Looking back on 2023 in Salisbury

SALISBURY — There was action on the affordable housing front in Salisbury during 2023.

The Salisbury Housing Trust purchased and sold homes on White Hollow Road and at 30 Main St.

In September, the Salisbury Housing Committee broke ground for the construction of Sarum Village III on Cobble Road, adding 10 new units of affordable housing. NBT Bank (formerly Salisbury Bank and Trust) chipped in with a $40,000 grant.

The SHC also received welcome news when a lawsuit against it and the Planning and Zoning Commission (PZC) over the Holley Block 12-unit affordable housing development in Lakeville was dismissed in February.

The Affordable Housing Commission completed a mandatory five-year update of the town’s affordable housing plan (posted on the town website).

The plan calls for creating 100 new affordable housing units in the next 10 years, bringing the total number of housing units defined as “affordable” up to 157 or 5% of the housing in Salisbury. The Board of Selectmen adopted the plan Oct. 12.

Lake­ville residents heard and discussed several ideas for revitalizing the Lakeville village area at a forum sponsored by the Salisbury Planning and Zoning Commission at the Town Grove Saturday, March 18.

The discussion included parking and how to get drivers to slow down.

The fate of the former Chinese restaurant on Main Street in Lakeville, long considered an eyesore by residents, was resolved April 17 when the PZC approved the application from William Colgan to turn it into a dessert restaurant and apartment building.

Meanwhile, Fern, a new restaurant, opened in the former firehouse at 9 Sharon Road in Lakeville in August.

There was vigorous discussion on what to do with the Pope property at a meeting June 8, when residents met with the Pope Land Design Committee at Town Hall. The meeting offered opinions and concerns about a project to build up to 64 affordable housing units on the property, along with fields and playing courts for recreational use and parking space ideas.

The new owners of Lime Rock Park began making improvements to the venue and formulating major plans for its future, including the construction of a 48-room hotel. The new owners said they have invested more than $4 million in infrastructure improvements, which includes more than $1 million to repave the FCP Euro Proving Grounds half-mile permanent autocross course located in the infield where most of the community events are staged. Future plans include consolidating and improving facilities, signage, food, and track safety.

The bridge on Salmon Kill Road between Brinton Hill Road and Lime Rock Road (Route 112) was confined to a single lane of traffic in April 2022, and closed for good in September 2022.

There were delays, and more delays, but the new span was open to two-way traffic Dec.9.

Sculptor Jeremy Warner finally got an in-person look at the portrait of his ancestor Andrew Warner and met a couple of distant cousins at the Scoville Memorial Library in Salisbury on Aug. 1.

Warner is the 10th great-grandson of Andrew Warner, considered one of the founders of Hartford in the 1630s.

Hoping to create a bust of his ancestor, he tracked the painting down to the library.

In late August, a home under construction in Lakeville was vandalized twice, once during the night Saturday, Aug. 26, and Sunday, Aug. 27, and again overnight between Monday, Aug. 28, and Tuesday, Aug. 29.

Rick McCue, the contractor, was on the site at 14 Woodland Road Tuesday morning. He said the crew discovered freshly sprayed graffiti on the rear porch of the building and on the patio. The graffiti included a racial epithet and the words “this is what you get for calling in,” presumably a reference to the State Police being called to investigate the earlier incident.

Salisbury has a new selectman. Unaffiliated candidate Kitty Kiefer edged out the incumbent Republican selectman Don Mayland by three votes after a recount. First Selectman Curtis Rand (D) ran unopposed for a tenth term, and Selectman Chris Williams (D) was reelected easily.