Monthly Archives: March 2022

All Motions Passed Unanimously at Monday Evening’s Old Lyme Town Meeting

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Edie Twining, Chair of the Halls Rd. Improvement Committee, addresses the audience during Monday evening’s Special Town Meeting. All photos submitted.

OLD LYME — UPDATED 2:40PM At a packed Old Lyme Special Town Meeting held Monday evening in the Meeting Hall of Old Lyme’s Memorial Town Hall, all the motions considered were passed unanimously by voice vote.

With people standing at the rear of the Meeting Room as well as all those seated, Moderator Vicki Lanier determined for each motion that there was no need to call for a paper vote as the majority in support of each motion in a voice vote was clearly overwhelming.

Old Lyme Selectwoman Martha Shoemaker answers a question from the podium during the meeting.

After the meeting, Old Lyme First Selectman Tim Griswold commented to LymeLine via text message, “We had about 100 people in attendance and each of the five agenda items was passed unanimously. The presenters did a fine job describing their motions and there was only one comment (a clarification) from the audience.”

He went on to describe the events of the evening as, “A very good result, indeed.”

A delighted Edie Twining, chair of the Halls Rd. Improvement Committee, who had presented the background to the first motion, expressed her gratitude to all those who attended the meeting, saying to LymeLine via e-mail, “Thank you to all those who came out tonight to show their support [for the various motions.]”

The following agenda items were all approved:

1.         The appropriation of an amount not to exceed $45,000 to fund the preparation of a Local Transportation Capital Improvement Plan grant application, to prepare easement documentation for a pedestrian bridge and a walking trail to the Florence Griswold Museum and to fund engineering and legal services to prepare a Village District Zoning Overlay.

Twining highlights a point on the Halls Rd. map showing the proposed changes.

2.         The utilization of the Standard Allowance for American Rescue Plan Act funding reporting purposes.

3.         The funding of a request from the Ledge Light Health District in the amount of $21,622.15 (1% of Old Lyme’s American Rescue Plan funding) to help the District respond to the COVID-19 public health emergency.  The funding will be paid from American Rescue Plan (ARP) funds received by the Town.

4.         The funding of an amount not to exceed $20,000 to retain the services of George E. Krivda, Jr. to administer the Town of Old Lyme’s small business and non-profit American Rescue Plan grant program.  The funding will be paid from ARP funds received by the Town.

Old Lyme Selectwoman Martha Shoemaker addresses the audience during the meeting. Old Lyme First Selectman Tim Griswold sits at the extreme right of the table and Old Lyme Town Clerk Vicki Urbowicz is in the center.

5.         An amended and restated Deed of Conservation Restriction 311.50-acre parcel, which amends a Deed of Conservation Restriction from David Sears McCulloch and Jean Adair McCulloch to The Nature Conservancy of Connecticut, Inc., its successors or assigns, dated on or about December 29, 1999 and recorded at Book 260, Page 1007 of the said Land Records, subsequently assigned to Jean A. McCulloch Farm LLC, having been approved by a judgment of the Superior Court on June 4, 2021, providing for the following specific amendments:

a.         Paragraphs 3.3 (a), (b) and (c) of the Deed of Conservation Restriction are hereby amended by adding the following at the end of each section:  “except as required to construct parking in the three areas shown on the maps in Exhibit B, such parking to be made of permeable surface material and designed in consultation with the Conservancy.”

b.         Paragraph 3.3 (e) is hereby amended by adding the following at the end of the section: “except for the placement of sanitary garbage pails or bins and to erect environmentally sound composting toilets as required for the responsible management and in order to protect the conservation values of the property.”

The First Selectman was authorized and empowered to sign, execute, receive, deliver and record, on behalf of the Town, the amended and restated Deed of Conservation Restriction 311.50-acre parcel, and such other instruments and agreements as are required to carry out the foregoing resolution.

March 21 COVID-19 Update: Two Cases in Old Lyme Take Cumulative Total to 1050, Lyme Holds at 256

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Photo by CDC on Unsplash,

LYME-OLD LYME —The Daily Data Report issued Monday, March 21, by the Connecticut Department of Public Health (CT DPH) shows an increase of two in the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Old Lyme taking the town’s cumulative case total to 1050.

No new cases were reported in Lyme, leaving the cumulative case total at 246 meaning March 21 is the 20th consecutive day on which no new cases have been reported in Lyme.

The most recent day that no new cases were reported in either Lyme or Old Lyme was March 9.  There were also no new cases on March 4, and Feb. 24. The previous date prior to Feb. 24 when no new cases were reported in either town was Dec. 12, 2021.

The next Daily Data Report will be issued by CT DPH Tuesday, March 22, around 4 p.m.

Statewide Situation – Weekly Update

The most recent, weekly COVID-19 Case Rate Map, which was released Thursday, March 17, by CT DPH indicates that only nine municipalities are now in the Red (highest of four) Zone for case rates. This number has fallen by three from 12 since last week:- the nine Red Zone towns are Eastford, Guilford, Ledyard, Middletown, New Haven, New London, Salem, Weston, and Westport.

This reflects a further reduction in the number of towns in the Red Zone since late January. On Jan. 27, the total was 168 out of 169 towns and by Feb. 17, the total was 153. By Feb. 24, it had fallen to 87; on March 3, the total was 23, and and last week on March 12, it was 12.

However, Alex Putterman asks in an article published March 17, in The Hartford Courant, Is another COVID-19 wave on the way? Connecticut experts ‘watching very carefully’ for BA.2 omicron subvariant, suggesting it is not yet time to let down our guard in respect of COVID precautions.

The March 17 total of nine is equivalent to 5.3% of towns in the state, which remain in the Red Zone.

As of March 17, New London and Ledyard are the only towns in the Ledge Light Health District (LLHD) remaining in the Red Zone. Two are in the Orange (second highest) Zone:- Stonington and East Lyme. Three are in the Yellow (second lowest) Zone:- Old Lyme,  Groton, and Waterford, while Lyme and North Stonington are in the Gray (lowest) Zone.

The weekly report dated March 17 for the nine member towns of the Ledge Light Health District (LLHD) shows that Old Lyme has the sixth highest Daily Case Rate at 17.8% behind New London, Ledyard, East Lyme, Stonington and Waterford.

Lyme is in 8th equal and lowest place with North Stonington for Daily Case Rates at 0% with both towns recording less than five cases reported in the past two weeks.

The next weekly LLHD report will be issued Thursday, March 24.

The CT DPH will issue an updated map of the zones Thursday, March 24 — the map is updated weekly on Thursdays.

The color-coded zones are:

Red: Indicates case rates over the last two weeks of greater than 15 per 100,000 population
Orange: Indicates case rates between 10 to 14 cases per 100,000 population
Yellow: Indicates case rates between 5 and 9 per 100,000 population
Gray: Indicates case rates lower than five per 100,000 population
Extracts from the Feb. 24, 2022 CT DPH report

Statewide Situation – Daily Update

The state’s COVID-19 Daily Positivity Rate on Monday, March 21, decreased marginally from 2.73% on March 18 to 2.49%. The March 10 rate of 1.79% was the most recent time the positivity rate had fallen below 2.0 since Oct. 7, 2021 according to our records, when it was 1.70%.

On March 21, the number of COVID-related hospitalizations increased by five from 92 to 97. In contrast, on Jan. 12, 2022, the number of COVID-related hospitalizations was 1,939.

Of those hospitalized on March 18, 43 (representing 44.3%) are not fully vaccinated.

The total number of COVID-related deaths in Connecticut rose to 10,723, according to the New York Times.

Statewide Situation – Weekly Update

As of March 16, 2022: (the number in parentheses is from March 9, 2022)

Number of cases of COVID-19 among fully vaccinated persons in Connecticut: 175, 490 (174,207)
Number of fully vaccinated persons in Connecticut: 2,687,029 (2,679,485)
Percent of fully vaccinated persons, who have contracted COVID-19: 6.53% (6.5%)

For the week beginning March 16, 2022: (the number in parentheses is from Feb. 27, 2022)

Risk of unvaccinated persons testing positive for COVID-19 as compared to fully vaccinated persons: 3.0 x greater (2.4 x greater)
Risk of unvaccinated persons dying from COVID-19 as compared to fully vaccinated persons: 16.0 x greater (15.9 x greater)

Increase in Cases in Lyme & Old Lyme Since August 2021

The cumulative total of confirmed cases for Old Lyme has now increased by 607 since Wednesday, Nov. 10, when the total stood at 443 — that number had stood unchanged for a week since the previous Thursday, Nov. 4.

On Aug. 26 — which was the day Lyme-Old Lyme Schools started the new academic year — Old Lyme’s cumulative case total stood at 372, meaning there have now been 678 new cases there since that date. Meanwhile, Lyme’s cumulative total on Aug. 26 was 114 indicating 142 new cases have also been confirmed there during the same period.

Ledge Light Health District Update

Two towns (Ledyard and New London) in the Ledge Light Health District (LLHD), of which both Lyme and Old Lyme are members, are in the Red Zone. In the past two weeks, Lyme has had less than 5 new cases while Old Lyme has reported 8 — the previous week’s numbers were respectively less than 5 and 13.

In an email sent Thursday, March 10, regarding the latest COVID-19 data, Ledge Light Health District (LLHD) Director of Health Stephen Mansfield states, “Based on surveillance data available in a new tool created by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) called COVID-19 Community Levels, the municipalities within Ledge Light Health District (and all of New London County) are currently classified as low, the “best” classification available based on these new metrics.”

He continues, “Community Levels can be low, medium, or high and are determined by looking at hospital beds being used, hospital admissions, and the total number of new COVID cases in a specific geographical area. CDC recommends taking precautions to protect yourself and others from COVID based on Community Levels in your area.”

He adds, “In New London County, residents are advised to:

  • Stay up to date with COVID-19 vaccines
  • Get tested if you have symptoms

View the new tool by following this link: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/your-health/covid-by-county.html.

LLHD continues to focus our vaccination efforts on homebound populations and providing initial vaccinations and boosters to individuals who were vaccinated previously. Information about vaccination opportunities can be found at https://llhd.org/coronavirus-covid-19-situation/covid-19-vaccine/.”

An explanation of the new tool by Thomas Gotowka can be found at this link.

COVID testing opportunities can be found at COVID-19 Testing | Ledge Light Health District (llhd.org)

The following link provides centralized access to Connecticut COVID data: https://data.ct.gov/stories/s/COVID-19-data/wa3g-tfvc/

The next Ledge Light update is due Thursday, March 17, 2022.

Fatalities Due to COVID-19 in Lyme, Old Lyme

There has been one COVID-related fatality of a Lyme resident: a 57-year-old male passed away Nov. 16, 2021. On Nov. 30, the state finally included this fatality in its data

Four COVID-related fatalities have now been reported in Old Lyme. The first two fatalities from Old Lyme, which were reported in 2020, were a 61-year-old female and an 82-year-old male.

Details of the third and fourth fatalities, which were reported respectively in 2021 and on Feb. 4, 2022, have not been made available.

Lyme-Old Lyme Schools Update

Under new state protocols for schools, Lyme-Old Lyme (LOL) Schools are no longer required to carry out contact tracing , but LOL Schools Superintendent Ian Neviaser said in a Feb. 17 email to the school community that, “Through the end of March we will continue to send daily COVID-19 case numbers for those who are interested in tracking this information.”

He added, “Beginning in April, we will report these numbers on a weekly basis.”

A full listing of all LOL Schools-related cases during 2022 is given below.

During Winter Break for LOL Schools, no case reporting was announced until Monday, Feb. 28. Schools are now back in session. One new case was reported on March 2 and another on March 3. In further good news, no new cases were reported on March 4, or March 7-12. One new case was reported on each day of March 13, 14, 16 and 20.

Lyme-Old Lyme Schools closed Dec. 23, 2021 and reopened Monday, Jan. 3, 2022 after the winter break meaning no new cases were reported by the schools during that period. We are no longer including positive cases impacting LOL schools between Aug 26, 2021 (the first day of the 2021-22 academic school year) and Dec. 23, 2021 (the last day of school before winter break began), in this report. During that period contact tracing was still required.

View the full listing of cases during that period (8/26/21 – 12/23/21) at this link.

The listing below is the latest information that we have with the most recent cases first — there may have been further updates, however, which we have not yet received.

The following abbreviations are used in the lists below: LOLHS: Lyme-Old Lyme High School, LOLMS: Lyme-Old Lyme

Lyme-Old Lyme Middle School, CS: MC: Mile Creek School, and Center School Pre-Kindergarten

Sunday, March 20
Total: LOLHS: 1

Wednesday, March 16
Total: LOLHS: 1

Monday, March 14
Total: CS: 1

Sunday, March 13
Total: LOLHS: 1

Thursday, March 3
Total: LOLHS: 1

Wednesday, March 2
Total: LOLHS: 1

FEBRUARY 2022
Friday, Feb. 18: Total: LOLMS: 1, MC: 1
Thursday, Feb. 17: Total: 1,  MC: 1
Wednesday, Feb. 16: Total: 6, LOLMS: 3
Monday, Feb. 14: Total: 6, LOLMS: 2, MC: 3, Lyme: 1
Sunday, Feb. 13: Total: 3, LOLMS: 2, MC: 1
Friday, Feb. 11: Total: 2, LOLHS: 1, CS: 1
Thursday, Feb. 10: Total: 2, Lyme: 1, CS: 1
Wednesday, Feb. 9: Total: 2, LOLHS: 1, MC: 1
Tuesday, Feb. 8: Total: 0
Monday, Feb. 7: Total: 3, Lyme: 1, MC: 1, CS: 1
Sunday, Feb. 6:Total: 2, LOLMS: 1, MC: 1
Friday, Feb. 4: Total: 5, LOLHS: 2, LOLMS: 1, MC: 2
Thursday, Feb. 3: Total: 1, Lyme: 1
Wednesday, Feb. 2: Total: 3, MC: 3
Tuesday, Feb. 1: Total: 1, MC: 1

JANUARY 2022
Monday, 1/31: Total: 2, LOLMS: 1, Lyme: 1
Sunday, 1/30: Total: 1, Lyme: 1
Friday, 1/28: Total: 3, LOLHS: 1, LOLMS: 1, MC: 1
Thursday, 1/27: Total: 3, LOLHS: 1, Lyme: 2
Wednesday, 1/26: Total: 3, LOLHS: 1, MC: 2
Tuesday, 1/25: Total: 4, LOLMS: 2, MC: 2
Monday, 1/24:Total: 9, LOLHS: 2, LOLMS: 1, Lyme: 1, MC: 4, CS: 1
Sunday, 1/23:Total: 3, LOLMS: 1, Lyme: 2
Friday, 1/21:Total: 8, LOLHS: 4, LOLMS: 2, MC: 2
Thursday, 1/20: Total: 5, LOLMS: 1, MC: 1, Lyme: 3
Wednesday, 1/19: Total: 7, LOLHS: 2, LOLMS: 4, CS: 1
Tuesday, 1/18: Total: 7, LOLHS: 3, LOLMS: 2, MC: 2
Monday, 1/17: Total: 6, Lyme: 4, MC: 2
Friday, 1/14: Total: 3, MC: 2, LOLHS: 1
Wednesday, 1/12: Total: 3, MC: 2, LOLMS: 1
Monday, 1/10: Total: 3, CS: 1, Lyme: 2
Sunday, 1/9: Total: 2, MC: 1, Lyme: 1
Friday, 1/7: Total: 1, MC: 1:
Thursday, 1/6: Total: 7, LOLHS: 5, Lyme: 1, CS: 1
Wednesday, 1/5: Total: 14, LOLHS: 6, MC: 1, Lyme: 3, CS: 4
Tuesday, 1/4: Total: 5, LOLHS: 4, CS:

Death Announced of Mary Caldwell Schroeder of Lyme & Santa Fe, NM; ‘a dedicated conservationist’

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LYME — Mary Caldwell Schroeder, of Lyme, and Santa Fe, N.M., passed away at her home in Santa Fe Dec. 5, 2021. Mary was born May 3, 1960, to John Schroeder and Julie Morsman Schroeder …

Later moving to Lyme, Mary joined the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art in Hartford, ultimately rising to the position of registrar. Mary and Cathy married in 2014, … A dedicated conservationist, Mary purchased a large parcel of adjacent land and put it into conservation trust. At retirement, Mary and Cathy discovered Santa Fe, …

Mary leaves behind her wife Catherine Spencer; … and many, many friends.

Visit this link to read the full obituary published March 21, 2022 by The Day.

A la Carte: Thinking of Those Southern Warmer Climes? Creole Daube Will Take You There

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Lee White

Finally, inflation has really got to me at the supermarket.

I so wanted to make a pot roast and saw a lovely fat chuck roast. Before I put it into my cart, I saw the price: $31. I looked again. Yup, $31 for a piece of meat that requires 3 to 4 hours of cooking before it has the perfect chew.

I left that market with chicken. The next day I tried another market. That piece was $23, still expensive, but bought it and made the recipe below.

I shared enough with my next-door neighbors and the next morning Sue told me she saw the circular at McQuade’s said $3.99 a pound. Quick like a bunny, I went to McQuade’s and bought three and put them in my freezer.

Instead of my regular recipe, shared with friend Ralph Turri some years ago, I found this recipe in a new Southern Living. My friend Meredith, a Texan transplant from Connecticut, shares the magazines with me. In return, I give her my New York Times Sunday Magazine. 

This recipe has exact amounts. The bacon doesn’t have to be hickory-smoke, the chuck can be smaller or larger, the veggies can vary. But I am in love with Better than Bouillon stock and they are now available on the shelves of most big supermarkets.

Creole Daube
From Southern Living, January, 2022, page 96
Yield: serves 6 to 8

3 thick-cut hickory-smoke bacon slices, coarsely chopped
1 3 ½ pound boneless chuck roast, trimmed
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 small yellow onions, chopped (about 2 ¼ cups)
1 small green bell pepper, chopped (about 1 cup)
1 large celery stalk, chopped (about ½ cup)
3 tablespoons tomato paste (from 1 6-oumce can)
2 ½ tablespoons chopped garlic from 8 garlic cloves)
1 cup dry red wine
2 cups beef stock (I use Better than Bouillon—1 teaspoon for each cup water)
5 fresh thyme sprigs
3 bay leaves
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
5 small carrots, sliced on an angle into 2-inch pieces (about 2 cups)
2 medium turnips, peeled and cut into 2-inch pieces (about 3 cups)
4 tablespoons of flour stirred into 2 to 3 cups cold water

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Cook bacon in a large Dutch oven over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until brown and fat rendered, about 8 minutes. Transfer to a plate and reserve dripping to a skilled.

Sprinkle roast with salt and pepper. Increase heat to medium-heat. Add roast to Dutch oven and sear. Until browned on 2 sides, about 12 minutes. Carefully flip halfway through. Transfer to a plate.

Reduce heat to medium. Add onions, bell pepper and celery to Dutch oven; cook, stirring often and scraping browned bits from bottom of Dutch oven, until onions soften, about 6 minutes. Add tomato paste and garlic; cook, stirring constantly, until paste turns a share darker, about 2 minutes. Add wine and bring to a simmer oven medium.

Simmer stirring occasionally, until it is slightly thickened and some of alcohol burns off, about 3 minutes. Stir in stock, thyme sprigs, bay leaves and clove. Nestle in roast and bacon along with any juices that have accumulated; bring to a simmer over medium, then remove from heat.

Cover and transfer to oven, and braise about 2 hours.

Remove from oven, uncover and stir in carrots and turnips. Cover and return to oven; braise until meat and vegetables are tender, about another hour. Remove and let rest 15 minutes. Remove roast and shred into large pieces. I reduce liquid to 1/3, then add flour/cold water mixture and whisk into a gravy.

Serve with fresh vegetables and roasted potatoes.

About the author: Lee White has been writing about restaurants and cooking since 1976 and has been extensively published in the Worcester (Mass.) Magazine, The Day, Norwich Bulletin, and Hartford Courant. She currently writes ‘Nibbles’ and a cooking column called ‘A La Carte’ for LymeLine.com along with the Shore Publishing and Times newspapers, both of which are owned by The Day. She was a resident of Old Lyme for many years but now lives in Groton, Conn. Contact Lee at leeawhite@aol.com.

Tonight, Old Lyme Holds Special Town Meeting with Five-Item Agenda

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OLD LYME — This evening, Monday, March 21, the Town of Old Lyme will hold a Special Town Meeting at 7:30 p.m. in the Meeting Hall of Memorial Town Hall, 52 Lyme St., in Old Lyme.

The following agenda items will be discussed and may be taken to a vote:

1.         To approve the appropriation of an amount not to exceed $45,000 to fund the preparation of a Local Transportation Capital Improvement Plan grant application, to prepare easement documentation for a pedestrian bridge and a walking trail to the Florence Griswold Museum and to fund engineering and legal services to prepare a Village District Zoning Overlay. See Appendices 1 and 2 at the foot of this article for more information.

2.         To approve the utilization of the Standard Allowance for American Rescue Plan Act funding reporting purposes.

3.         To approve the funding of a request from the Ledge Light Health District in the amount of $21,622.15 (1% of Old Lyme’s American Rescue Plan funding) to help the District respond to the COVID-19 public health emergency.  The funding will be paid from American Rescue Plan (ARP) funds received by the Town.

4.         To approve the funding of an amount not to exceed $20,000 to retain the services of George E. Krivda, Jr. to administer the Town of Old Lyme’s small business and non-profit American Rescue Plan grant program.  The funding will be paid from ARP funds received by the Town.

5.         To approve an AMENDED AND RESTATED DEED OF CONSERVATION RESTRICTION 311.50-ACRE PARCEL, which amends a Deed of Conservation Restriction from David Sears McCulloch and Jean Adair McCulloch to The Nature Conservancy of Connecticut, Inc., its successors or assigns, dated on or about December 29, 1999 and recorded at Book 260, Page 1007 of the said Land Records, subsequently assigned to Jean A. McCulloch Farm LLC, having been approved by a judgment of the Superior Court on June 4, 2021, providing for the following specific amendments:

a.         Paragraphs 3.3 (a), (b) and (c) of the Deed of Conservation Restriction are hereby amended by adding the following at the end of each section:  “except as required to construct parking in the three areas shown on the maps in Exhibit B, such parking to be made of permeable surface material and designed in consultation with the Conservancy.”

b.         Paragraph 3.3 (e) is hereby amended by adding the following at the end of the section: “except for the placement of sanitary garbage pails or bins and to erect environmentally sound composting toilets as required for the responsible management and in order to protect the conservation values of the property.”

To authorize and empower the First Selectman to sign, execute, receive, deliver and record, on behalf of the Town, the AMENDED AND RESTATED DEED OF CONSERVATION RESTRICTION 311.50-ACRE PARCEL, and such other instruments and agreements as are required to carry out the foregoing resolution.

A copy of the AMENDED AND RESTATED DEED OF CONSERVATION RESTRICTION 311.50-ACRE PARCEL may be examined at the office of the Town Clerk of the Town of Old Lyme during the Town Clerk’s ordinary business hours.

Appendix 1:

HALLS ROAD Improvements COMMITTEE
Short-term Financing Needs March 21, 2022
Approved by Board of Selectmen & Board of Finance: January 18, 2022

  1. LOTCIP Grant – Application for grant $13,500 (BSC Group)
    To assist in preparing LOTCIP Grant for sidewalk and other streetscape improvements. Proposal includes engineering drawings to show where and how new streetscape & safety improvements are to occur along Halls Road. These documents will also be used to provide specific direction for any future Construction Documentation. This grant application is the first formal submission of plans to CT DOT, and the first chance to receive official approval / disapproval for each plan element.
  2. Graybill Easement /survey     $7,000 (BSC Group, not to exceed)
    To secure an easement on the east bank of the Lieutenant. James Graybill has generously offered to grant an easement to the Town of Old Lyme to provide access to the old Lieutenant River bridge abutment on his property for a future pedestrian bridge. A pedestrian bridge over the Lieutenant has consistently been among the most favored potential improvements in public discussions and town-wide surveys. It will allow safe pedestrian and bicycle travel between Lyme Street and the Halls Road district, with views of a beautiful stretch of the Lieutenant River. Mr Graybill has also offered to include in the easement the path of a future trail to the Florence Griswold Museum. Such connections are great opportunities to integrate Old Lyme’s business district with its Arts District, one of Old Lyme’s definitive assets. It is important to secure this easement now, both to ensure future access to the bridge abutment and to make it possible to apply for grants to defray the costs of building the bridge and trails on the east side of the river.
  3. Halls Road Overlay District  – Zoning Attorney $10,000 (TCORS Bill Sweeney)
                                                     – Planning Consultant $ 9,000 (BSC Group, not to exceed)
    To complete the work of creating new zoning supporting the recommendations of the Hall Road Master Plan. The previous Village District approach to new zoning created un-looked-for burdens for existing property owners. The new approach is to allow the old C-30s zoning to remain, and to create a Halls Road Overlay District (HROD) as an alternative. Those who wish to can use the HROD to pursue different, and more profitable, new developments in line with the Master Plan. These include mixed use (commercial & residential), apartments and townhomes. The HROD also brings retail development up to the street to create a walkable town center along Halls Road. The change simplifies the new zoning regulations to some degree, but it is important that they be complete, accurate, and legally correct before submission to the Zoning Commission. This requires professional help, which this allocation will pay for. It should be noted that some of this work has already begun on a good faith basis.

$39,500   Total of 1 – 3 above
Contingency Allowance $  5,500
$45,000  Total Request

Appendix 2:

HALLS ROAD Improvements COMMITTEE
March 2022       NEXT STEPS

  • Halls Road Overlay District – prepare documents for town’s application to Zoning Commission 
    • Target Date April 2022 with final approvals possible by July 2022
    • Overlay District to provide new opportunities to property owners and future developers aimed at bringing commercial up to Halls Road and allowing apartments and town homes. 
    • C-30S Zone remains, unless an applicant choses to use the Overlay District.
  • Grant Applications – to help fund Public Improvements along Halls Road. Timeframe for grant process can be 2 – 4 years.

    Public Improvements include: Sidewalks, Pedestrian Lighting, Landscaping, Crosswalks, Pathways, and a new bridge over the Lieutenant River allowing pedestrians and cyclists to avoid the motorway bridge.

    Grant opportunities currently seeking: 

    • October 2022 – Local Transportation Capital Improvement Program (LOTCIP) Grant – BSC to assist in preparation. Application to include engineering drawings that will define and detail scope of streetscape improvements. CT DOT formally considers our design concept with this grant. 
      • Possible funding of $2.5 million. 
      • The LOTCIP Grant program is currently 2 years out from application. We are aiming to apply for this in fall 2022 to get into the application queue with a goal to be awarded funding by 2024/25.
    • Additional grants that would contribute funds toward the sidewalks and pedestrian bridge not likely to be covered by the LOTCIP Grant: 
      • November 2022 – CT Trails Program.
      • January 2023 – CT Community Challenge Grant. 

Seek other grants available for multi-modal connectivity and trails.

  • Design Drawings – With Grants Awarded the town can engage professionals to create final construction documents. Timeframe: 1 year from RFQ to final documentation.

Implementation – Seek and receive bids for construction, award project, and begin construction of roadway improvements. Requires prior grant funding and town-funded design documents (as above) and town approval of total funding package. Timeframe: TBD.