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‘Ice in’ at Lake Wononscopomuc
Jan 22, 2025
LAKEVILLE — Don Mayland of Lakeville, who has been announcing “ice in” — or not — on Lake Wonoscopomuc for years, sent this bulletin on Thursday, Jan. 16: “I am back in business.”
“After two years with no complete ice cover on Lake Wonoscopomuc I thought global warming had made me irrelevant. But, this morning I checked out the lake and could not believe my eyes. The lake has ‘ice in’ on January 16, 2025!”
“As always it is not safe for anyone to be out on that ice at this time. Several sections have been open, despite the cold temperatures. High winds have kept much of the west end wide open.”
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KENT — The Board of Finance voted unanimously at its Jan. 15 regular meeting to allocate $15,500 to support the town’s efforts to perform a historical significance assessment of the Swift House.
The money would serve as upfront capital for the Selectmen’s application to the State Historic Preservation Office for a reimbursable grant, which can only be awarded if the financing is demonstrated to be available before the grant is approved.
The town money will only be used if the application — which has already been submitted — is successful and thus guaranteed to be reimbursed.
The funds would be used to cover the payroll of a contracted architectural historian, who would produce a “historic designation report” that would support efforts to enroll the town-owned Swift House with the National Register of Historic Places.
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Built in 1880, 369 Lime Rock Road sold for $360,000.
Christine Bates
SALISBURY — Salisbury’s December recorded property transfers were the busiest of the year with the sale of 11 properties recorded — not including the 10 plots sold to individuals by the Salisbury Cemetery Association. Only two properties were sold for over a million dollars and two commercial properties on Main Street and Lime Rock Road sold for under $500,000. In mid-January there were 16 homes listed for sale with 11 over a million dollars.
Transactions
21 Greystone Lane — 2 houses including a 1 bedroom/1 bath cottage and a 4,229 square foot home with 3 bedroom/3 full baths/2 half baths on 33 acres sold by Margery H. Hetzel to Sarah B. Kapnick and Andrew C. Elken for $3.3 million.
280 & 280A Taconic Road — two houses built in 1880 each with 4 bedrooms on 6.5 acres sold by Peter Lorenzo to Raccard Properties LLC for $800,000.
5 Reservoir Road — 3 bedroom/3 bath house on 3.15 acres sold by Louis Baker Bell Jr Trustee Harriette A. Mellen Revocable Trust to Kevin and Alyssa Mahoney for $860,000.
329 Main St. — a commercial building with 2,022 square feet sold by Furnace Village LLC to Idle Biscuit LLC for $400,000.
54 Main St. — 5 bedroom/4.5 bath home on 1 acre sold by Andrew Foley to Jennifer Portnoy Trustee Jennifer Portnoy Living Trust for $1.46 million.
24 Bunker Hill — 4 bedroom/2 bath home on 2.5 acres sold by Michael G. and Samuel A. Reid, Mariel M. and James S. Reid Trustees of Reid Family Trust to Aida and Christopher Stoddard for $695,000.
432 Undermountain Road — 3 bedroom/2 bath house sold by Ryan Hartje to Elizabeth A. Romaker and Spencer C. Crawford for $325,000.
87 South Canaan Road 7C — 2 bedroom/2.5 bath condo sold by Susan S. Match Trustee of Susan S. Match Revocable Trust to Jeffrey G. Hamlin and Inge Heckel for $649,000.
369 Lime Rock Road — Investment property with four apartments by Lime Rock Ventures Incorporated to Bridgeview Management LLC for $360,000.
27 Fowler St. — 2 bedroom/1 bath house on .03 acres sold by Peter Ronald Kuglstatter to Austen Hayes for $300,000.
30 Selleck Hill Road — 2 acres of land sold by Halleck and Theresa Lefferts to Salisbury Housing Trust for $174,017.
*Town of Salisbury real estate sales recorded as sold between Dec. 1 and Dec. 31, 2024, provided by the Salisbury 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.
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Can you hear me now?
Jan 22, 2025
This cell tower by the Falls Village Fire Department on the side of Route 7 is disguised like a tree to better fit in among the rural, forested landscape of the Connecticut's Litchfield hills.
Caitlin Hanlon
Drivers and residents across Northeast Dutchess County, New York, and Connecticut’s Northwest Corner are well aware of the area’s spotty cell phone coverage.
“Cell phones suck,” Amenia Volunteer Fire Chief Chris Howard said. He echoed the feelings of many residents and visitors to the area who contend with dropped calls and failed text messages on a regular basis.
Spotty cell service is annoying for drivers relying on GPS for directions and it creates problems for Howard and his department. Howard said the truck’s computer-assisted routing uses the T-Mobile network. When trucks have to travel north of the traffic light in the middle of downtown Amenia, their cell service drops out and crews could lose those directions. Usually, Howard said, this isn’t a huge setback for his crew, but that’s not the only challenge emergency responders face because of spotty, slow service.
Hikers hitting the hills often travel through dead zones. The region’s rugged terrain — while scenic and inviting to hikers — hurts coverage. Hills block signals from distant towers, so if hikers have an accident in a remote area they may have trouble getting in touch with emergency services. Howard said Amenia’s rope crew will ask for coordinates, but sometimes the hiker can’t provide good information. “Then they’re hiking blind,” Howard said.
Cell phone tower construction is slow in rural areas across the United States, but Northeast Dutchess County and the Litchfield Hills combine a number of factors which all contribute to poor service in the region. Chief among them are the challenges presented by rugged, undeveloped land. Regions with lots of hills, few people and less power and telecommunications infrastructure are more difficult and costly to service than suburban or urban areas, according to a 2019 New York Upstate Cellular Coverage Task Force report.
John Emra, AT&T’s Atlantic region president, said cell towers require power and fiber optic connections, and many rural sites don’t already have that infrastructure. Another consideration is access. Towers can’t be too remote, otherwise emergency repairs are too difficult. However, they can’t be too close to large groups of people. Often, service roads have to be built to sites on remote ridgelines and hilltops. All this drives up the cost of cell tower construction, and the 2019 cell coverage task force report says the higher cost disincentivizes rural investment.
That report also cites local zoning codes as a potential hurdle for construction, but Emra said he doesn’t think regulations completely halt progress. In his 24 years with AT&T, he said rural communities have become increasingly open to cell tower construction and upgrades. Building codes in Northeast Dutchess County and the Litchfield Hills still present unique challenges for cell towers. Special attention is paid to ridgelines and scenic views in the area, so tall towers on high hills are discouraged through local laws. Cell towers constructed in valleys or on the sides of ridges are less effective, covering much smaller areas because of the hills blocking the signal.
“Even 10 years ago if you proposed a new site — particularly in Litchfield County, Connecticut — you would likely meet some fairly fierce community resistance,” Emra said. “I’ve seen the change where we now have communities asking us to build.” He said AT&T recently completed a cell tower near Stanfordville, New York, and there’s a site near Salisbury, Connecticut, which should be online by the end of the year. Additionally, AT&T has built cell antennas across Dutchess County called “small cell nodes,” which are installed on utility poles but provide coverage over shorter distances than a full-size tower.
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