Community News

Unrestricted short-term housing rentals can be seen as a blessing for travelers and property owners or a curse for town officials and neighbors. During Tuesday night’s meeting, the Planning and Zoning Commission again mulled over the need, or lack thereof, to regulate short-term housing rentals.

The P&Z had addressed the issue earlier this year and decided that short-term rentals are currently covered under two sections of the zoning regulations. Members steered clear of trying to define and regulate the use.

Zoning Enforcement Officer Stacey Sefcik said many towns are waiting for guidance from the state legislature before crafting regulations.

Under Norfolk’s current regulations,  a property owner can rent an accessory dwelling unit to one other family, or a homeowner can rent up to two bedrooms. 

While some members had reservations about the status quo, the consensus appeared to be that the issue would be better handled through a town ordinance that could encompass other regulations, such as the fire code, and where enforcement would be easier.

In two other matters the commission approved a site plan modification for 879 Winchester Road where Joanne Charon operates a farm and CSA. She wants to build a 24-by-36-foot barn and to relocate her parking lot.

Neighbors expressed concerns about agricultural runoff into a pond and contended that the farming operation is changing the character of the neighborhood. But Chairman Christopher Schaut said that the commission was considering an application for a structure and not a change of use. Charon said her existing use will not expand.

For the second application, Michael Halloran appeared for George Auclair, owner of George’s Garage, with a plan to add a second storage building to a narrow strip of land across Route 44 from the garage. Auclair received permission to build his first garage on the parcel in March 2022. 

Because of the lot’s size, the applicant will have to go to the Zoning Board of Appeals for a variance from setback regulations. The ZBA can grant variances when a hardship on a site does not allow the applicant to comply with the zoning code. In this instance, the only buildable site on the plot would not meet the setback requirement. The Planning and Zoning Commission cannot act on the application until the ZBA makes its determination.

The commission decided it needed a better description of what Auclair plans to do and set a public hearing for December 9. The ZBA may act on the request for a variance on December 4. If it does not, the PZC will continue its hearing until January.

Starting Monday, there is a new face behind the first selectman’s desk in town hall.

For months, Norfolk’s new First Selectman, Henry Tirrell, and veteran First Selectman Matt Riiska have worked toward a smooth transition in leadership. 

With Tirrell running unopposed, there was no question of who Riiska’s successor would be, and the men have been meeting weekly to familiarize Tirrell, a one-term selectman, with all the paperwork and projects he will take over next week.

“I know a lot of what’s going on but it will be different to actually be behind the desk,” Tirrell said this week. He will be sworn in Sunday and will head a board composed of incumbent Republican Selectman Sandy Evans and Democrat Leo Colwell, a former selectman.

Tirrell said this week that he expects to take the first year of his incumbency to carry through pending projects and will start to bring his own vision to the job the following year. 

“I have a decent amount to chew on right now,” he said. “There is a lot of stuff like the new firehouse that is going on immediately. Basically, I will be getting my feet under me and hopefully by this time next year I will have a framework for looking out into the future.”

The $10-million firehouse project is nearing the point when ground can be broken. Tirrell said one of his first tasks will be to meet with the town’s financial advisor and bond counsel to get a bond anticipation note in place. 

Next week will also include a meeting with the Fire House Committee when he expects to get a clearer idea of what the construction schedule will be. 

2026 may also bring the construction of three new bridges and, while the state is expected to absorb all costs for them, he will have to arrange upfront financing that will later be reimbursed. 

There has been much comment in recent months about Tirrell’s youth as a town leader. “People say I am so young,” he commented, “but I am 38 and I feel 40 creeping up.” Born and bred in Norfolk, he said it was his love of the town that made him run.

Tirrell predicts that younger people will begin to fill posts on town boards and commission in coming years. “There are a lot of people who have put an amazing amount of time and work into the town,” he observed, “but they will want to move on and then the next generation will have to step up. A few people from all walks of life are already doing that kind of stuff.”

Tirrell has already left his former occupation as a brewer with Big Elm Brewery in Sheffield, Mass., and will be a sworn-in Sunday at 1:30 p.m. at the Town Hall.  A reception will follow. Family members and guests are welcome to attend.

With Thanksgiving only two weeks away, the Food Pantry is busy gathering food and donations to fill 70 baskets for needy area residents. 

The baskets will consist of turkeys with side dishes of vegetables, stuffing, pies and more and will be available to people living in Norfolk, Colebrook, Winchester (including Winsted), Falls Village and Canaan.

“We have two principal drives,” said Church of Christ Administrative Assistant Beth Deane. “People can either donate turkeys or they can donate money.” A Turkey Sign-up link has been posted on the church’s home page and the turkeys must be delivered by November 23rd. “We’re asking for turkeys that weigh 15 pounds or more,” Deane said. 

Families who need the baskets will pick them up Monday, November 24th.

Checks and cash can be delivered to the church office or to one of the Food Pantry volunteers during open hours. The church office is open Tuesday through Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. and Sundays, 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. The Food Pantry is open Tuesday through Thursday, 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Both are located in Battell Chapel. 

Checks should be made payable to the Norfolk Food Pantry with a memo noting the money is for Thanksgiving baskets. Online donations can be made here.

The Congregational Church is also launching its Angel Tree, an online project that allows donors to select a child and to purchase gifts for it from a list provided by the parents. The recipients are anonymous, identified only by a tag number for donors to use. Gifts must be delivered to the church office on or before December 5th.

Lynn Deasy and Lisa McClave organize the Thanksgiving baskets and Angel Tree. 

In a final effort to make the holidays merry and bright, the church plans a Reverse Advent Calendar project that is open to all townspeople. Donors will fill a box with one recommended item each day throughout December and then deliver it on Christmas Eve to the Food Pantry. Calendars are available at the church office and a copy appears on the church website. 

With Thanksgiving only two weeks away, the Food Pantry is busy gathering food and donations to fill 70 baskets for needy area residents. 

The baskets will consist of turkeys with side dishes of vegetables, stuffing, pies and more and will be available only to people living in Norfolk, Colebrook, Winsted (including Winchester), Falls Village and Canaan. The Food Pantry has had to cut back its service area because of the increased demand. 

“We used to be open to just everyone, but with the increased cost of groceries, the Food Pantry just couldn’t keep up with the demand,” said Church of Christ Administrative Assistant Beth Deane.

“We have two principal drives,” she continued. “People can either donate turkeys or they can donate money.” A Turkey Sign-up link has been posted and the turkeys must be delivered by November 23rd. “We’re asking for turkeys that weigh 15 pounds or more,” Deane said. 

Families who need the baskets will pick them up Monday, November 24th.

Checks and cash can be delivered to the church office or to one of the Food Pantry volunteers during open hours. The church office is open Tuesday through Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. and Sundays, 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. The Food Pantry is open Tuesday through Thursday, 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Both are located in Battell Chapel. 

Checks should be made payable to the Norfolk Food Pantry with a memo noting the money is for Thanksgiving baskets. Online donations can be made here.

The Congregational Church is also launching its Angel Tree, an online project that allows donors to select a child and to purchase gifts for it from a list provided by the parents. The recipients are anonymous and donors identify them using a tag number. Donors are asked to attach a list of what is being given to the wrapped gifts and to include any receipts for clothes and shoes. Gifts must be delivered to the church office on or before December 5th.

Lyn Deasy and Lisa McClave organize the Thanksgiving Baskets and Angel Tree. 

In a final effort to make the holidays merry and bright, the church plans a Reverse Advent Calendar project that is open to all townspeople. Donors will fill a box with one recommended item each day throughout December and then deliver it on Christmas Eve to the Food Pantry. Calendars are available at the church office and on the church website.

You may have noticed the nip in the air recently. The Clothes Closet at the Church of Christ Congregational certainly has and it is accepting donations of winter clothing and coats, according to organizer Jen Pfaltz.

Gently used men’s, women’s and children’s clothing is greatly needed, she said. 

Pfaltz, who recently organized a popular Mending Café, where volunteers stitched and patched patrons’ garments in exchange for donations to the Norfolk Food Pantry, added that she is always looking for sweaters to repair and upcycle. 

“Sweaters with moth holes or other damage? No problem!” she said.

Items can be dropped off at the Food Pantry at UCC Norfolk Tuesday through Thursday 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., at the church office Tuesday through Friday, 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. or at the Norfolk Volunteer Fire Department Monday evenings.

An eight-year tenure filled with drama and trauma is coming to an end this month when First Selectman Matt Riiska retires.  

Over the course of those years, he has shepherded the town through crisis after crisis, from a pandemic to a massive oil spill, flash floods to Tropical Storm Isaias, bridge disasters to power outages.

He has juggled changing bureaucratic demands, stacks of paperwork, budgetary constraints, controversies of varying importance, and planning for a new firehouse. Now, he is departing office ready to do what he had hoped for when he first ran for office—to stay home.

Riiska, formerly a designer and project manager in the plastics industry, traveled incessantly, often being away for three or more weeks. In running for office, he hoped to be at home more. “It didn’t work out that way,” said the veteran of hundreds of evening meetings.

Over four terms in office he has seen much change, including the ubiquitous Zoom meeting. “People don’t realize how much disruption the pandemic created,” he said, “but Zoom was one of the good things that came out of it. It allows people to participate more easily and has certainly helped with the firehouse when we have meetings with the architects and engineers.”

Staffing key town positions is another area of change, becoming more difficult as the state requires more and more certification for assessors, tax collectors, zoning officers and the like. “Staffing town hall is difficult for small towns because the state requires certification and the salaries are high. We don’t need [these officials] full time and can’t afford them,” Riiska said.

He foresees a day when the Council of Governments might become a central office for member towns with, for instance, a certified assessor who could sign off on Grand Lists prepared by non-certified personnel. Similarly, he believes the day will come when the operations of the town will be overseen by a town manager with the selectmen setting policy.

Will he miss his desk in town hall? “To a point,” he said. “But you have to know that when a job gets to be more than you want to do, you let someone else take over. It’s just another chapter.”

Riiska lauded the volunteers and employees he has worked with over the years. “Through all the calamities, working with emergency management people like Richard Byrne and the fire department has made all the difference,” he said. “Through gas spills and floods and power outages I knew I could count on people like that. It’s been a pleasure.”

The Planning and Zoning Commission has approved an application to remediate work done by Benjamin Shiff, principal of Love Simply, LLC, at 24 Greenwoods Road West, next to Infinity Hall.

Shiff, who owns both that building and the former pizza shop at 32 Greenwoods Road West, was cited in 2023 for changing the exterior of the building without getting a special permit. Efforts by land use officials since then to bring the building into compliance have been unsuccessful.

The P&Z reviewed the restoration plan during its October 14 meeting and, with conditions, agreed with the scope of the work. It delayed action, however, until it could confer with an attorney about what effect approval would have on fines levied during the long period of violation and whether fines should be stayed while the building is being brought into compliance.

Shiff is proposing to use 12-over-12-pane windows in keeping with the style of the turn-of-the-last-century building to replace the windows he removed. He initially planned to place clapboard over boarded-up lower-level windows on the south side, but P&Z members did not like this solution. In their final decision, they required Shiff to replace them with windows of the same 12-over-12-pane design.

Continuing fines and interest for the violations will be stayed from September 8, when the application was first submitted, through to satisfactory completion of the work or until March 1, 2026, whichever comes first. The conditions of the approval do not address any previous fines or interest.

The Lions have identified 239 veterans buried in Norfolk’s five cemeteries and will mark the graves with wreaths, beginning at noon on December 13, National Wreaths Across America Day. Anyone who would like to volunteer to help with the placement should call Sandy Evans at 860-866-7923.

Donations are being sought to help pay for the wreaths, which cost $17 each. Checks to help support the project can be made out to Wreaths Across America and left at the National Iron Bank. Local groups such as the Lions can register with Wreaths Across America to become a “Sponsorship Group” and receive a portion of the cost of each wreath that can be used for local programs.

More than 5,000 groups participate in in Wreaths Across America. This is the first year the Norfolk Lions Club has taken part.

Haystack Woods has planned a second community open house for Sunday, November 9, from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. to allow prospective homeowners another chance to view the 10 two- and three-bedroom homes now under construction.  

The affordable homes, being erected by the Foundation for Norfolk Living, are highly energy efficient and will be available for sale to first-time buyers. They are priced between $159,000 and $261,000 for households that earn less than Litchfield County’s median income. To qualify, for example, a three-person household would have to have income of less than $83,300.

Visit norfolkliving.org for more details about the homes, the pre-application process and the Foundation for Norfolk Living.

Haystack Woods is located a short distance from the intersection of Old Colony Road (now one way) and North Street/Route 272. Guests should drive up Haystack Woods Road to the top of the hill.

It may seem early to think about holiday décor, but the very popularity of the holiday wreath workshops at Great Mountain Forest urges us to tell you about the event so you can make reservations. The workshops always sell out.

Participants craft a holiday wreath that’s uniquely theirs while enjoying hot cider, tasty seasonal snacks and plenty of laughter and conversation. 

The four workshops will be held at the Mountain House Barn, 200 Canaan Mountain Road, Falls Village, on December 6 and December 7, in both the mornings and afternoons. Bring your favorite pruning shears and imagination.

Registration is $40.

It’s the time of year when we begin to pull out our winter clothing and there it is—that button you forgot to replace, the hem where some stitches have let go, or a simple repair that is needed before the garment can be worn again.

Help is at hand. A Mending Café will be held Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. at the Norfolk Hub where volunteers from the Clothes Closet will tend to small mending tasks. 

The service is offered free of charge but donations to the Church of Christ will be accepted to support programs such as the Clothes Closet and Food Pantry. 

Volunteer menders will take on the tasks on a first-come, first-served basis. The Clothes Closet will also be accepting gently use clothing and linens, as well as textiles to recycle.

“I’m super-excited about this,” said Jennifer Pfaltz, one of the organizers. She said the Clothes Closet now operates under the auspices of the Church of Christ’s Green Team and one of its goals is to encourage people to reduce, reuse and recycle.

“The Clothes Closet is really for everyone,” said Pfaltz. “This is a grass roots group that is starting to think about ways to educate people about textiles and clothes and how to upcycle them.” 

Sweaters that have been repaired, sometimes in imaginative ways to give them a new lease on life will be for sale at the event. “It’s fun to do and nice to see something that might have ended in trash that is new again,” Pfaltz said.

“We’ve never done a mending café, so we have no idea what people will bring in,” she said. “If it’s something that can’t be done at the café, maybe people could leave [the item] and we could work on it. My hope is that we try different things like this to try to reduce the amount of waste in the textile industry.”