Town plan focuses on infrastructure

By Veronica Burns

About 25 people, mostly members of town commissions and services, met on March 20 at Town Hall to continue the process of creating a town plan. Under the able tutelage of the plan consultant,

Norfolk’s Public Works Department is outgrowing its cramped facility on Old Colony Road.

Glenn Chalder of Planimetrics, topics ranged from sewers to sidewalks. The goal of the evening, said Chalder, should be that the group not become focused on “the management or operation of any individual facility. It’s really about the physical needs of the different situations in town.”

First up was a discussion about community facilities and Town Hall, specifically whether or not people think that it provides adequate space? Aside from a lack of parking, most felt that the building was sufficient, with the possibility of using the basement if more office space were needed in the next few years. Because there is the availability of land next door to the town hall facility, Chalder said he did not see any “crisis” looming in the next 20 years. “There may be growing pains,” he predicted, but the town has a good basis and can approach things in a measured fashion.

First Selectman Sue Dyer warned that the public works department was “cramped” and in need of overhaul. This was something that should be done “sooner rather than later,” said Dyer, “within the next two years.” Currently located on two acres in town, the only other site suggested for a new public works building was the Town Farm, a total of 180 acres that spill into Colebrook. However, as was revealed in the ensuing discussion, the Town Farm site comes with specific problems, not the least of which is the fact that it is environmentally suspect, having once been a landfill. Planning and Zoning commissioner Betsy Little suggested that an assessment of the site might be in order.

Board of Education chairman Kate Johnson gave a summary statement on Botelle Elementary School, a “well-maintained” building, which has recently had updated windows and energy-efficient lighting installed. Johnson pointed out that the school building also provides a community function, since many town meetings have been held there as well as after-school activities such as basketball. “The school also serves as an emergency shelter,” said Johnson. “We’ve got room for beds and showers. We also have an emergency generator.”

For Johnson, the main issue is the future rather than the present. “We are looking at projected declining enrollment,” she said, “we are starting to see that it might be happening,” though she added that she did not think the numbers would decline as much as the state is projecting. “We’ve been rated the number one small town in Connecticut,” Johnson said, “and I think people do move here for that reason.” Regionalization could have an impact and there is also “very preliminary discussion” with Colebrook about collaboration on numbers, which could also impact Botelle. Overall, however, the school building was deemed to have the potential to accommodate more students within the next 10 years, especially with the “relief valve” of a covered skating rink, which could be used for extra classroom space if needed.

On the subject of our roads, Norfolk, according to Chalder, has more road miles per capita than the neighboring towns of Torrington and Winsted. From an engineering point of view, apparently, many of Norfolk’s roads were never properly built. As a result, drainage problems are common. Dyer said that as of now, “we basically maintain our roads.” At a suggestion of state involvement, the audience was told that if the state were to build our roads they would “all be wider, straighter and flatter” and  clearly lacking in quaintness.

Issues concerning emergency vehicles, bridges and the subsequent public or private costs of road maintenance were also discussed. In terms of road maintenance strategies, Chalder suggested that “the cheapest method is to do a little maintenance each year to bring roads back and try not to let them get to the point where you have to rebuild. But this is definitely a challenge for any community.”

Toward the end of the session, Ron Zanobi spoke about Norfolk’s sewer system, which was established in 1897 and is one of the smallest in Connecticut. “A lot of the pipes we have in the ground today were put there in 1897,” said Zanobi, and because of that the system has a lot of water infiltration problems. The plant capacity is around 350,000 gallons a day but could handle more. Zanobi said the plant, which was built in the 1970s, “probably needs an upgrade.” Ongoing work in the area includes replacing some of the older pipes as well as employing a newer method of relining pipes.

It may seem hard to believe, but Chalder thinks many communities would have “sewer-envy” of Norfolk because the town has this system in place. “Norfolk is so fortunate,” he said. “We have a tool at our disposal that a lot of other places do not have. The challenge is that we have issues relating to infiltration and the system is over 100 years old. But it’s better than not having it.” Zanobi would welcome new hookups and said that in terms of any new development hooking into the main, he would expect the burden of that cost to be on the developer.

Connectivity in town was also discussed. Many attendees urged the creation of more sidewalks to connect the school, Meadowbrook, City Meadow and the Green, a system that all felt would benefit both residents and businesses.