
Residents of Kugeman Village speak highly of the homes and state they would not be able to live in Cornwall if the units weren’t available.
Riley Klein
Residents of Kugeman Village speak highly of the homes and state they would not be able to live in Cornwall if the units weren’t available.
The Northwest Corner needs affordable housing. While each town has taken steps to address the issue, the need remains.
Jocelyn Ayer, director of Litchfield County Center for Housing Opportunity (LCCHO), summed it up: “Overall, our communities, these towns just don’t have different housing options for different points in people’s lives. A vast majority of our housing stock was designed for families with children,” said Ayer. “For example, 90% of the housing stock in Salisbury is all one kind of housing: single family detached housing.”
The LCCHO is in its third year of operations, working under its parent company The Housing Collective. Ayer and her coworkers provide project management support to affordable housing nonprofits in Litchfield County.
As part of its public information campaign, LCCHO created the Litchfield Housing Needs Assessment Tool, a guide explaining housing needs in the county with exhaustive data on the 26 towns.
“We all benefit from having housing opportunities in our community for everyone, including volunteers with our fire and ambulance services, young teachers, and older folks who can’t afford to stay in their homes,” said Ayer.
In 2022, the region had 61,000 jobs, in small businesses, volunteer emergency services, and health care facilities, etc. Ayer said, “A lot of the most in-demand jobs in Litchfield County pay under $50,000 a year—that would make all those folks eligible to live in affordable housing if we had it. Still, we have long waiting lists. In Salisbury, there are over a hundred households on the list.”
People have stayed on wait lists for up to five years, leaving many to pay more than the recommended 30% of their income on housing.
LCCHO has partnered with four nonprofits in the county, two of which are in Salisbury and Cornwall, on a 10-unit scattered site affordable homeownership project. “Scattered sites” are a trending use for parcels of land owned by local housing groups. It is a challenge for one or two units to be competitive for funding opportunities, so LCCHO combines these smaller nonprofits under one application to the Department of Housing. The hope is that together the sites will receive funding. It is an attractive model and if more towns see more donations of smaller units of land the LCCHO can attempt further scattered sites.
Below is a breakdown by town of completed projects, ongoing efforts, and remaining need for affordable housing in the Northwest Corner.
Salisbury
Of all the Region One towns, Ayer said, “Salisbury is walking the walk and talking the talk.”
The Salisbury Housing Trust is a nonprofit working toward affordable homeownership. Two of their projects are part of the above mentioned 10-unit scattered site initiative.
The Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) and a town meeting on July 7, 2022, approved plans for the Perry Street project which will have two houses. Ayer hopes to break ground on construction in late fall, so the site can be finished in about a year.
SHT’s Grove Street School Site, now called Undermountain Road, is awaiting approval from P&Z. A continuation of the public hearing was held Monday, June 17, to discuss plans for two single family affordable homes, which resulted in another continuation to be held July 1 (See full Undermountain housing story on Page A4).
After a site is approved by P&Z, a town vote will be held to donate the specified land to the nonprofits. Ayer said, “If it’s not ready, it’s not ready. We can’t build until it goes through the town meeting vote.”
A second nonprofit, the Salisbury Housing Committee Inc., helps with affordable rentals. Sarum Village III is the first of three ongoing projects. There are 10 new units under construction, expected to be ready this fall.
The Dresser Woods site has P&Z approval for 20 units. Salisbury submitted a Small Cities application for infrastructure funding.
A concept to develop 64 units of affordable housing has been proposed for the town-owned Pope property on Salmon Kill Road. Discussions are ongoing with P&Z and the Pope Land Use Committee.
In Lakeville, Holley Place, is 14 units, with P&Z and town meeting approval. It is seeking funding. Also in Lakeville, the occupied rentals in Lakeville Apartments are undergoing renovations.
Cornwall
In Litchfield County, most residents own as opposed to rent. Individuals and families for whom renting is the more accessible financial option often cannot find a rental property. Throughout the county, 75.5% of occupied units are owned, 24.5% are rented. In Cornwall, the split is higher at 79.3% and 20.7%.
A recent regulation approval by P&Z will allow for duplex and triplex homes to be constructed by private developers. Previously only nonprofits could apply to build multi-family homes. By implementing this change, the town is optimistic that more rental units will be built.
The larger scattered site homeownership program, also working with Salisbury, is helping the Cornwall Housing Corporation build on three available lots. The group needs funding for construction and hope to start building this fall.
There are ongoing renovations at the existing affordable rental units at Kugeman Village. Residents of Kugeman speak highly of the village and state they would not be able to live in Cornwall if the units weren’t available.
Last December, Cornwall formed an Affordable Housing Commission to advocate for more opportunities and seek grants.
Ayer said, “They are looking out for other opportunities for their next project.”
Sharon
On Thursday, June 13, nonprofit Sharon Housing Trust got approval for a lease agreement with the Board of Selectmen for their Community Center Building project which will have four 2-bedroom units of affordable housing. The town is working now on a grant application for renovation funding.
A press release from the SHT released further details. If they receive funding in the next 15 months, the lease will be for 99 years, $1 per year, so long as the space is used for affordable housing. On Friday, June 14, the Town of Sharon submitted a Small Cities application for a $1 million grant.
Casey Flanagan, Sharon first selectman, stated, “I am pleased with the thorough process the Town completed to arrive at the decision that the conversion of the Community Center into affordable housing was the best use of the property. We look forward to the day the renovation of the building is completed as it will give an opportunity to people who are in desperate need.”
On a lot adjacent to the Community Center Building site, the trust acquired space has three buildings of six affordable rental housing units. Sharon applied for state funded renovations here as well. The hope is to unify all the spaces into a community with funding.
Kent
Completed in several stages from 2010 to 2020, Stuart Farm in Kent houses 13 rental units. The apartments were developed and maintained by nonprofit Kent Affordable Housing near the town center. Residents qualify by earning less than 80% of the median income for the area.
A town meeting April 26, 2024, approved access for KAH to start on a 10-unit site at the South Common Development. The group needs P&Z approval and an architect to move forward.
This new land is next to the existing South Commons Development for affordable rental housing. Additional renovations there just finished.
KAH is collaborating with the Kent Volunteer Fire Department in hopes of creating new homes for firefighters. LCCHO helped write a funding application for three housing units for KVFD volunteers. It’s a unique case for the emergency service workers.
Ayer said, “If you’re going to build with state or federal funding, you can’t limit it to only volunteer fire department members.”
Falls Village
The Falls Village Housing Trust is the nonprofit in the Town of Canaan. It acquired two houses for a five-unit property for affordable rental housing, and state funding to pay back acquisition loan and cover renovations.
Ayer said, “That’s the first dedicated affordable rental housing in that town.”
The larger River Road Homes for 16 energy efficient rental units got P&Z approval and awaits infrastructure funding. The funding is critical for well and septic, as the town doesn’t have public water or sewer systems. In their attempts to raise money, they recently received a positive environmental review.
North Canaan
In North Canaan, 19.4% of households are paying more than 50% of income on housing: the third highest rate of all the towns in Litchfield County.
As of the 2022 Plan of Conservation and Development (POCD) there were 125 dedicated affordable dwellings in North Canaan. The POCD breaks down that figure:
“40 of these homes are for seniors and disabled at Wangum Village which is overseen by the North Canaan Housing Authority (by a board made up of North Canaan residents.). 34 homes are for seniors at Beckley House on the campus of Geer Village. 37 homes are at Station Place in downtown North Canaan which has 4 3-bedrooms, 24 2-bedrooms, and 9 1-bedroom apartments. 14 of these are homes that received mortgage assistance through the CT Housing Finance Authority (CHFA) or USDA.” (Note: the North Canaan Housing Authority has since dissolved, but Wangum Village remains.)
On May 6, First Selectman Brian Ohler called for plans to reinstate North Canaan’s housing committee to address its lack of affordable housing. The town does not have a housing trust or an alternative nonprofit like other towns in the region.
LCCHO helped write the town’s housing plan, which calls for a housing trust. Ayer said, “I will say, interestingly, if you look at the data, a lot of North Canaan’s households spend more than 50% of their income on housing costs, more than the other towns we are talking about.”
Norfolk
In Norfolk, 51.8% of the houses were built before 1950. Converting such homes into mutiple units for affordable housing requires considerable funding.
The historic Royal Arcanum Building, built in 1902 for the Norfolk Volunteer Fire Department and the Royal Arcanum secret fraternal benefit society, partnered with the nonprofit Foundation for Norfolk Living. The separate Norfolk Foundation, the entity that owns the property, will help the nonprofit with five affordable rental housing units.
Haystack Woods is another ongoing project under the nonprofit for 10 units of single-family homeownership. It will be the first Net Zero community development in the state, fit with solar panels. It’s seeking construction funding.
LAKEVILLE — ARADEV LLC, the developer behind the proposed redesign of Wake Robin Inn, returned before Salisbury’s Planning and Zoning Commission at its May 5 regular meeting with a 644-page plan that it says scales back the project.
ARADEV withdrew its previous application last December after a six-round public hearing in which neighbors along Wells Hill Road and Sharon Road rallied against the proposal as detrimental to the neighborhood.
Landscape Architect Mark Arigoni, representing the applicants, said the new proposal’s page count is due to it being “very comprehensive and complete,” built in response to feedback from P&Z at a January pre-application meeting.
Much of P&Z’s criticism of the initial proposal revolved around its size and intensity, which commissioners said was incongruent with the neighborhood.
Arigoni briefly summarized the major changes of the new application, saying the number of cottages had been decreased from 12 to four, though each will now span about 2,000-square-feet as opposed to the maximum of 1,100 square feet of the earlier proposed array.
An “event barn,” which was one of the more contentious aspects of the initial application, has been relocated to be a part of the expanded main inn building, as opposed to its previous position as a detached structure.
Arigoni highlighted that a noise study — the lack of which was one of P&Z major criticisms of the first proposal — had been conducted in February and March, analyzing the levels of slamming car doors, traffic, waste collection vehicles and other ambient noise components of an active hotel site. He also explained that a new architectural firm had been contracted: “I think you will all see the changes to the plan, in terms of context and character.”
P&Z Chair Michael Klemens stressed that no action would be taken at the May 5 meeting. ARADEV will appear before the Commission again at its May 19 meeting, where P&Z will discuss the application’s completeness and potentially schedule a public hearing, which “will come a lot later,” Klemens said.
The application comes in the midst of ongoing litigation against the Commission relating to ARADEV’s first application. Angela and William Cruger, Wells Hill Road neighbors of the Inn who formally intervened in the 2024 hearing, filed a restraining order against the Commission in February alleging that it engaged in unlawful “spot zoning” that favored the Wake Robin expansion when it altered a regulation in May 2024 to allow for hotels via special permit in the Rural-Residential 1 zone.
Klemens announced that P&Z is opposing the restraining order. If it is approved by the judge, though, the May 2024 regulations would be declared invalid and the Commission would not be able to review applications pertaining to them, which includes ARADEV’s proposal.
FALLS VILLAGE — Housatonic Valley Regional High School girls lacrosse kept rolling Tuesday, May 6, with a decisive 18-6 win over Lakeview High School.
Eight different players scored for Housatonic in the Northwest Corner rivalry matchup. Sophomore Georgie Clayton led the team with five goals.
The Mountaineers' record advanced to 5-1 with a cumulative 41-point goal differential halfway through the season. The lone loss came at Watertown High School on April 10.
Georgie Clayton draws four Lakeview defenders. She scored five goals in the game May 6.Photo by Riley Klein
"We will be playing [Watertown] in the championship on the 28th of May," declared Coach Laura Bushey at the midway point of the 2025 season. Last year, HVRHS lost to St. Paul Catholic High School by one point in the Western Connecticut Lacrosse Conference championship.
The game against Lakeview May 7 went on despite ominous cloud cover at starting time. Rain earlier in the day made for a wet field, but the clouds parted by the second quarter for a sunny afternoon of lacrosse.
HVRHS wasted no time setting the tone. Georgie Clayton repeatedly sliced and diced her way through midfield to create offensive opportunities for the Mountaineers, who took a 7-1 lead in the first quarter.
Tessa Dekker elevates for one of her three goals against Lakeview May 6.Photo by Riley Klein
The lead grew to 11-3 by halftime. Seniors Lola Clayton and Tessa Dekker created a one-two punch on attack with Dekker setting up plays from behind the net as Clayton cut to the crease. The pair combined for five goals in the game.
Once the lead extended to double digits in the second half, the clock ran continuously. Lakeview found scoring chances but HVRHS sophomore goalie Sophia DeDominicis-Fitzpatrck saved more shots (7) than she let by.
The game ended 18-6 in favor of HVRHS.
Lola Clayton bounces a shot past the Lakeview defense.Photo by Riley Klein
The following players scored for the Mountaineers: Georgie Clayton (5), Tessa Dekker (3), Lola Clayton (2), Islay Sheil (2), Katie Crane (2), Annabelle Carden (2), Mollie Ford (1) and Chloe Hill (1).
Lakeview's goals were scored by Layla Jones (2), Isabelle Deforge (2), Juliana Bailey (1) and Caroline Donnelly (1).Goalie Sophia DeDominicis-Fitzpatrick secures the ball.Photo by Riley Klein
Participating students and teachers gathered for the traditional photo at the 2025 Troutbeck Symposium on Thursday, May 1.
Students and educators from throughout the region converged at Troutbeck in Amenia for a three-day conference to present historical research projects undertaken collaboratively by students with a common focus on original research into their chosen topics. Area independent schools and public schools participated in the conference that extended from Wednesday, April 30 to Friday, May 2.
The symposium continues the Troutbeck legacy as a decades-old gathering place for pioneers in social justice and reform. Today it is a destination luxury country inn, but Troutbeck remains conscious of its significant place in history.
A showing of student artworks within the theme of linking the past with the present opened the symposium on Wednesday evening. Each work of art had to draw on historical research to foster an informed dialogue between the artist and the contemporary audience.
The second day was devoted to student research presentations, showcasing teams from the region’s leading public and private schools with strong programs aimed at cultivating engaged young historians. Primary source materials and live interviews with descendants were included in the process.
Topics were divided into blocks with guest commentators providing reactive response as each block of student presentations concluded. Serving as commentators were Dr. Hasan Kwame Jeffries, Ohio State University, and Dr. Christine Proenza-Coles, University of Virginia.
Resistance in the face of oppression and stories of resilience that spanned generations formed an important theme as students presented the stories of area settlers and residents who suffered but endured.
As a sampling, The Taconic School teamed up with The Salisbury School to unearth untold stories of Boston Corners. The Hotchkiss School looked into the activities of the Ku Klux Klan in Connecticut. The Cornwall Consolidated School students stepped up with their untold stories of early Cornwall women.
Other presentations explored criminal justice — witchcraft trials — dealing with society’s “undesirable” elements, individuals in history who took action, people and movements that formed resistance, and various forms of discrimination.
Praising the work of the students, Dr. Jeffries identified a theme of resistance and survival.
“The war ended but the resistance did not,” Jeffries said. “We don’t take indigenous people seriously,” he added. “White supremacy happened in our own back yards.”
“We saw the evolution of research,” said a Cornwall Consolidated School representative. That project moved into civic engagement by the students that moved beyond the classroom.
“This is not the past; this is part of the present,” said Dr. Proenza-Coles.
A panel discussion among educators whose students had participated in the 2025 Troutbeck Symposium was held on Friday, May 2, to offer reflections on the symposium, its value and future development. Panelists from left to right were Jessica Jenkins, Litchfield Historical Society;Wunneanatsu Lamb-Cason, Brown University; Morgan Bengal, Old New-Gate Prison; Frank Mitchell, Connecticut Humanities; and student representatives Dominik Valcin of Salisbury School, and Shanaya Duprey of Housatonic Valley Regional High School. Leila Hawken
The third day invited area history educators to assemble and share ideas for redesigning elements of history education, a day of reflection.
The panel included Jessica Jenkins, Litchfield Historical Society; Wunneanatsu Lamb-Cason, Brown University; Morgan Bengal, Old New-Gate Prison; Frank Mitchell, Connecticut Humanities; and student representatives Dominik Valcin of Salisbury School, and Shanaya Duprey of Housatonic Valley Regional High School.
Valcin reflected on his work as a shared project within The Salisbury School, one where the inquiry would seek to find “the deeper story behind a base story.”
Duprey also spoke of process and the educational value of engaging with historical inquiry.
Each representing a profession that brings them into contact with historical inquiry, the panelists recounted tedious history classes of past decades. Jenkins described her own career as “public history.”Lamb-Canon’s experience began with choosing history electives in college. Bengal spoke of community engagement and the power of involvement with history.
“History is not the opposite of scientific inquiry,” said Bengal.
Significant discussion centered on the possibility of offering the Troutbeck Symposium model to a wider audience of school systems throughout the U.S.
“A community approach to education,” was a characterization offered by Troutbeck owner Charlie Champalimaud, commenting during a brief interview at the end of the symposium on Friday, May 2. She encouraged a push toward increasing even more the number of participating schools, their educational communities and symposium sponsors.
Terence S. Miller, owner of Roaring Oaks Florist in the new self-serve area of the shop.
Just in time for Mother’s Day, Roaring Oaks Florist in Lakeville has launched a new self-serve flower station next to its Main Street shop, offering high-quality, grab-and-go bouquets from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., seven days a week — including Sundays when the main store is closed.
Owner Terence S. Miller, who bought the shop 24 years ago at just 20 years old, calls the new feature “a modern twist on an old-school honor system,” with some high-tech updates.
“We’re still using our same high-end flowers, just with less markup and no labor,” said Miller. “That way people can access our quality anytime, even if we’re closed.”
Tucked beside the shop’s main entrance at 349A Main Street next to The Boathouse, the self-serve area is partitioned and monitored by security cameras. A simple touchscreen checkout system lets customers pay with a credit card — no cash accepted — and includes photo prompts to make selection easy. Vases, ribbons, flower food, and care instructions are all stocked and labeled.
“We’ve tried to think of everything people might need,” said Miller. “It’s all about making great flowers more accessible without losing what makes Roaring Oaks special.”
Miller said the idea came from years of watching customers try to squeeze in a visit before or after hours. “We’re open 8 hours a day, but we’re here for almost 10, and it still isn’t enough. People are always showing up after we close,” he said. “This way we can be ‘open’ more hours without adding staff.”
Though he considered making the space available 24/7, Miller ultimately decided against it. “We didn’t want to encourage late-night tampering,” he said, noting the shop’s proximity to local bars and restaurants.
Miller’s journey into flowers was unexpected. As soon as he could get his farming papers at 12 years old, he started working at Silamar Farm in Millerton. Alongside its produce, Silamar’s was one of the first farm stands in the area to sell fresh cut flowers.Miller began growing and bundling cut flowers for city-bound customers. “By 16 I needed a year-round job, so I applied to every florist around. I just had a knack for it,” he said. After a stint in Rhinebeck, he returned and bought Roaring Oaks from its previous owner.
In the decades since, he’s built a reputation for quality and creativity. The shop’s flowers are sourced from around the world, particularly Canada and South America, though Miller is committed to supporting local growers wherever possible, especially for summer offerings and weddings.
“We’re hoping to feature some smaller farms in the self-serve section this summer,” said Miller. “DIY weddings have taken off, and people don’t always realize the benefits of buying local. Cold chain is everything. The flowers we source come straight from the airport to the wholesaler and right up here. That’s how we keep them fresh.”
Roaring Oaks also offers consultations and bulk flower discounts for events and weddings, a service Miller hopes more customers will discover through the new self-serve setup.
After 50 years in business, and nearly a decade at its current Lakeville location, Roaring Oaks continues to evolve. “This September marks my 25th year,” said Miller. “I’m always looking for ways to make people happy. Flowers should be simple, joyful, and accessible. That’s what this is all about.”
For more information or to plan your Mother’s Day bouquet, visit Roaring Oaks Florist at 349A Main Street, Lakeville.