
Overlooking Woodridge Lake, 300 East Hyerdale Drive was sold for $2.25 million.
Corado Galizia Courtesy of Stephen Drezen, William Pitt Sotheby’s International Realty
Overlooking Woodridge Lake, 300 East Hyerdale Drive was sold for $2.25 million.
GOSHEN — Unique Goshen is a town with a continuum of home prices ranging from affordable to over a million dollars and many sales of building lots.
The most expensive house sold last year in Goshen was $2.25 million on East Hyerdale Drive in Woodridge Lake — one of only six houses sold over a million dollars during the year.
By the end of January, eight pieces of land were for sale and only six houses, with two over a million dollars.
December
40 Sherbrook Drive Woodridge Lake Lot 413 — 4 bedroom/2 bath home sold by Estate of Albert Downey Stancs to Jason and Melanie A. Mancarella for $550,000.
300 East Hyerdale Drive Woodridge Lot 516 — 4 bedroom/3.5 bath home on 0.82 acres sold by Amy S. Heller to 300 Ehyer LLC for $2.25 million.
Cornwell Drive, Woodridge Lake Lot 783 — 0.8 acres sold by Rebecca C Godson to Ed & AJ Building and Remodeling LLC for $78,000.
*Town of Goshen real estate sales recorded as sold between Dec. 1 and Dec. 31, 2024, provided by the Goshen Town Clerk. Property details provided in town tax cards. Note that recorded transfers occur after the actual real estate closing and will also include private sales. Current market activity from Smart MLS. Transfers with no consideration are not included. Compiled by Christine Bates, Real Estate Advisor with William Pitt Sotheby’s International Realty, Licensed in Connecticut and New York.
FALLS VILLAGE — After a public hearing at Town Hall Tuesday, April 8, Liz and Howard Ives sat down with the Board of Selectmen and signed the lease for a new coffee shop at the town-owned 107 Main St. building.
The hearing was run in the context of a town meeting. Moderator Lou Timolat noted at the beginning that it was not a “town meeting” in the legislative sense.
Rather it was to finalize the deal that has been in the works for several weeks.
The new business will be called the “Off the Trail Cafe.” It replaces the Falls Village Cafe, which closed in October 2024 after three years.
The terms of the lease are: Rent, $1,000 per month, plus 65% of the electricity, 50% of the water, 50% of the heating, and 100% of the propane for the new stove, which was delivered Friday, April 11.
The cafe will share the building with Furnace on Paper Archive, also on the first floor with frontage on Main Street, and the Senior Center on the second floor.
About 24 people attended, not counting the selectmen, Timolat and the Ives.
CORNWALL — Rising property values in recent years have shifted the housing landscape in Cornwall. Stock of for-sale homes remains low, applications for new development have become infrequent and the grand list is stagnant.
Local leaders discussed the situation at a meeting of the Planning and Zoning Commission Tuesday, April 8.
“Things are changing rapidly, and not for the better,” said First Selectman Gordon Ridgway.
The conversation focused on matters that the town can control. Namely, zoning regulations
Ridgway mentioned the minimum lot size requirements to build a new home in Cornwall. He noted that a lot must be at least 5-acres in order to build a new home “in a large part of the town,” while other zones have 3- or 1-acre minimums.
“I think there is probably some movement in the 5- and 3-acre zones,” said Ridgway.
Commissioners talked about potentially implementing overlay zones to alter minimum lot sizes in designated areas.
Changes to “free cuts,” or the ability to subdivide a parcel to create a new buildable lot without going through the full subdivision approval process, were considered.
“You still have to comply with all our zoning regulations,” said P&Z Chair Anna Timell regarding free cuts. “It just is much less of a hullabaloo.”
P&Z members also discussed geometric setback requirements, which limit the buildable area on a property to a particular rectangle based on factors such as wetlands, slope and distance from the property’s edge.
“I think we can make modest changes and still maintain everything that’s essential here,” said Ridgway.
As a result of the meeting, two subcommittees were formed: “one to look at setbacks, the other to look at the building rectangle,” explained Timell.
P&Z will resume the discussion Tuesday, May 13.
Anthony Foley pitched the home opener for the Mountaineers against Northwestern Regional High School Wednesday, April 9.
FALLS VILLAGE — Housatonic Valley Regional High School athletics returned the week of April 7.
Housatonic’s new baseball coach Bobby Chatfield opened the season with an 8-5 win at Gilbert School on Monday. Wes Allyn and Owen Riemer pitched for the Mountaineers in the cold, rainy conditions.
The next day the baseball team traveled to play Shepaug Valley High School and lost 10-4. Wyatt Bayer and Chris Race pitched for HVRHS on another gray day.
The Mountaineers’ home opener was in the sun against Northwestern Regional High School April 9. Northwestern won 11-1. Anthony Foley and Carson Riva pitched for Housatonic.
Owen Stimson, left, and Wes Allyn were opponents in baseball April 9, but played together last football season on the Gilbert/Northwestern/Housatonic co-op team.Riley Klein
Carson Riva, No. 27, came in as relief pitcher against Northwestern, April 9.Riley Klein
Madison Dewitt tags out a runner heading for home.Riley Klein
HRVHS softball began its season with a 19-8 win at Gilbert Monday. The next day, Shepaug traveled to Falls Village and defeated the Mountaineers 22-4.
Housatonic coaches Pete Foley and Kaleigh Selino were testing out different seniors at the pitching position in the first two games, including Kylie Leonard and Madison Dewitt.
At home against Northwestern on Wednesday, freshman Payton Wagner pitched. The game was close early with Northwestern leading 7-4 after two innings, but the Highlanders took off later in the game to win 27-7.
Boys and girls varsity tennis teams played three matches each in the first week of the season.
The girls began Tuesday, April 8, at home against Lakeview. HVRHS lost 7-0 in the first game on the newly refinished Region One public tennis courts.
Coach Don Drislane commented that Lakeview, which includes athletes who previously attended Wamogo and Litchfield high schools, is “probably the best team” in the Berkshire League.
The girls hosted Shepaug tennis April 9 and the Spartans won 7-0.
The HVRHS boys season opener was at Shepaug the same day. HVRHS lost 5-0.
The Mountaineer boys went on to play Lakeview April 10. Manny Matsudaira and Gustavo Portillo won their matches, but as a team Lakeview won 3-2.
HVRHS girls and boys played Nonnewaug High School April 11. HVRHS’s Victoria Brooks won her match against Olivia Gwiazdoski but as a team the Nonnewaug girls won 6-1 and the boys won 5-0.
Victoria Brooks, first singles for HVRHS, won her match against Nonnnewaug’s Olivia Gwiazdoski in the girls tennis meet on Friday, April 11.Riley Klein
HVRHS first singles player Manny Matsudaira beat Lakeview’s Luca D’urso on Thursday, April 10.Patrick L. Sullivan
HVRHS girls varsity lacrosse began the season Wednesday in Bristol with a 15-3 revenge victory over St. Paul Catholic High School.
Coach Laura Bushey led her team to the decisive win at St. Paul, which narrowly defeated HVRHS last year in the Western Connecticut Lacrosse Conference 2024 championship game.
The lacrosse home opener will be Monday, April 21, at 4 p.m. against Watertown High School.
Coach Laura Bushey and the HVRHS girls lacrosse team beat St. Paul 15-3 to start the season April 9.Riley Klein
The first track meet of the season will be at home against Lakeview Tuesday, April 22, beginning at 4 p.m.
Immigration attorney Glenn Formica, left, and the Rev. John Carter, founder of Vecinos Seguros, speak before Formica’s presentation at Trinity Church Lime Rock Thursday.
SALISBURY — Attorney Glenn Formica put the issue of immigration in haunting human terms.
Speaking at a meeting sponsored by Vecinos Seguros 2 at Trinity Church of Lime Rock Thursday, Formica said “53% of the country is in favor of current immigration laws. I don’t know where you go with that. What’s missing in your life that you’ve lost any sense of love or human affection; that you feel good when others are suffering? That’s 53% of the population. What we’re dealing with is inhumane, dark.”
Formica is an immigration attorney who has a practice in New Haven. He is well known for taking pro bono cases for those undocumented persons facing detention or deportation.
In introducing Formica, the Rev. John Carter, the founder of Vecinos Seguros, which translated means “Safe Neighbors,” said he heard of the lawyer from New Haven who has “a smart head and warm heart.” Carter said while the country is going through crushing times now, “I thank God for people who stand up for justice and compassion.”
Formica began his talk with a bit about his personal life, noting that when he was in law school, he pictured himself as focusing on land use or real estate cases. A graduate of Catholic University, he has a religious background. So, after working in corporate law in Washington, D.C., he saw what he perceived as shallowness in certain aspects of the profession.
He moved back to Connecticut, where he’d been raised, and one day was approached by a Catholic monk who showed up at his office with a child from Ethiopia. The youngster could not go back for safety reasons, and Formica was able to allow him to remain in the United States. Then he was sent another child from the Congo, for whom Formica was able to get his first asylum win.
He eventually left the law firm with 30 immigration clients. The next firm didn’t appreciate his work in that area either.
“So, I quit and started my own firm with 30 pro bono cases,” he related. “I eventually grew enough of a practice that rewarded me. I’ve never suffered. It’s always worked out.” He began taking more complicated immigration cases, and realized if you’re doing something to help other people, the universe will balance itself out.
He recounted that he’s had many wild cases, but concluded his focus wasn’t on him, but about taking care of his clients. Speaking of President Trump, he said, “He’s coming for everybody I care about, so I have something to make my life meaningful. I’ll help everyone I can and leave nothing on the table.”
Formica put a positive spin on the current situation, saying, “We should all be grateful. We’re living in a time where we can do something.” He believes those in red districts will see in a couple of months that there is no one to work in their hospitals or daycare centers, or landscape their property or put roofs on their houses and that instead of jobs coming back they’ll be leaving.
He urged the audience to provide support for those who are terrified to go to events or ask for assistance with filling out necessary paperwork. “They need to feel you are there for them,” he said, recommending helping them get to food pantries or the ICE office. “Use your privilege to stand up for them.”
Formica lamented the dearth of immigration lawyers in the state and the need to get those in the profession trained to take on cases.
He spoke about an interfaith group that is starting to come together made up of community members to provide emotional and social support for immigrants in the region.