To Tabor or Not? PWD Public Presentation [PDF]

At last week’s regarding the proposed move of the from 137 N. Branford Rd., to a new facility on Tabor Drive, announced that two new parcels would be considered as potential homes for the facility: their current location with a long-term extended lease and a piece of property owned by Bittersweet LLC.

After running a last March to get private owners to submit parcels for the new public works facility, the building committee was able to determine a final list of five private pieces and two public parcels. Of those selections, 10 acres of the town-owned 77-acre parcel on Tabor Drive . The two recent additions of parcels were not considered last year.

Since the choice to put PWD on Tabor, have come out both .

In light of the still varying opinions about the move, DaRos has asked the building committee to evaluate the potential use of 137 N. Branford Road where the PWD is currently leasing as well as portion of the Bittersweet property which was most recently the property under consideration for the .

In January, 2011, the public works facility was moved from their former location at 45 N. Main St., to make way for the . The temporary facility at 137 N. Branford Road, is being leased to the town for three years at a sum of $114,375 the first year, $117,806 the second year and $121,340 the third year. If the garage is to be considered as a more permanent home for Public Works, the lease would become long-term, said who is also a member of the Building Committee.

The Bittersweet Property owned by Bittersweet LLC (Michael Belfonti and Alfred Secondino) is off of exit 56 and was most recently in consideration as the future home of Costco. Since presenting the plans before the Commission to site a wholesale retail club in this area last February, the notion has been pulled from the table. The property owned by the LLC is 135 acres; it was not stated at the recent PWD Building Committee public hearing, how many acres would be utilized or considered if the facility was to be placed there. There are known buildings on this site as well.

Branford Patch’s inquiry to the Board of Selectman yesterday regarding the details of the new proposed pieces was not yet answered.

Before adding the two new parcels to the mix, the PW Building Committee presented their proposed plans for Tabor as well as their plans for renovating and building on their second-choice location, . The slide show presented to the public last week is attached.