Helped shape Norfolk’s town plan
By Lloyd Garrison

Glen Chalder, an authority on the challenges facing small town America, will join National Public Radio’s John Dankosky in leading Norfolk 2013! in Infinity Hall on October 5.
Chalder was previously retained by Norfolk to help shape its 2009 Town Plan. He went on to do same in Salisbury and has helped tackle complex planning and development issues in more than 30 other communities, from Plainville, Conn. to Pinehurst, N.C.
Chalder’s addition to Norfolk 2013! was warmly endorsed by First Selectman Sue Dyer and Michele Sloane, who chairs Norfolk’s Planning & Zoning Commission and is also the town’s assessor.
“Five years ago,” says Sloane, “Glenn got us to identify Norfolk’s ‘prouds and sorrys’ and then helped us envision our future as a cohesive community. It’s not by chance that Norfolk is and will remain a town of which we can all be proud.”
With Dankosky taking the role of moderator, Chalder will kick off the two panel discussions with a brief overview of the problems and possibilities of small town development. Much as he did in leading two packed open meetings in Norfolk while advising on the 2009 town plan, Chalder intends to elicit as much audience participation as possible. This is likely to include asking for opinions handed in on slips of paper that are then broken down and later played back to the audience.
The Oct. 5 event, organized by the editors of Norfolk Now to both recognize the paper’s tenth anniversary and take a hard look at the town’s next decade, will open with an Ann Havemeyer video highlighting major turning points from Norfolk’s first three centuries. Norfolk Now will then present its coverage of the town’s last decade as a prelude to the panel discussions focusing on the future.
The family of the late Grenville Garside, who was an important supporter of Norfolk Now before his death in 2006, has made a generous contribution to help underwrite Norfolk 2013! The program will include a free lunch afterwards in the Infinity Hall Bistro.
The Yale Chamber Music Festival has also stepped up with the purchase of a full page ad in the program.