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News in Willington Village Hill Road Bridge finishes semifinal inspection Willington contracts with Access Agency to provide Youth, Senior and Social Services Senior Center/Housing Complex Is Ready to Break Ground Center School Parking Lot Expanded Plan of Conservation and Development Nearing Completion Willington Website Keeping Citizens Informed
Village Hill Road Bridge finishes semifinal
inspection — With the final inspection the last hurdle to be completed,
the 1.7 million dollar Village Hill Road Bridge over Roaring Brook is coming to
a close. The bridge project originally conceived in 1990 took six years to
design due to delays in funding, the discovery of an historical landmark that is
now on the National Historical Registry, and property acquisitions needed to
complete the project. The final product is a sweeping 100 foot curved steel
bridge with a small park area by Roaring Brook and stair access to the stream.
The actual bridge construction was finished under budget and on-time once it was
started in May of 2002. The bridge was paid for by Federal and State grants. The Village Hill Road Bridge is part of a series of bridge replacements over the last few years. Prior to this bridge, the Town replaced bridges on Trask Road and Clint Eldredge Road. The Kechkes Road bridge over the Fenton River is scheduled to be replaced next. The remainder of the Town’s bridges are continually being monitored to ensure their safety.
Willington contracts with Access Agency to provide Youth, Senior and Social Services — Willington has contracted with Access Agency of Willimantic to provide needed Youth, Senior and Social Services. Access is a Community Action Agency formed in 1965 as part of President Johnson’s “War on Poverty” and serves Tolland and Windham counties. Recognizing the need for assistance in providing quality services to the Town’s residents at an affordable price, First Selectman John Patton worked with Access on a new delivery model which utilizes Access’ expertise and experience to deliver services to local residents and to write grants for needed programs. The idea is to eventually offer this model to other Eastern Connecticut towns which may not need full-time professional staff but will benefit from the expertise a regional organization can offer its residents. In the first year of the program, Access wrote several grants for Willington, one of which now provides funding for services for Willington, Ashford and Mansfield seniors. Access offers health and nutrition programs, weatherization, energy and housing programs, entrepreneurial programs, mentoring and many other programs.
Senior Center/Housing Complex Is Ready to Break Ground — The Inland Wetlands and Watercourses Commission and the Planning and Zoning Commission have approved applications for Phase I of the Senior Center/Housing Complex. One million dollars in grant money was received from the Federal and State Governments for construction of the senior center and requisite site work. The senior center is a 4,200 square foot stand-alone building in the center of the complex. Last June, the Willington Housing Authority and their partner, the New Samaritan Group, submitted an application to Housing and Urban Development for Section 202 funding. This funding is to utilize the work from the senior center and build a 31-unit apartment building. This is Phase II of the complex. HUD 202 funded housing is income-limited housing. Phase III is 6 four-unit cottages which are not income-limited and would allow seniors to keep their assets and live in the community they lived in most of their lives.
Center School Parking Lot Expanded — At the request of the Willington Board of Education, the Town Engineer redesigned the Center School parking lot and added 17 much needed parking spaces to the school’s parking lot. The work was done during the summer of 2003 by the Town Public Works department and Town contractors. The expansion did necessitate the elimination of the grassy center area of the parking lot. At the request of various groups, a number of trees in the center area were transplanted although not all survived. Besides increased parking, the sidewalk was extended all of the way around the parking lot so the buses can all fit inside the parking lot while loading and unloading the children. This change keeps them off of Old Farms Road where they used to have to stay until they could come into lot to pick their students up. A snow removal area was also part of the design and keeps an open area for the snow to be placed during the winter season.
Revaluation is Here Again. — The State of Connecticut now requires that towns revalue property every four years and that every property be inspected at least every twelve years. Our last physical inspection was for the grand list of October 1, 1999, so the town is now conducting the mandated four-year revaluation. The value of your property is based on an analysis of the entire market for the full two calendar years before the completion of the Revaluation Project. It is the Appraiser’s job to research and analyze the values in any particular area or neighborhood. In effect, they do what you would do to determine the selling price when putting your property up for sale. The Appraiser has specific guidelines to follow. Factors that are examined for each property are: Location, size, quality of construction, age of improvements, topography, utilities, zoning restrictions, if any, etc. The revaluation process is not intended to increase revenue, but rather, to keep the fair market value current and to insure that properties that have changed in value are equitably assessed.
Land-Use Records Digitized — Every year, the Land Use and Building Department was adding one to two fireproof file cabinets to store information received on property development. As you can imagine, storage space was quickly becoming scarce. To add to the difficulties, all of the information needed to be quickly accessible so storage off-site was not possible and a building expansion was a costly option. After contemplating several options to solve this problem, First Selectman John Patton contracted with Continental Computers to install Laserfiche Document Imaging and Management Solutions. Continental Computers scanned and digitized all of the existing files and provided the software and hardware to digitize new documents as they are filed. This solution allowed for easier viewing and retrieval of the files, greater security, as no documents can be taken from the existing files, and it freed up the file room as the existing files can now be stored off-site.
New Fire Trucks Arrived — The Willington Hill Fire Department showed off their new 3,000 gallon tanker truck at Willington’s 275th Anniversary Parade in October of 2002. The tanker replaces the existing 1400 gallon 1973 GMC tanker. Not to be outdone, the Willington #1 Fire Department introduced its new Rescue/Service truck with an advanced compressed air foam system in May of 2003. The compressed air foam system and the truck were designed to need a minimal amount of manpower to operate and to quickly and efficiently suffocate structure and vehicular fires. The Town entered into a ten-year lease-purchase agreement to pay for the two vehicles. Most of the money for the lease payment comes from the ambulance recovery fund.
Ballfield Construction — The Center School baseball field was renovated for better drainage, easier viewing of games, two new player dugouts, and fencing along the baselines. The renovations were overseen by the Recreation Commission and the First Selectman. The renovations give the Little League and the Recreation Department another option for practices and games. In addition, site work on the River Road Recreation fields is expected to commence in the Fall of 2003, with completion expected in the Spring of 2004. The project was originally delayed until Spring of 2003 when the National Guard agreed to do the site work as part of a training exercise. Two weeks before their scheduled arrival, the unit was deployed. As there are no guarantees on their return or a need for a training exercise soon, local contractors are submitting bids to perform the work.
Plan of Conservation and Development Nearing Completion — After nearly three years and input from hundreds of residents, the State-mandated Plan of Conservation and Development is coming to fruition. The Planning and Zoning Commission is tasked with completing and updating the plan every ten years. The commission selected Clough Harbour and Associates, LLP to assist in developing it. One of the deciding factors in their selection was their teaming with the Study Circles Resource Center in order to maximize residents’ input. During the Spring of 2002, all residents were asked to participate in “Study Circles” where people were divided into groups of 6 to 10 people meeting multiple times to discuss various issues and their vision of the Town of Willington. The information was compiled into a database and used by the Plan of Conservation and Development Committee to produce the final document. During the drafting of the document, workshops were held to present the unfinished document and gather input as the process went along. The fourth and final workshop is to be held on November 12th, 2003.
Willington Website Keeping Citizens Informed — The Town’s website, www.willingtonct.org, allows residents to subscribe to announcements, agendas, meeting minutes and other information to keep abreast of Town events. First Selectman John Patton stated that the website has become an invaluable tool to give residents information about what is happening in town. With sparse media coverage, residents and Town officials were often frustrated on ways to get information to people in a convenient, cost-effective way. The website not only allows research of minutes and information, it gives people the ability to have minutes, agendas and public announcements electronically mailed to them when posted. Patton added that “an informed citizenry is crucial to good government.” |
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