No secret, North Cove Outfitters going out of business

“I’m very sad, I will miss a lot of my friends,” said Kathy Fowler, who has worked at the store for 23 years. Closing the store she said “will be a big loss for the town, especially Main Street.”

However, in its final “going out of business” sale, the store is not exactly giving things away. In fact, on a recent visit it appeared that most items were a modest 10% off, or at most 30% off.  As one bargain hunter who was looking around noted, “Ten percent is nothing.”

"Ten percent is nothing," said one shopper

Sweaters for 30% to 50% off

“But we did not want to go away in the middle of the night,” he said, “That is not the legacy that we want to leave. We did not want to do that,” Cavallaro said. We wanted “to try to keep employees on the store’s payroll as long as possible.”“It is not about me,” he said.

Lots of people looking for bargains

North Cove Outfitters received many awards

The store owner then brought up again the store’s employees, some forty of them in all, who will be losing their jobs because of the store’s closing. “I love their professionalism,” he said, noting the number of employees who have worked for many years at North Cove Outfitters, which is still located for awhile longer at 75 Main Street in Old Saybrook.

As for what has been the store’s secret of success over the years, Cavallaro had this to say, “As an owner you yourself don’t have to be smart, you just have to hire smart people.”

That was the message last week from former Selectman Arthur Thompson as he briefed the board of selectmen on the activities of the Deep River Town Hall Auditorium Restoration Committee. Thompson is on the 11-member volunteer committee that was established in December to replace the restoration association, and complete long-planned improvements to the second-floor auditorium at town hall.

The former restoration association held the $261,000 that was donated over several years by residents to support the renovation of the town hall auditorium. The town meeting resolution that established the new committee included a provision specifying that funds held by the former association would be placed in a separate town fund dedicated to completing work on the town hall auditorium.

Thompson said the funds have been taken out of stock market investment accounts, and placed in a single account at Essex Savings Bank. Thompson also reported the town would not need a probate court ruling to secure control of the funds because the 1979 incorporation documents for the town hall restoration association had specified that any funds held by the association would revert to the town if the association was disbanded.

But the final transfer of the funds to the town requires a review by the state Attorney General’s office, which reviews final disbursements of charitable funds. Thompson said the committee expects a report from the attorney general soon.

Thompson said the funds would then be used to pay for improvements to the town hall auditorium, including work needed to allow full use of the balcony, and create a suitable entrance to the auditorium from a side door to the 1892 town hall building. He said the committee is working to prepare a specific improvement plan for the auditorium, along with cost estimates, to be presented to the selectmen.

Thompson also announced the committee would handle any bookings for use of the town hall auditorium, ending the services of Linalynn Schmelzer, a local resident who was hired last year by the association to coordinate bookings of the auditorium. “There are not a lot of bookings right now and we believe committee members can handle it,” he said.

To learn more about it, please click here Have a Heart for Haiti Fundraiser.  You may purchase tickets at the door or on-line by clicking here.

The Essex Garden Club and the Essex Land Trust are pleased to invite the general public to attend a program on Saving Central Park. Lane Addonizio, an Associate Vice President for Planning at the Central Park Conservancy, will discuss the various scientific and technological practices to maintain and restore Central Park, a man-made landscape. Some topics to be touched on are the Soil, Water and Ecology Lab’s role in maintaining the Park’s water bodies for its wildlife (mainly birds and fish) and its soil for the plantings and trees. Many technological innovations will be illustrated and discussed that have helped to restore the Park’s seemingly natural landscape, focusing on such high-tech sites such as the Great Lawn and the Lake and our three woodlands

The first public space of its kind, Central Park was conceived as a reprieve from the city for the benefit of all New Yorkers. The massive undertaking represented by its construction produced an idealized rurallandscape replete with meadows, lakes, and woodlands, all carefully orchestrated to transport urban dwellers from the reality of their daily lives. Frederick Law Olmsted suggested that the Park would be for working people—many of whom were destined to live their entire lives on the island of Manhattan—what a trip to the White Mountains or the Adirondacks was to those of greater means. It would provide what Olmsted referred to as the “sense of enlarged freedom” that comes from contact with nature. But the Park is not a naturally-occurring landscape. It is a man-made construct: a product of 19th century ingenuity designed to replicate the experience of nature at the heart of a great metropolis. As such, it has been subjected throughout its history not only to the pressures of encroachment and development that motivate efforts to conserve natural landscapes, but to the forces of deterioration, impacts of intense use, and periodic cycles of resource deprivation and management neglect.

Today, after thirty years of restoration and stewardship by the Central Park Conservancy, the Park is experiencing the longest period of sustained management in its 150-year history. The story of its creation, checkered past, and remarkable recovery supports the important idea that, as stewards, we can partner with nature’s improvisational energy to shape the character and nurture the intrinsic value of ever-evolving places that hold meaning for us.

Lane Addonizio oversees research and analysis for park wide and project planning, and collaborates with the Vice President for Planning, Design & Construction on the development and management of the program of the Park’s ongoing restoration and reconstruction. Ms. Addonizio is the author of the Report on the Public Use of Central Park, the most comprehensive study of the Park’s use in its more than 150-year history, which was published by the Conservancy in 2011.

The event is free and takes place at Essex Town Hall on Monday, March 5 at 2 p.m. Refreshments served. Parking behind Town Hall, 29 West Avenue, Essex.

Captain Mark Bancroft has been sailing for over thirty-five years and been involved in the marine industry for over twenty years. After completing a successful career in the United States Navy as a Chief Petty Officer he retired in 1989. He started Bottoms Up Boat Service providing a wide variety of services including mooring placement & inspection, bottom cleaning and hull damage inspections. Mark has been the delivery captain for over 100 boats to various ports from Boston to Norfolk. His experience includes installation and repair of equipment/electronics, spring commissioning and winterization of yachts.

In 1999, after two years of cruising the Inter-coastal Waterway from Connecticut to the West Coast of Florida, including the Bahamas, he joined the staff of Hellier Yacht Sales in the Service Department to coordinate spring commissioning and provide for all warranty work. After another cruise to the Florida Keys and west coast, Mark joined Yachting Services of Mystic as the Fleet Captain for the charter fleet, providing all facets of the charter industry from check-out/check-in, training and maintenance.

Mark started Wildoats Marine Service, LLC in April 2007 to serve the desires of the boating public in need of marine related services at a reasonable cost.

Please register for this no cost seminar.  Contact the ECYC office at 860-767-3239 or email  ecyc@essexcyc.org

Essex Historical Society is Looking for Volunteers to Become Pratt House Tour Guides this Summer

Essex Historical Society is looking for volunteers with an interest in local history to become Pratt House tour guides.

Interested in learning more about the history of Essex, the earliest settler’s and the town’s varied  architecture?  If so, please consider being a Pratt House tour guide this summer.  The Pratt House will be open for tours beginning June 1st, and continuing through the end of September. A fondness for history and an interest in meeting people are the only skills need to become a good Docent.

All Docents will work in pairs.  Those who sign up to become Docents guides will receive free training about the home, its furnishing, and the general history of the area. New Docents, of all ages, are always welcome.

For more information, please call Mary Ann Pleva at 860-767-8560 or Bette Taylor at 860-581-3365

Shoreline residents need to be informed about a new Legislative bill which, if passed, could heavily impact their property rights. A public hearing will be held at the State Capitol on Wednesday Feb 22 at 11:00 a.m.

For information go to:
http://ctsenaterepublicans.com/2012/02/heres-how-shoreline-residents-can-weigh-in-on-a-proposal–that-impacts-their-property-rights–senator-fasano-talks-to-am-960-welis-vinnie-penn-audio/

Sincerely,

Neil Nichols,
Essex, CT

Muhammod was operating a 2009 Nisson Altima. Yoon, a woman, was driving a 2002 Chrysler. The accident remains under investigation by state police at the Troop F barracks in Westbrook.

Windmill at Foxboro Point will remain undeveloped in the new proposal

The New York City developer, Frank J. Sciame, Jr., did not personally appear before the Commission at the hearing; however, he was represented by Essex private attorney Terrance Lomme and Joe Wren, PE of Indigo Land Design of Old Saybrook. A representative of the developer, John Randolph, monitored the hearing but did not speak.

The subdivision would consist of seven separate lots, including the property of the existing Croft house, and sites for six new houses. Each of the sites in the development plan would have frontage on North Cove.

The Croft house, presently the only house on the proposed new subdivision at Foxboro Point

The total acreage of the conservation easement is 2.43 acres, or 22% of the 11.03- acre property.

In his presentation before the Commission, Wren stated that no new roadways would be required, because all seven lots have adequate frontage along Riverview Street or Foxboro Road.

As for the fate of the iconic Windmill on the northern portion of the proposed subdivision, Wren said in an interview after the hearing, “In my opinion it will not be destroyed but will stay a windmill.” However, he pointed out that, although the windmill would be on land owned by the developer, it is a separate lot and is not part of the proposed subdivision.

Seventy five foot visual corridor to North Cove in plan

Another unique feature of the proposed Foxboro Point subdivision would be the creation a 75- foot wide, open visual corridor protected with a view easement from Foxboro Road down to the waters of North Cove.  The windmill is not within this visual corridor, but it could be seen, obliquely, from the road after the homes have been built, Wren said.

Wren noted that the creation of the visual corridor from the Foxboro Road to the waters of North Cove was the idea of the developer, who wished to preserve a visual open space to the waters of North Cove.

Another issue that was discussed at the hearing was the question of whether docks would be allowed to extend out into North Cove.  Wren said that the water is very shallow in front of the properties of the proposed subdivision and that any proposed dock would be subject to full D.E.E.P. permitting requirements.

Commission members were in agreement that if there were any plans to build new docks by property owners in the subdivision, they would have to appear before Wetlands Commission for approval.

The developer’s engineer also said that the new houses on the site would have access to public water, and that each new property owner would have to construct an individual septic system.

Now that the Wetlands Commission has found no objections to the Foxboro Point development, permission to proceed with town approval of the new subdivision will be considered at a public hearing of the Essex Planning Commission on March 8, according to the Essex Zoning Enforcement Officer Joseph Budrow.

Click here to view detailed site map

About 40 residents turned out for the session at the Chester Meeting House where the plans for a complex construction project were presented by engineers and project managers. The bridge, constructed in 1921, carries the brook through a narrow channel that runs along or near several downtown buildings. Project manager David Stahnke described the construction area as “a very tight site.” The bridge is located just south of the intersection of Main Street and Route 148, also known as Water Street.

DOT project manager David Cutler said the 90-year-old bridge is rated poor, with deterioration to both the substructure and superstructure. He said repairing the bridge is not an option. The existing bridge is 22 feet long and about 65 feet wide. The new bridge would be 32 feet long, with two 12-foot travel lanes and wider shoulders than the existing bridge. The plans also call for improvements to the road approaches and sidewalks around the bridge.

Cutler said preparation work for the estimated $2.5 million project would begin in the fall of 2014. Main Street around the bridge would be closed during the heaviest construction, planned for a five-month period between January and May 2015.  Traffic would be detoured off Route 148 on to Straits Road and Prospect Street to Maple Street and back to Main Street.

Stahnke said a temporary bridge would be set up around the work area to maintain pedestrian access to Main Street. The project will require acquisition of rights of way from at least two downtown property owners, a process that was explained by David Hummel, property agent for the DOT’s Division of Rights of Way.

One of the issues that generated discussion at the meeting is whether there should be no night work during the most active period of construction, or whether residents could accept some night work if it would speed up completion of the project. Michael Joplin, chairman of the town’s Main Street Committee, maintained residents and downtown business owners could live with a 12 or 13 hour workday if that would help ensure the project was finished, and Main Street reopened to traffic, by May 2015.

Cutler said the state is ready to coordinate work on the bridge project with the town’s plans for a reconstruction of Main Street, the locally-funded project that is being directed by the Main Street Committee. The state also plans a replacement of the Water Street bridge over Great Brook, located just east of the Main Street bridge. Work on the Water Street bridge replacement is expected to begin later this year. The Main Street reconstruction is expected to be done around 2013-2014, between completion of the Water Street bridge replacement and the start of work on the Main Street bridge project.