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Salisbury real estate sales in May
Jun 11, 2025
245-251 Belgo Road, built in 1845, sold in 2014 for $525,000, renovated and sold in 2019 for $2,500,000, and resold on May 12 for $4,100,000.
Christine Bates
SALISBURY — Five of Salisbury’s eight home sales in May closed over $2 million. Three of the five were located in Lakeville.
The median price of a single-family home on a rolling 12-month basis in Salisbury reached $1,370,000, 62.7% higher than May of 2024. At the same time there were 29 homes listed for sale at the beginning of June. No slowdown is in sight as the selling season begins.
Transactions
30 Selleck Hill Road — 2.06 acres of vacant land sold by Salisbury Housing Trust to Bridget Clarke Sayler and Dominic M. Sayler for $195,000.
29 Morgan Lane — 4 bedroom/2.5 bath lake front home on 2.05 acres sold by Kevin J. McCaffrey and Cara C. McCaffrey to Anne Fredericks for $5,250,000.
62 Rocky Lane — 2 bedroom/1 bath home on 4 acres sold by Julia Cathleen Ott to Jeffrey and Naomi A. Bravin, Linda Williams and Wesley Miller for $700,000.
Selleck Hill Road —121.02 acres of forested land sold by SP Consolidated Land and Cattle LLC to Christopher Hewat for $1,000,000.
172 Selleck Hill Road — 5 bedroom/4.5 bath home on 15.4 acres sold by Elizabeth Varet to Christopher Hewat for $2,150,000.
15 Red Mountain Road — 4 bedroom/3.5 bath home on 42.49 acres sold by Cory and Meredith G. Murphy to Leslie Kane Bazos and Nicholas Bazos for $3,850,000.
33 Walton Street — 3 bedroom/2 bath home on 0.35 acres sold by Pallone Karcheski LLC to Lakeville Lodge LLC for $400,000.
245-251 Belgo Road — 4 bedroom/6 bath historic main house on 10.68 acres sold by Hang with the Turkeys LLC to Marie T. Spears for $4,100,000.
128 Millerton Road — 2 bedroom/1.5 bath home on 2.47 acres sold by David Borino to Michael T. Peschel for $2,500,000.
56 Interlaken Estates — 3 bedroom/2.5 bath home sold by Hillary and Paul Kavanagh to Randy and Nicole Watkins for $760,000.
*Town of Salisbury real estate transfers recorded as sold between May 1 and May 31, 2025, provided by the Salisbury Town Clerk. Transfers without consideration are not included. Current market data courtesy of Smart MLS and Info Sparks. Compiled by Christine Bates, Real Estate Salesperson with William Pitt Sotheby’s International Realty, Licensed in CT and NY.
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Police Blotter: Troop B
Jun 11, 2025
Police Blotter: Troop B
Police Blotter: Troop B
The following information was provided by the Connecticut State Police at Troop B. All suspects are considered innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
Arrest on DUI warrant
On June 2, troopers took Osvaldo Emilio Paulino, 30, of Torrington into custody on an arrest warrant pertaining to an incident on Litchfield Road in Norfolk in December 2024. Paulino was transferred to Winsted Police Department and was processed for operating a motor vehicle under the influence and failure to maintain proper lane. He was released on a $500 non-surety bond and is scheduled to appear at Torrington Superior Court on June 16.
Car flees parking lot crash
A Chevrolet Malibu LT was parked in the Tinker Lot, a private parking lot on The Hotchkiss School grounds, on June 3 when it was struck by a vehicle at some time between 11:30 a.m. and 12:52 p.m. The operator said it was a work car and it had been parked at that location at 11:30 a.m. with no damage. When returning to the vehicle, the operator found damage to the rear, left bumper panel and left taillight. The vehicle that caused the accident had fled the scene.
Car runs off Route 4
Late in the evening on June 4, McKenna Carolan, 19, of Warren was driving east on Route 4 in Sharon near the intersection with Jackson Hill Road when the vehicle, a GMC Sierra 1500, crossed to the opposite lane before driving off the roadway. The vehicle collided with approximately 50 feet of wire-rope guardrail before coming to rest in an embankment. Carolan was uninjured in the accident, though the vehicle was disabled and had to be towed from the scene. Carolan was issued a written warning for failing to drive on the right side.
The Lakeville Journal will publish the outcome of police charges. Contact us by mail at P.O. Box 1688, Lakeville, CT 06039, Attn: Police Blotter, or send an email, with “police blotter” in the subject line, to editor@lakevillejournal.com
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Canaan Child Care Center’s Education Consultant Mary Cecchinato (standing left) and CECA’s Exucutive Director Merrill Gay (standing right), along with two students, Riley and Winnie, thanked State Rep. Maria Horn (D-64) for her commitment to early education when presenting the Children’s Champion certificate in North Canaan Aug. 29, 2024.
Riley Klein
Early childcare professionals in the Northwest Corner applaud the announcement of the passing of a new childcare affordability bill in the state, even if some details remain unclear.
On May 31, Connecticut state legislation passed a first-of-its kind bill that offers free early childcare to families with a total annual income of less than $100,000, and limits childcare costs to just 7% of annual income for families who make more.
“We’ve been on the back burner for a long time,” said Salisbury’s Housatonic Child Care Center Director Tonya Roussis, explaining that the moment feels like a reckoning of sorts for early childhood caregivers. “It’s nice to see that this is coming to the forefront, and we are being recognized.”
The bill, known as Senate Bill 1, has been a top priority for Senate democrats in the 2025 legislative session, which adjourned on June 4.The proposal was strongly backed by Governor Ned Lamont (D), who described it as “an investment in our future by expanding access to affordable pre-school” in a Feb. 2025 press release, explaining that early socialization and education prepares young children to succeed while their parents are able to earn more income.
The bill passed by a large margin, 32-4, in the state Senate on May 30, followed by a House vote the next day that was split on party lines, 101-45.
The core of the bill establishes an endowment fund from annual budget surplus amounting to up to $300 million per year that would subsidize families’ costs beginning in 2028. In a news release celebrating the May 30 Senate vote, State Sen. Doug McCrory (D-2) described the endowment as a “first-in-the-nation” strategy to address mounting early childcare and preschool costs.
The bill met opposition from Republicans who considered using surplus budget funds for off-budget spending irresponsible. A spokesperson for state Senate Minority Leader Stephen Harding (R-30), who voted against the bill, stated that the senator was in favor of much of the bill but could not support what he felt was a violation of the state’s fiscal guardrails. He attempted to pass an amendment that would use capital from the state general fund rather than budget surplus for the endowment, but it was voted down.
Speaking at the session, Harding said the bill was “playing budget gimmicks with early childhood.”
Childcare, like in many places, is costly in the Northwest Corner. Roussis said in a region where annual preschool costs average between $14,000 and $17,000, the new legislation is welcome. “For those families making less than $100,000… they need to work, they need to live, they need to survive. And having this one piece off their financial plate is probably going to do so much for them.”
The bill also promises higher pay and better health care benefits to childcare professionals, which Roussis hopes will address underpay for highly qualified educators in the field. She said 90% of HCCC teachers have a bachelor’s or master’s degree in early childhood care and deserve fair compensation.
While Roussis is celebrating the bill’s passing as “amazing progress for the field of early childhood,” she’s aware that funding may be a long way away from a program like HCCC. “Private centers are down the road,” she said, explaining that the funds will primarily be allocated through state programs at first, like the Office of Early Childhood’s “Early Start CT” program. As the endowment grows, she is hopeful that organizations like HCCC will receive their share.
Other local childcare centers are cautious about the uncertainties surrounding how the funds will be directed and dispersed. Fran Chapell, who directs the Canaan Child Care Center, said that the Early Start program will subsume the OEC’s “School Readiness” program that has funded CCCC’s families, and that the details of how the shift will play out are yet unclear.
“It’s hard to know what the future is going to bring until we have more information,” she said.
Until then, Chapell is focusing on community partnerships as means to alleviate some of the cost burdens on young families.
The CCCC recently took over North Canaan’s community garden, Chapell said, and in the first week of June local families came out to help plant tomatoes, cucumbers, lettuce and other vegetables donated by East Canaan’s Freund’s Farm. When ready for harvest, the produce will be brought to the Fishes and Loaves Food Pantry, which will help reduce costs on food expenditures for families trying to make ends meet.
Chapell said a number of other partnerships, like a grant from the Salisbury Chapter of the Rotary Club which helps pay for school supplies or another grant from the Northwest Community Foundation that subsidizes winter clothing expenditures, also help to ease financial pressures on families facing such a variety of essential costs.
Partnerships, and looking to neighbors, she said, are the way to access the wealth or resources that the community offers. “We don’t have everything in the Northwest Corner, but we do have a lot that offers support for our families.”
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Lynn Werner, executive director of the Housatonic Valley Association, has been a driving force in land and water conservation for more than 40 years.
Debra A. Aleksinas
“Her heart is always with the water, and yet under her leadership, HVA became more than a watershed organization but also an accredited land trust.” —Tim Abbott, conservation director, Housatonic Valley Association
CORNWALL — Lynn Werner was smitten by the smelts.
Fresh out of college, she landed a job as a researcher with the state fisheries division counting young salmon.
“It was a phenomenal job. We would set up traps mid-stream and count the smelts in there and then release them. I would hang onto the rocks and just be one with the water,” as the small, silvery fish sparkled and splashed around her.
“I could have done that forever,” she recalled.
Fortunately for the Cornwall-based Housatonic Valley Association, which she joined in 1982, Werner soon found herself advocating for the streams, rivers, wetlands and forests that had been such an integral part of her youth.
“I benefitted from the Clean Water Act. If I had to sit next to a river or lake and not be able to swim in it, that would be my idea of torture,” said Werner, 67, who has been a staunch advocate in land and water conservation for more than four decades.
Since she became executive director in 1995, HVA has expanded its staff from five to 17, quadrupled its budget and launched transformative conservation initiatives.
Earlier this year, Werner announced her plan to retire from her role at HVA effective June 30.
“We just finished our strategic plan, and I felt it was a good time,” she explained recently over a cup of coffee at the Warren General Store, a short distance from her Kent home.
“I started discussing it in earnest in 2023, going into 2024 with several board members,” Werner explained. A search committee has selected her yet unnamed successor and plans to make the announcement later this month.
In the meantime, Werner said she will be assisting with the transition.
Long list of accomplishments
As executive director, Werner oversees the day-to-day management of the association including collaborating with individuals, groups and agencies with the goal of maintaining a healthy river system.
The association recently received an accreditation renewal from the Land Trust Accreditation Commission for a third five-year term.
Werner’s list of accomplishments includes the restoration of Furnace Brook Fishway in Cornwall that allowed trout to swim upstream to spawn for the first time in 20 years. She also was instrumental in ensuring that General Electric and the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) clean up the PCBs in the watershed system and created the River Smart campaign to study the impact of polluted runoff and how to reduce it.
HVA, under Werner’s leadership, successfully fought to reroute a natural gas pipeline away from protected lands and wetlands, stopped a superhighway route through the scenic river ridgeline and saved 6,000 acres of river valley from developers.
She credited collaboration, both within HVA and in the communities, as the key to her success. “You can only be as great as the team you’re working with, and we’ve also been fortunate to collaborate with so many wonderful partners. There is a really strong network of both nonprofits and community leaders working to protect this tristate river valley, and this gives me hope for the future.”
The association also launched the “Follow the Forest” initiative to protect a connected woodland wildlife corridor and conducted educational programs for kindergarten to high school students on biology, ecology and chemistry of the watershed.
“Protecting the core forest corridor throughout the Housatonic River watershed makes climate resiliency sense. And this region is part of a much larger corridor stretching into Canada,” she explained.
Werner stressed the importance of getting kids with “nature deficit disorder” involved in the environment, as they are the environmental leaders of the future.
What you love, you protect, said Warner, who early on in her career co-chaired and helped form the Clean Water Coalition and served on the legislature’s Aquifer Protection Task Force.“And most kids seem to love a good splash in a stream, and especially a nose-to-nose moment with a frog, it’s a joy to behold.”
Werner felt that defending nature begins in the place where you live.
“A lot of people don’t know how much power they have,” she noted. “Take a stand where you are, small or big. Join the fight to protect that river or woodland or meadow or view that you love. And everyone can do one important thing in their own backyard or neighborhood to keep a stream healthy and a fish friendly, or feed and shelter butterflies and birds, or let rain replenish groundwater and wetlands. If you’re not sure where to start, just ask your favorite conservation group.”
Rivers, by their gentle beauty, are always moving, they’re always singing and the sound that they make is always soothing, reflected Werner.
“That river can’t fight for itself. It gives so much when you think about all that beauty, all that spiritual replenishment, all that life. We’re its voice and sometimes we have to fight for it.”
Lauded as ‘Conservation Hero’
In late March, the Connecticut Land Conservation Council (CLCC) honored Werner with its coveted Conservation Hero Award for her legacy of transformative leadership in the Housatonic Valley.
The council cited her role as co-founder of the Litchfield Hills Greenprint, her success with preserving more than 15,000 acres through the Stanley Works project, riverfront greenways and recent woodland corridor conservation.
Werner’s advocacy, according to the CLCC, has shaped public policy, strengthened stream flow protections, wetland conservation and strategic land preservation.
“She was instrumental in securing a settlement from General Electric for PCB contamination clean-up and helped achieve the 2022 Wild & Scenic designation for forty-one miles of the Housatonic River.”
HVA President Tony Zunino lauded Werner’s 40-year tenure with the organization earlier this year during its Annual Auction for the Environment. “Lynn’s leadership and vision has made an indelible mark on the Housatonic Valley Association,” he said in announcing her intent to retire.
Tim Abbott, conservation director at HVA, said her passion stems from her start back in the early 1980’s as a fisheries researcher with the state.
“She still looks back with evident joy and pride on the time she got to spend in rivers and streams counting salmon smelts. Her heart is always with the water, and yet under her leadership, HVA became more than a watershed organization but also an accredited land trust.”
Reflecting on Werner’s leadership style, Abbott noted: “HVA’s core conservation approach — collaborative, solution-oriented, grounded in science and the conviction that strong partners can do far more together than any of us can do alone — are Lynn’s greatest gift and legacy.”
Werner credited her entire team at HVA for their motivation, knowledge and talent. “It’s an honor, a joy, to work every day with such skilled and passionate people.”
In her retirement, Werner said she is looking forward to spending more time with her husband, seeing her grandchildren more, learning new cooking styles and staying connected to environmental causes.
She currently serves as president of the Rivers Alliance of Connecticut, is on the board of the Connecticut Legislative Conservation Voters and the Steep Rock Association.
“I am looking to stay in the game in a different way and be able to provide hands-on help in a way I haven’t been able to. It’s been an incredible journey and I have been incredibly fortunate.”
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