Business development is main concern

By Veronica Burns

Fran Turchiano spoke out at the meeting.

One hundred and seventy people showed up on the last Saturday of October at the Botelle School’s Hall of Flags to speak their minds about Norfolk and the future of the town. The audience was spirited, humorous at times, only occasionally contentious, but clearly, very involved and eager to be part of the developing a new town plan. ongoing town plan process. “Awesome,” said Glenn Chalder, senior planner with Planimetrics, the consulting group hired by the Planning & Zoning Commission (P&Z) to help create the plan. “The room was filled with great energy.”

As each person came in, they were greeted and given an envelope containing planning points to be placed in ballot boxes, under topics such as traffic flow, village enhancement, housing needs, community character and open space etc. Also included was a card to be filled in, which would reflecting ‘prouds’ and ‘sorrys’, what people are most proud of about Norfolk and what they are most sorry about. in their town.

The ‘prouds’ list included our lakes, library, Village Green, parks, recreational activities, Yale Music school, nature and wildlife. Among the ‘sorrys’ were the golf club project, lack of small businesses, traffic congestion and spotty Internet connectivity.  problems. One person wondered if anything could be done about “the Saturday and Sunday armies of motorcyclists that pass through town.”

P & Z Chairman West Lowe (standing) at the town exercise.

When the ballots were tallied, the number one issue, with a total of 830 points, was business development. Chalder, who led the meeting with fellow-planner Jason Vincent, asked the audience in a quick poll, “Is your primary interest in business development to create local jobs, for goods or services or for tax base?”

The resulting show of hands was evenly distributed among all three. When it came to wish lists, Dorothy Pam requested a flower shop and a bookstore. Linda Bell suggested more B&B’s. for people to stay when they come to town. Julie Scharnberg thought it was essential to increase the business tax base and ease the school budget.

One dissenting opinion came from photographer Enrico Ferorelli, who felt that business was not what Norfolk was about. “This is not a business town,” he said, “we have to recognize the non-business side of this town. That’s why we like this place.”

West Lowe, chairman of the P&Z, recommended capitalizing on our Norfolk’s pastures and forests by encouraging tourism and passive recreation. business development.

The second pressing issue was housing needs, which garnered 790 points. Chalder talked about our changing world. “If we don’t address these things responsibly,” he warned, “people are going to try to force change upon us in ways that they want, not what we want. So the plan is to try and guide growth.”

The town meeting was held in Botelle’s Hall of Flags.

Several people commented on affordable housing. Landscaper Marc Tonan stated that he had two employees who had to move out of town because they could not afford to live here. It was agreed that it was important to keep our young people in town since many are volunteer ambulance or fire personnel. Robert Pam drew attention to zoning requirements and suggested half-acre lots instead of one or two acre sites. Cluster housing was also suggested as an option.

The third area of concern centered on conservation, specifically Norfolk’s natural resources, which totaled 770 points. Local artist Leslie Watkins said that the beauty of Norfolk was very important to her and something that she thought should be protected. Another suggestion was to make hiking more accessible, at which point Bill Brodnitski jumped in to urge people to use the Norfolk Land Trust trails. He also pointed out that only 35% of Norfolk is protected, even though many are under the misconception that the percentage is higher.

The topic of Village village enhancement was a topic which led to a discussion about the city meadow. Some preferred to leave it as is, while some would like to see it improved. Susannah Wood thought it would be appropriate to have a path connecting one side to the other, and also suggested removing the phragmites and planting native species. Starling Childs recalled that 20 years ago he and others had tried to get the meadow revamped but were voted down. However, he said, “I am very happy to see so many people excited again about the possibilities for the city meadow.”

Many attendees mentioned how special Norfolk is, and Chalder reinforced that. “There are people around the state who recognize what you have here in Norfolk,” he told the audience, “and they are tremendously jealous. What you have is very basic structure and fabric, which is actually incredible in the state of Connecticut. Norfolk is a diamond in all sorts of ways.” That won a round of applause.

Planimetrics will be continuing to lead workshop sessions on the different themes, but as yet, no date has been scheduled for the next public meeting. Future meetings will be posted on keep informed on the process by accessing the town Web site, norfolkct.org.