Middlefield Town Briefs
Friday, June 25, 2010
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Board of Selectmen discuss Powder Ridge and Hubbard Street By Chuck Corley Special to the Town Times
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P O S T M A S T E R: Send address changes to Town Times, P.O. Box 265, Middlefield, CT 06455.
Daniel Lamphier received his Doctor of Medicine degree from the George Washington University on May 16, 2010. Dan is the son of Brian and Rosalie Lamphier of Middlefield and the grandson of Mrs. Anne Lamphier of Meriden. Originally from Middlefield, Dr. Lamphier completed his undergraduate degree in Biology from the Johns Hopkins University before attending GWU in Washington, D.C. Dr. Lamphier will begin his residency with the Middlesex Hospital’s Family Medicine Residency Program located in Middletown, CT. Dr. Lamphier currently resides in Meriden, CT.
Love, Mom, Dad & Jon
that there isn’t enough work for a full time planner due to the lack of development in the town. While there may be 30 houses getting built in the near future by developers, such as Happy Acres, Brayshaw noted that only one home was built in 2009. Rogers also commented on the possible use of the Hubbard Street property for residential use. He spoke out against this, saying that it could cost the town money See BOS, page 30
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66 and was told by many of the business owners that Middlefield is not a businessfriendly town. Thus, while Middlefield may think of itself as business-friendly, this is not an opinion shared by some businesspeople. Rogers went on to say that “Jimmy D’s and the other ‘messes’ along Route 66 show the inadequacies of our planning department,” and he suggested that the town should hire a full time town planner to help take applicants through the planning process. Brayshaw replied
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Congratulations Dr. Daniel Lamphier!
sees these groups doing a “good, compassionate job of things” regarding business in town. Rogers pointed to the development of 1 Lorraine Terrace, noting that it only took two meetings for the applicant to go through Inland Wetlands; Rogers claimed that any trouble the applicant had was because of his negligence in submitting his application to the town. Brayshaw’s response was to inform Rogers of an event held this past June, at which time he met with a number of property owners along Route
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Based on the Board of Selectmen’s meeting held on June 22, a price has been set for the sale of the Powder Ridge property to Alpine Associates and a check is expected in the near future. However, First Selectman Jon Brayshaw held off on the exact details of the sale, prompting both board member Mary Johnson and resident Marianne Corona to stress the need for this information to go public as soon as possible. Corona noted that it’s the taxpayers money that paid for the purchase of Powder Ridge in the first place and that the town should know the details of the sale before it goes up for a vote. She suggested that the board put together a fact sheet for residents to review so that they know what they’re voting on before the selectmen call for a public hearing. Brayshaw explained that he’s waiting to hear a response back from Alpine on the town’s offer, and that he intends to bring the details of the plan before the public in the next two or three weeks. He stated that he may call a public hearing on the matter solely for information purposes, before putting the matter up to a vote. During their discussion on Powder Ridge, the board also clarified a couple of points. The first is that Alpine plans to run a ski operation on the property in addition to tubing and snowboarding. The second is that, should the town make use of eminent domain, it would only be to obtain a 30’
easement across the property known as Green Forty. The possible sale of a portion of the Strickland property to Monarca also came before the board, with Brayshaw mentioning that Planning and Zoning should be discussing the matter during their June 23 meeting. At this time, Mary Johnson stated that, before any sale occurs, there should be a study to see if the sale is in the best interests of the town. According to Johnson, the last industrial redevelopment in the area was not the windfall that the town was expecting. Brayshaw’s response was that the selectmen should visit the site to at least see what Monarca wants to buy. Johnson agreed to a site visit, adding that the assessor should also visit the site to ensure that Monarca is paying for all the equipment that should be taxed. One topic of discussion came up during the board’s public session, with resident Tom Rogers addressing recent comments from Brayshaw about how Middlefield isn’t perceived as a businessfriendly town. Rogers stated that he would be offended by the comments were he currently on any of the town’s commissions, adding that he
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