Prst. Std. U.S. Postage Paid Naugatuck, CT #27
“Firefighting – one of the few professions left that still makes house calls.” ~ Author Unknown
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Bee Intelligencer Informing the towns of Middlebury, Southbury, Woodbury, Naugatuck, Oxford and Watertown A FREE COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER
Volume IX, No. 9
Friday, March 1, 2013
Fresh Air Fund needs host families By Marjorie Needham Heather Roy of Middlebury is seeking host families from Middlebury, Southbury and Woodbury to become part of the Fresh Air Fund’s Friendly Town program this summer. Roy, who first hosted a Fresh Air Fund child in 2011, is now the Fresh Air Fund chair for the Litchfield County/ Tribury area. “When the program works the way it is supposed to, it’s like magic. It’s like gaining a new family member,” Roy said. The first year Roy participated, three Tribury families served as host families; the second year the number grew to 10. She hopes to have at least 17 Tribury family hosts this year, but her long-term goal is to have 50 host families involved. She said that’s how many families in Weston, Conn., host children every summer. “There are always more kids than hosts,” Roy said. “They always have to turn kids away.” Roy will hold two open houses for those interested in becoming host families. The first will be Thursday, March 7, from 5 to 6 p.m. at the Middlebury Public Library’s temporary location at 199 Park Road Extension in Middlebury. The second will be Wednesday, March 27, from 5 to 7 p.m. in Room 26 at Shepardson Community Center at 1172 Whittemore Road in Middlebury. Those unable to attend an open house still can participate in the program. As area chair, Roy travels to people’s homes to explain the program and enroll participants. As part of the enrollment process, all family members are interviewed, as are any childcare providers who might care for Fresh Air Fund
Heather Roy, center, son Nico, 9, and daughter Annabel, 10, hold the greeting sign for their Fresh Air sister, Catherine Pagan of New York City. They created the sign two years ago, but have kept it so they can hold it up each year when the bus carrying Pagan arrives. (Marjorie Needham photo) children while they visit. Background checks are run on all participants. The Fresh Air Fund started in 1877 when a Pennsylvania minister asked members of his congregation to provide country vacations for children living in New York City (NYC) tenements. Today, more than 4,000 NYC children from low-income communities get on busses to travel to 13 states, going as far south as Virginia and as far north as Canada to visit a host family for a
week or more during the summer. “Some children are on a bus for nine hours,” Roy said. “Those kids tend to stay a month.” The Roy family has hosted their Fresh Air Fund sister for two summers. Nico, 9, a fourthgrader at Middlebury Elementary School (MES) and Annabel, 10, a fifth-grader at MES, will be joined again this summer by Catherine Pagan, 9. They’ll meet Fresh Air fund child Catherine Pagan, left, shares a fun moment at March Farm over Columbus Day her bus at the McDonald’s on weekend with, left to right, Annabel Roy, Jackson Hitchcock, Hannah Hitchcock and Nico Roy. The Roy family hosted Pagan last summer and invited her back Columbus Day weekend. - See Fresh Air on page 3 (Heather Roy photo)
BoE discusses proposed 4.54% budget increase
EIDC considers Pilot Seasoning, Shaker Automotive matters By TERRENCE S. MCAULIFFE The Middlebury Economic and Industrial Development Commission (EIDC) at its Feb 26 meeting agreed to send comments on Pilot Seasoning’s architectural plans to the Planning and Zoning (P&Z) commission without voting on them. It also voted to ask Corey Shaker to rescind the Shaker Automotive Group tax incentive application and resubmit it after supplying missing information. Land Surveyor Curt Smith of Smith & Company used drawings by Bennett Sullivan Associates of Southbury to illustrate the external design, landscaping and building footprint of a proposed 15,600-square-foot metal building for Waterbury’s Pilot Seasoning Company on LI-200-zoned property on North Benson Road. Production will consist of mixing seasonings rather than manufacturing them, Smith said, and two 1,200-square-foot floors will contain offices and a place for sales to the public. Fifteen parking spaces will provide more than enough parking for seven employees and visitors. The plans showed two loading docks in back where only one is currently required and up to 6,600-square-feet available for expansion. The building will be across from Long Meadow School between MD Services
and the Edgewood Bath and Tennis Club and will have vertical 12-inch steel siding and a white standing seam steel roof. He said the building color had not yet been determined. Commissioner Armando Paolino asked how the architectural “skin” and height of the building conformed to other nearby buildings visited frequently by the public. Smith said the 28-foot height was lower than the 35 feet allowed in the regulations and would appear lower when viewed from the road due to the topography of the land. Co-chairman Gerry Matthews said the building would be the only building in that area conforming to LI-200 zone regulations since MD Services and Long Meadow School were preexisting non-conforming buildings, and both Edgewood and nearby Benson Woods were special exceptions to the regulations. He acknowledged the commission might not have jurisdiction on appearance, but noted Watertown and other nearby towns did not allow plain metal buildings, saying he would prefer a split-faced block front façade or something similar. Other commissioners agreed on wanting a better exterior for a building in a high-visibility area. Co-chairman Michael Kenausis asked Smith to reconsider the appearance of the highly reflective white roof. Smith said he was happy to hear the suggestions and
remarked that First Selectman Edward B. St. John had made similar aesthetic comments. Kenausis told Smith he would write a letter to P&Z for its March 7 meeting indicating EIDC support of the rough design, along with comments and suggestions. In a follow-up to the Feb. 6 special meeting to review the tax incentive program application by Shaker Automotive Group, owner Corey Shaker presented a timeline of the reconstruction of Shaker Family Ford-Lincoln. At the February meeting, Matthews asked the board to consider whether the tax incentives caused Shaker to do something he already intended to do, Commissioner Ted Manello said Shaker’s project might not qualify because he thought it started before the program was implemented and Paolino asked whether the application needed to have been submitted before any work was done. Shaker said he had personally filled out the tax incentive application. He said Ford Motor Company had been attempting to consolidate and update antiquated dealerships for many years and said his plans to acquire Family Ford of Waterbury and Watertown Crestwood Ford into his Mercury-Lincoln business were highly supported by regional management. - See EIDC on page 5
By KATHLEEN RIEDEL While Monday night’s Region 15 Board of Education (BoE) meeting served as the first of three workshops in response to Superintendent Dr. Frank Sippy’s proposed 4.5-percent budget increase, discussion culminated in whether students were worth the price of the 2013 monetary climb – including a new $250 parking fee and $150 Pay to Play athletics cost. During public comments, Pomperaug High School (PHS) swim coach Fran Pentino expressed concern over the board members’ majority disagreement with the budgetary increase. “You can’t possibly have zero-percent increase for two straight years and then not expect to have an increase down the road,” he said. “I can’t run my household on a zero-percent increase. It’s impossible. The price of milk goes up, the price of gas goes up. This is the community I chose to live in because I never thought we would be at a zero-percent in-
crease,” Pentino said. When polled, six of the 10 board members, including Chairman Janet Butkus, John Bucciarelli, Joseph Rock, John Cookson, Paul Babarik and Fran Brennan, felt differently. “I’d like to see some give and take,” Bucciarelli said. “If we want to increase somewhere, then we need to decrease somewhere else.” “Right now we offer a very robust course selection, especially at the high school,” he said. “So, and I’m making these numbers up, instead of offering 20 English classes, maybe we can offer 15.” Brennan also questioned whether the region may be overloaded on options or auxiliaries, suggesting a budget increase between 2.5 and 3 percent would be more appropriate. “I’m still with zero-percent increase,” Babarik said. “I think 4.54 is out of the question. I don’t see that 4.54 giving our children any greater education. I see it being absorbed in a lot of other places.” - See BoE on page 5
Adoptable Pets................ 8 Classifieds....................... 7 Community Calendar....... 2 Fire Log........................... 3 In Brief............................ 4 Legal Notices.................. 7 Library Happenings.......... 2
Library Lines.................... 2 Nuggets for Life.............. 6 Parks & Rec..................... 6 Puzzles........................... 7 Region 15 Calendar........ 3 Senior Center News......... 3 Varsity Sports Calendar.... 6
Editorial Office: Email: mbisubmit@gmail.com Phone: 203-577-6800 Mail: P.O. Box 10, Middlebury, CT 06762
Upcoming Events
Inside this Issue
thursday
March 7
Saturday
March 9
Genetically Modified Foods (GMO) Movie
When: 6:30 p.m. What: Movie and discussion on health threats of genetically modified foods Where: Kingsley Meeting Room at the Southbury Public Library
Middlebury Boy Scout Troop 5 Bottle Drive
When: 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. What: All Connecticut deposit bottles, cans and plastics will be accepted. Where: Village Square Mall at 530 Middlebury Road in Middlebury
Advertising Sales: Email: mbiadvertising@gmail.com
Pies & Pints plans busy month
Page 8
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