their personal involvement in the landscape and its history. 

Enrollment is limited to foster deeper engagement between participants and presenters. Participants will have the opportunity to submit work developed during the retreat to an online anthology to be published in the fall. 

To get early pricing for the retreat, fees must be paid in full by May 31.

The Town of Norfolk will present a “Building Interest in Main Street” workshop June 2, from 10:00 a.m. to noon, at the Hub, 2 Station Place.

The town is seeking municipal and community leaders, anchor institutions, merchants, and property owners who wantparticipate in the workshop and play an active role in strengthening and energizing the downtown.

The program will be a presentation by the Connecticut Main Street Center as an initiative of the Norfolk Economic Development Commission.

This interactive workshop will explain why main streets matter, highlight the benefits of a managed main street approachand engage community leaders in discussion on strengthening the downtown and exploring next steps.

The EDC members have long encouraged citizen participation in directing the development of the town’s business community. In a 2024 letter, they urged, “Achieving these goals will require far more than any commission or committee can accomplish. It will take all of us to support new and existing businesses in town and to welcome young residents…and make sure they have what they need to thrive.”

Those interested in participating should contact the First Selectman’s office at 860-542-5829.

The Norfolk Food Pantry has been chosen as the May recipient of the Canaan Stop & Shop’s Bloomin’ for Good campaign. Each month, Stop & Shop stores choose a different local nonprofit or food bank to receive a $1 donation for every specially marked $11.99 Bloomin’ 4 Good bouquet sold during that month.

Beneficiaries of the year-round program are chosen by the local store’s management team to ensure that the money stays within its community.

The preparation and fine tuning of the annual town budget require months of work by the selectmen, the boards of education and the Board of Finance. The process concludes when the budget is put to a vote at the annual town meeting, being held at Botelle School this coming Monday, May 11, at 7:00 p.m.

The budget has three major components: town government, Botelle School and Northwest Regional 7 School. The school budgets are developed by the respective boards of education, and the town government budget is managed by the selectmen. The Board of Finance (BOF) reviews and suggests changes to the town government budget and reviews the Botelle budget in detail.  

The town’s fiscal year begins on July 1. The proposed budget for 2026/2027 is $9.4 million, a 2.05 percent increase over the 2025/2026 year. Town government, at $4.7 million, accounts for half. The Botelle budget is $2.66 million and Regional 7’s is $2.05 million.  The town has various sources of revenue including grants from the state and fees, but most of the funds, $8.4 million, must be raised from property taxes. The amount each property owner pays is based on every $1,000 of the assessed value of that property multiplied by a certain figure set yearly by the Board of Finance and known as the mill rate. 

After reviewing and approving the budget, the BOF holds a hearing to answer questions from Norfolk residents. This year’s budget hearing was held on April 21 and lasted a total of eight minutes. The Regional 7 budget was passed by Norfolk voters in a referendum held on May 5.

The 2026/2027 budget being proposed has no increase in the mill rate despite the overall increase in costs. This feat was achieved by tapping into two types of town reserves, the capital reserve and the positive fund balance. The BOF decided that reducing the allocation to the capital reserve from $150,000 to $50,000 still left the town with a comfortable reserve of over $1.0 million.

The positive fund balance is the amount that the town has left in its operating budget at the end of a fiscal year.  It fluctuates from year to year, but the town wants to maintain a minimum of 15 percent of the annual budget available for unanticipated expenses. As it has in some past years, the selectmen and the BOF decided to use some of these excess funds from the current year to carry forward and help reduce the amount needed to be raised from taxes. After using some of the excess 2025/2026 funds It is projected that the town will still have a healthy fund balance of between 25 and 30 percent.

Please try to attend the town meeting at Botelle on May 11 at 7:00 p.m. The proposed budget is posted on the town website. Click here for the draft budget by department and click here for the draft income summary.

The Rails to Trails Committee opened four bids Thursday for the long-delayed North Brook Trail. Three bids ranged from a low of $774,406 to a high of $1,900,000. A fourth bid was rejected as being incomplete.

The committee will discuss the bids during its regular meeting on Thursday, May 14, but one had a clear advantage. The low bid, submitted Yield Industries, LLC, came in about $8,000 under the amount the committee hopes to have for construction. 

The town received a $399,000 state grant in 2023, but the project was delayed by the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, which decided that the permit application should come from the state and not the town. The town finally received its general permit in March.

“The state dragged its heels for three years,” said committee Chairman Bob Gilchrest. “During that time prices went up and there was a lot of beaver activity. The state took so long we had to raise the boardwalk and extend it by 100 feet. What had been puddles became a lake.”

The committee is seeking an additional state grant of $226,000 to meet increased costs but has yet to hear whether its application has been successful.

Gilchrest noted that the project is on state land and the state would like to have it done all at once and not in phases. The committee hopes to begin construction in late summer or fall, with the majority of the work happening in 2027. 

Eight of the nine bat species in Connecticut are currently listed as endangered, threatened or of special concern due to severe population declines from white-nose syndrome. Only the big brown bat is not currently listed.

Bats are considered vital to the ecology because they consume vast quantities of small flying insects—a little brown bat eats up to 1,200 mosquito-size insects in an hour—controlling insect populations and helping to prevent the spread of diseases such as West Nile fever.

Despite their important ecological roles, however, little is known about which state-listed bat species are recovering or how they interact with different forest environments and conditions. 

In an attempt to learn more, Great Mountain Forest is partnering with the University of Connecticut (UConn) and Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) to track bat activity across a range of habitats within the forest.

During the study, UConn faculty members will oversee undergraduate and master-degree level students using acoustic monitors and remote sensors to capture bat activity throughout the Great Mountain Forest. Dr. Devaughn Fraser, a wildlife biologist at DEEP, will lend additional expertise. 

GMF forester Kate Regan-Loomis will work with the teams to refine maps of forest stands, wetlands and management histories, while three GMF summer forestry interns will conduct on-the-ground surveys, gathering data on forest tree species composition and structure. 

Together with UConn and DEEP, they will create a dataset linking bat activity to habitat features across more than 1,000 acres. In addition to informing scientists about bat recovery and activity, the findings will be shared through K–12 science field trips and GMF Woodland Academy workshops for landowners and professionals.

Even those not working with the forest study can add to the DEEP’s understanding of bat recovery in the state. DEEP encourages reporting of summer bat colonies and sightings through their bat page.

It’s been only three short years since replacement of the first bridge on Mountain Road was completed, freeing traffic and walkers to traverse the scenic section of road from Route 272 to Westside Road. Now the road is closed again as work begins on a second bridge.

The second bridge, located about 200 feet from Westside Road on the Route 272 side of the intersection, will be a clear span rather than the three-cell culvert currently in place and will provide for wildlife crossings underneath it. 

The estimated construction cost for this project is approximately $1.86 million. The federal government will pay 80 percent of the cost through its federal bridge program, and the state will assume payment for the remaining 20 percent. 

The existing bridge was constructed in 1955 and is a 21-foot-long, span in poor condition, according to the DOT.