Community News

The Inland Wetlands Agency is proposing new permit fees to ensure the town recovers its expenses for required legal notices and state fees. The agency will hold a public hearing for the changes on June 1.

Prior to the public hearing, the fees will be reviewed by the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection. And because the current fees are cited in the ordinance governing the agency, the changes must receive town meeting approval.

Proposed changes include a $60 base fee and a $275 charge for substantial activity. 

Wetlands Enforcement Officer Stacey Sefcik said the proposed fees will vary with location—whether in a wetland or an Upland Review Area—and with the intensity of the disturbance. Increasing fees proportionally for wetland and upland review areas is intended to discourage applicants from activity in sensitive areas.

After-the-fact permit fees will also be proposed: $150 for a residential use and $300 for a commercial property. After-the-fact permits are sought when the property owner has already done the work without IWA approval.

Early stages of construction of the new fire house have produced one potentially costly hiccup. 

“It was related to the depth of the footings in one area,” said First Selectman Henry Tirrell. “There was an unanticipated adjustment once they got started.” 

The adjustment required a “step down” footing, a foundation technique where the concrete footing changes elevation in horizontal “steps” to follow sloped or uneven ground rather than keeping a constant depth.

Discussion with the contractor centered on whether the possibility of the problem could have been foreseen and who would bear the cost. The increased cost was originally estimated at $80,000, Tirrell said, but was eventually reduced to $28,000, drawn from the contingency fund built into the $10-plus million-budget for the fire house. 

Tirrell said enough invoices have now been generated to apply for the first third—$833,000—of the state’s $2.5 million grant. Money must be expended before reimbursement is received from the state. 

The $500,000 federal grant will not become available until the project is finished.

The Norfolk Volunteer Fire Department is accepting applications or its annual William F. Kelley Road Race Scholarship. 

High school seniors and college/higher education students living in Norfolk are eligible to apply. Submissions must be mailed to the Norfolk Volunteer Fire Department, Attn: Scholarship, 20 Shepard Rd., Norfolk CT 06058 by May 15 and should be accompanied by a resume listing what you’ve done in the last four years, including volunteer activities, hobbies, special recognitions and employment.

The fire department will hold its annual Memorial Day 5K road race Monday, May 25 to raise funds for the scholarship, but additional donations are being sought. Those wishing to donate can click here or mail contributions to the address above. For more information, email info@norfolkfire.org.

A lightly attended public hearing held Monday to present a proposed $9,426,846 budget for 2026-2027 drew no comment from the public. The budget, which reflects an increase of $189,276, up 2.05 percent over the current budget, will not boost taxation.

The amount of increase was misstated in last week’s budget article as 2.50 percent.

The Board of Finance will pull $216,000 from the town’s Positive Balance Fund to offset any increase, keeping the mill rate flat at 22.49.

“The increase in the budget was modest, less than inflation,” said Board of Finance Chairman Michael Sconyers. “The Board of Selectmen deserves a lot of credit for this, despite having to deal with a couple of curveballs.”

He was referring to a town meeting held a couple of weeks ago that approved buying a new $270,000 plow truck for this coming winter using funds remaining from the termination of the town’s defined pension plan. That meeting also set aside $130,000 from the same source to start a savings account for the purchase of a $1.1 million firetruck. 

Another $130,000 is set aside in the proposed budget for the fire truck and a second plow truck will also be purchased.

First Selectman Henry Tirrell said he has applied for federal Congressional discretionary funds to help with the purchase of the fire truck and is hopeful the town will receive the money. 

“This budget is really good news,” said Sconyers.

It will be taken to a 7:00 p.m. town meeting on Monday, May 11, at Botelle School.

The town will receive a $585,000 insurance settlement that will close out a trucking firm’s liability for damages incurred when its truck, carrying 8,200 of gasoline, overturned on Route 44 in November 2022.

First Selectman Henry Tirrell revealed at Monday’s public hearing that he will hold a special Board of Selectmen’s meeting next week to get authorization to sign the settlement.

Closure has been a long time coming. Former First Selectman Matt Riiska initiated the claim against Soundview Transportation during his term in office, citing some $750,000 in costs the town had to cover during the cleanup. Negotiations dragged on, however, and he left office last November without reaching a resolution with Federated Service Insurance Company.

The town eventually took the issue to court. To date, it has expended $143,000 in legal fees and may have more expense before all is concluded, according to Tirrell. The money to pay those fees will be taken from the settlement, with the selectmen recommending that the remainder be applied toward the cost of a new firetruck anticipated to cost $1.1 million.

While most damage has been mitigated, Verdantas, an environmental consulting firm, continues to monitor pollution levels and tests soil and groundwater in the aftermath of the gasoline spill. Soundview Transportation is responsible for the cost of that work. 

Wednesday night, in the second of a three-part series of community conversations, the Board of Education, Superintendent Kevin Case, teachers, staff and members of the Norfolk community explored the four key values—empathy, respect, growth and positivity—that inform the operation of the school and invited feedback from listeners.

Participants were separated into four groups, each discussing one of the values, how effectively it is demonstrated and how it can affect both adults and children at Botelle.

During Wednesday’s session, leadership coach and facilitator Deena Morris emphasized that “values are the true north” for any organization. “They are your lighthouse in a storm … and they must be aggressively authentic to each organization.”

“What we want to come up with is what are the values of the community,” Case said. “This is a core document that guides us as we hire new employees. Is there anything to change or add?”

He further queried what the curriculum should look like when educating children to live and work in the 21st century when the future of employment is so unclear. Feedback from the group reflected ambivalence about the advent of AI and what it will mean for future generations.The first session, held April 1, looked at how the school functions today, what participants hoped for the students educated there, and how the community can support those goals.

The final session will be held Wednesday, May 20, from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. 

GoodWorks Entertainment, which operates Infinity Hall in Norfolk, will hold a community meeting at the hall Thursday, May 14, at 6:00 p.m. to discuss the venue’s future, its role in the local economy and new opportunities for community partnerships, particularly in relation to the operation of its restaurant.

Norfolk recently lost the Pub, its only restaurant open in the evening. Infinity Hall, which used to run a full restaurant on its ground floor but stopped serving food following the Covid 19 pandemic.

The hall’s owners want to discuss a plan that would include reopening the restaurant. The GoodWorks team specializes in live entertainment rather than food service but envisions a possible Wednesday-through-Sunday food operation. They are actively seeking a professional restaurant partner for the space.

“We view Infinity Hall not just as a concert venue, but as a vital part of the Norfolk landscape,” said Dave Rosenfeld, co-founder of GoodWorks Entertainment. “To ensure its long-term health in a challenging small market, we are looking for the community’s input and partnership to turn [Infinity Hall] into a consistent gathering spot for everyone in town.”

The event is free and open to all. For more information, click here.

The Battell Arts Foundation is now accepting scholarship applications. Applicants must be residents of Norfolk or Colebrook, in grades 4 through 12, and studying an artistic endeavor such as dance, music, theater, creative writing or the visual arts. 

The Battell Arts Foundation scholarships (typically around $500) support young artists by paying for arts education expenses. Eligible costs include private lessons, specialized workshops, summer arts camps, equipment, musical instruments, and art supplies.

Applications are due Monday, May 4, and must be accompanied by a letter of recommendation. Application forms are available here. [http://www.battellarts.org/apply]

For more information, email battellarts@gmail.com.    

With no zoning applications before it, the Planning and Zoning Commission took the opportunity to address the planning portion of its mission Tuesday night, considering proposed text amendments governing family campgrounds and a draft regulation addressing blight.

Discussion focused primarily on provisions for campgrounds, storage of unregistered vehicles and blight. ZEO Stacey Sefcik reported there are five locations in town where she has observed significant numbers of unregistered vehicles or boats and accumulations of junk.

Sefcik provided a proposed regulation prohibiting junkyards anywhere in town. Outdoor storage of “inoperable, immoveable, improperly parked and/or unmaintained” recreational vehicles would constitute a junkyard.

The regulation also prohibits outdoor storage of more than two unregistered vehicles and accumulations of debris, rubbish, construction, landscaping materials and the like in situations characterized by “conditions of disrepair and deterioration.” 

Currently included in the list of prohibitions are “amusement devices,” such as roller coasters, merry-go-rounds and Ferris wheels unless sponsored by a local charitable or nonprofit organization. Members discussed whether private individuals with sufficient space who want to have a “lavish party” should be allowed to have such equipment temporarily. 

Sefcik said the provision could be covered under recreational uses. She copied the wording “wholesale” from regulations in other towns but said “I am not married to it.”

Proposed text amendments for family compounds/camps defines them as lot(s) under the same ownership that may have one or more sleeping structures and perhaps shared recreational amenities. Such compounds would be restricted to rural residential zones and would require a special permit.

Maintenance of existing compounds would be allowed with appropriate permits and the ZEO could issue permits for modifications if the number of sleeping units remained the same and square footage would not increased by more than 10 percent. Additional structures or larger increases in square footage would require P&Z approval.

Five acres was suggested as the minimum acreage. One member worried that this would prohibit people from using smaller parcels for sheds, boathouses or changing rooms, but member Jonathan Sanoff said the issue was becoming muddled. 

“If someone buys a property and builds a modest structure and there is a dock, I don’t see that as a family compound,” he said. “For me, the connotation is multiple somethings.” 

Other members agreed.

No decisions were made and the discussion will continue next month. 

Norfolk taxpayers may get a rare treat this year—a flat budget.

The budget presented to the Board of Finance Tuesday night totals $9,426,851 and includes all three budgetary components—general government, Botelle School and Region 7. It is 2.5 percent, or $189,281, higher than last year.

New First Selectman Henry Tirrell reduced the amount that would be allocated to the positive fund balance by $100,000 to lessen the tax burden and Board of Finance Chairman Michael Sconyers asked Tirrell to adjust it further to keep the mill rate at its current 22.49.

Sconyers praised Tirrell, terming his first  first budget “one of the finest pieces of work I’ve seen in a while.” 

Tirrell explained after the meeting that the town usually allocates $150,000 to the positive fund balance but will reduce that amount this year to about $50,000. He told the Board of Finance that the positive fund balance will remain at about 25 percent of the total budget, which he considers to be “robust.”

The balancing act comes in the face of extraordinary expenses, including construction of a new fire house, acquisition of a $270,000 plow truck this year and establishing regular deposits of $130,000 in a fund to purchase a new $1.1 million fire truck in coming years.

This year’s deposit for the fire truck and $270,000 for the first plow truck (to be delivered in late fall) are being drawn from funds remaining from the closure of the town’s defined benefit plan. A second truck is funded at an additional $270,000 in the 2026-2027 budget.

While the town is spending down $400,000 from the remaining benefit plan funds, it is anticipated that interest revenues from town investments will remain at $65,000. This will be generated by town accounts and the interest paid on the $4 million bond anticipation note for the firehouse now sitting in the bank. 

The proposed budget includes $14,000 to assist with the reclamation of City Meadow, where work is being done to remove invasives and replace them with native plantings. This amount is $26,000 less than was included for this purpose last year and Tirrell said future allocations will be much less. 

Tirrell told the finance members that the town has received a $10,000 reimbursement from the town’s insurer to offset legal expenses from a lawsuit filed against a Planning and Zoning Commission decision. He also hopes to hear within a week or two whether the town will receive $500,000 in an insurance settlement to offset the expense of cleaning up after the 2022 gas spill on Route 44.