www.southingtoncitizen.com
Volume 18, Number 38
Friday, September 17, 2021
PZC sees benefit in West Street subdivision By Jesse Buchanan Record-Journal staff
Town planners approved an open space subdivison off West Street despite opposition from neighbors. Planners said there was value for the town in a housing plan that retained undisturbed land rather than development that consumes the entire property.
Local developer Mark Lovley requested town approval for an open space preservation subdivision on a 50-acre parcel at 1268 West St. He said the design, which calls for smaller lots, will allow him to keep 12 acres as open space. A conventional subdivision layout would only preserve about two acres of open space.
Lovley’s plan is for 30 homes.
Conventional vs. open space
The property is a long stretch parallel to Churchill Street with a small portion of West Street frontage. The homes would feature four bedrooms, two-and-a-half bathrooms, two or three car garages and 2,500 to 3,000 square feet. Lovley said the houses will start at $600,000.
During the Sept. 7 meeting, Peter Santago, a Planning and Zoning Commission member, asked Lovely why he chose the open space as opposed to a conventional subdivision. The conventional plan would have yielded the same number of houses See West St., A2
Federal grant funds three hires for SFD
Student holds school supply drive for his 10th birthday
By Devin Leith-Yessian Record-Journal staff
Record-Journal staff
Ben Focarile decided to do something a little different for his tenth birthday in August. His plan was to run a school supply drive to help support Derynoski Elementary School and its DES Cares program.
He’d been inspired by a friend who had launched a fundraiser to help those in need. Ben asked his parents if he could do something similar, according to his mother Sarah Focarile.
“Everybody has recognized that our daytime response is struggling, so we have to do something to improve our response times especially on the southern side of town,” fire Chief James Paul said. Ben Focarile, 10, a Derynoski Elementary School student, poses with supplies he collected for his school’s Care program. Submitted
“Together we came up on the idea streets, our neighborhood street of collecting school supplies. Ben- and a connecting street,” she exjamin created flyers and distribut- plained in an email. ed them himself throughout two
The three new full-time firefighters will be stationed at Engine Co. 3, 35 Clark St. The company is currently an all-volunteer unit, which Paul said can make a fast response difficult during daytime hours when many volunteers are at
See Birthday, A4
See SFD, A2
52nd SOUTHINGTON
APPLE HARVEST FESTIVAL October 1-3 and October 8-10
R244498
Ultimately, Ben, a fifth-grader at the school, collected about 150 pounds of supplies during the course of his effort.
A federal grant will allow the fire department to hire three new firefighters to improve response times on the southern end of town.