Race track, bridge and affordable housing at selectmen’s meeting

SALISBURY — The Board of Selectmen gave First Selectman Curtis Rand the go-ahead to draft a letter of support for Lime Rock Park’s application for National Historic Landmark status from the U.S. Park Service at the regular monthly meeting Monday, April 4.In response to a concern raised by the Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z), the selectmen agreed the the letter should contain language that makes the selectmen’s endorsement conditional on the ability of a future owner of the property to have the designation dropped.In a March 16 memo from the P&Z to the selectmen, the commission declined to make an endorsement and raised the prospect of a new owner, one that did not intend to continue using the property as a race track. In that case, the new owners might run into difficulties in getting the designation dropped. “Such a complicated process as outlined in the statute for rescinding that designation would delay, add cost to, and discourage future redevelopment of the site,” the commissioners warned. Old iron bridge repairsRand announced that the state sent a letter last month informing him that Salisbury and Falls Village qualify for funding for repairing the Amesville Bridge over the Housatonic River.The state will fund 80 percent of the cost of repairs, up to $2,777,660.Rand said he received an OK from Falls Village First Selectman Pat Mechare to accept the grant, which is nonbinding, and asked the Salisbury selectmen for the same. They obliged.“It’s just to get the process started,” Rand said. There are a lot of balls in the air with the bridge, a one-lane affair with angled approaches.Historically, state and federal agencies have not been enthusiastic about such bridges, preferring to replace them with two-lane structures. However, in recent years the attitude has become somewhat more favorable.Rand said a very preliminary hope was that the deck of the bridge could be replaced, and the ironwork restored, for something in the neighborhood of $1 million to $1.5 million.The grant would pay 80 percent of that, and the remainder would be split between the two towns on a proportional basis, based on each town’s grand list.Affordable Housing During public comments, Mike Flint criticized the hiring of Jocelyn Ayer as the part-time coordinator for the new Affordable Housing Commission last week at a special meeting of the selectmen.Flint’s objections: That the hiring was voted on at a special meeting, and that there is a potential conflict of interest between Ayer as a town employee and Ayer’s existing job as a planner for the Northwestern Connecticut Regional Planning Collaborative, in which Salisbury has been an active participant.Selectman Jim Dresser, a member of the commission, said Ayer was hired so the commission could start work.“We have a lot of work to do,” Dresser said. He added that the commission voted unanimously to hire Ayer on March 21.(Rand said there were two applicants for the position.)Firehouse for saleRand said that he had received suggestions from real estate brokers that the asking price for the old firehouse at 9 Sharon Road might be too high at $795,000. Rand said there has been some interest in the property, including proposals that envisioned a public-private partnership use, but there has been nothing firm so far. Dresser noted that the sale of the old firehouse (and the white building next door) was part of the package approved by voters for financing the construction of the new firehouse. Any change in that status would have to be approved at a town meeting.Rand said he’d ask brokers for advice and Selectman Bob Riva suggested that perhaps a new appraisal would be in order. No official action was taken.Flint spoke up again during public comments at the end of the meeting, this time to encourage the selectmen to consider the old firehouse as a site for affordable housing units. Notes Rand said that maps of possible bicycling routes in Salisbury, part of an effort to create cycling trails on a regional level, would be available at Town Hall for anyone interested.Rand also said, soggy weather nothwithstanding, that the fire danger was high. “We’ve had lots of calls for brush permits. This is not a good time,” because it’s windy and there is a lot of material down after the winter. “It would be best to wait until the brush greens up,” he said. The Salisbury sidewalk workers are back and should be done by Memorial Day, and the selectmen reappointed Mike Fitting as building official, retroactive to April 2009 and through April 2013.“We forgot to do it in 2009,” Rand said.