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SHARON — At its March 26 meeting, the Planning and Zoning Commission reviewed options for changing regulations pertaining to auxiliary uses of agricultural land.
Potential uses included year-round farm stands, farm-to-table dining experiences and agribusiness like wineries and breweries.
P&Z Vice Chair Betsy Hall, who drafted the proposed regulations, said she took inspiration from Cornwall’s regulations, which leave the scope of uses broad so that applications may be examined on a case-by-case basis.
Last year, Cornwall P&Z granted a special permit for a cidery and tasting room at Ridgway Farm.
“I don’t want to ever be the office that just tells people no,” said Land Use Administrator Jamie Casey, agreeing that broad regulations allow applicants a degree of creativity.
An edited draft will be discussed at the next P&Z meeting April 9.
Tom Zetterstrom shows the height to which a bittersweet vine can grow during a talk on the invasive at Sharon Town Hall March 29.
SHARON — As a young boy, Tom Zetterstrom remembers his father stopping by the side of the road to pick bittersweet to hang as a decoration at their home. He even crafted a lamp out of the bark of the plant. Sixty years later that son, a conservation expert, is crusading for the extinction of the oriental vine that is wreaking havoc with trees.
Zetterstrom gave a talk to a packed house at Sharon Town Hall Saturday, March 29, on “Defeating Invasive Bittersweet and Reversing Forest Collapse.” This is part of an ongoing series on managing invasives put on by Sharon Land Trust, Sharon Energy and Environment Commission, Sharon Audubon and Sharon Conservation Commission.
The presentation was basically focused on the work that’s been done on Sharon Land Trust’s Hamlin Preserve at 19 Stone House Road. Later that day, there was a guided tree walk and invasive control demonstration at the preserve.
The 180-acre preserve is rich in diversity and aesthetically appealing, said Zetterstrom, who described how he and Roger Liddell of Sharon Land Trust tried to walk the area in September 2022, only to find they were almost immediately engulfed in a sea of invasive bittersweet. “With trees down from the effects of invasives, we were seeing a collapsed forest. This, unfortunately, is a sign of our times.”
With a determination to help clear the area of the harmful perpetrators, a legion of volunteers invaded the property the next spring. One area was not very approachable, so a group of Hotchkiss School students were recruited. Zetterstrom described how the teens cut the vines down to the stubs so that the remainder of the offenders could be treated later. “We made a dent in the problem and declared the site the ‘Hotchkiss Grove.’”
The bottoms of the vines were treated with the chemical glyphosate, which Zetterstrom acknowledged has a controversial reputation. “We’re a little less apprehensive of that chemical than others,” he said. “It bonds to soil particles and doesn’t migrate to water. When put on a cut stem, a year later the vine is gone.”
He then demonstrated using what he called a “blaster” to squeeze the chemical onto a stem. One audience member asked what a blaster is, never having heard the term. “It’s a bingo dauber,” Zetterstrom explained, much to the amusement of those gathered.
Photos of the preserve, from both the ground and Brian Wilcox’s drone shots, showed the audience how it looked when it was first approached and the clear lush meadow now visible.
Early detection is key to eradicating invasives, with the aim of zero growth in order to have a resilient forest. “We’re looking at prevention,” he said. “We want to get it out before it seeds. Seeds can be viable for 12 years.”
While advances in eradication have been made, Zetterstrom was realistic, saying, “We won the battle, but haven’t won the war.” There are aspects of invasives that some people find appealing, such as bittersweet’s red berries. He stressed the need for vigilance, prevention, timing and mapping when dealing with their encroachment. Management plans are highly recommended.
Zetterstrom praised Sharon Land Trust members for their stewardship of the preserve.
The next session is on Saturday, April 5, at 10 a.m. at Sharon Town Hall, when Bethany Sheffer of Sharon Audubon and Mike Nadeau, native landscape expert, will present a talk on invasives and answer questions on plant identification and control.
NORTH CANAAN — Following recently implemented international tariffs, Becton, Dickinson & Company’s Connecticut plant has reported an increase in demand for its domestically made syringes and needle products.
“Since we manufacture these products in the U.S., the 25% tariffs on Mexico and Canada that went into effect on March 4th do not apply to the products we manufacture at the Canaan facility,” BD spokesperson Fallon McLoughlin said.
“Given prior FDA actions and quality concerns along with tariffs put on certain Chinese imports, we saw an uptick in demand for domestically made syringes and needle products that continues.”
BD, the largest manufacturer of medical devices in the United States, based in Franklin Lakes, New Jersey, employs about 500 workers at its North Canaan facility.
The North Canaan operation “plays a critical role in providing essential needles and syringes for the U.S. health care system,” according to company officials.
It recently added three additional manufacturing lines and hired approximately 140 people in the last year to keep up with increased demand, “while driving operational efficiencies to help increase capacity, adding hundreds of millions of units annually.”
Given these dynamics, “we don’t anticipate any additional significant impact to our Canaan facility from the more recent tariffs implemented by the Trump administration,” Mcloughlin reported.
The Connecticut plant manufactures small-size syringes and syringe and needle combination products. Operations take place around the clock and are sold in every region worldwide.
SALISBURY — The Board of Finance will hold a public hearing on the 2025-26 budget proposals from the Board of Education and the Board of Selectmen on Monday, April 21, 7:30 p.m.
At the finance board’s March 27 meeting, Salisbury Central School principal Stephanie Magyar said the proposal had been trimmed a bit thanks to some savings on health insurance costs, and that a couple of teacher-requested items had been added back in, for a total reduction of $3,893.
First Selectman Curtis Rand said there were no changes in the selectmen’s budget proposal. “I think we can bring this to the public.”
The Board of Education’s proposal is for $6,897,148, a 5.53% increase of $361,209.
The Board of Selectmen’s proposal is for $9,205,120, an increase of $585,530, or 6.7%.
