Simsbury selectmen decline sale of 0.36-acre town parcel at Firetown Road and Owens Brook

The Simsbury Board of Selectmen voted 1–5 on March 24 to reject a proposal to sell a 0.36-acre town-owned parcel at the northwest corner of Firetown Road and Owens Brook Boulevard.

During the public-audience portion of the meeting, residents and Open Space Committee members criticized the proposal and the town’s handling of the request, raising concerns about notice, price and the terms of a proposed conservation restriction. Helen Peterson, a member of the Open Space Committee, told the board the submission by town staff had misstated expected income and price: “the submission by the town manager and staff suggesting that the income from the sale would be several hundred dollars a year when in truth it would be only $50 a year. And as for the sale price of 15,000 when the appraisal is 72,000, this is absurd and...an absurd and dangerous precedent.”

Susan Messino, another Open Space Committee member, said the proposed conservation restriction appeared to permit a fence, a shed and an expansion of the existing house, and urged the board to consider alternatives such as a lifetime lease or use by a town organization. “I just wanna say as a member of OpenSpace...this is not—I've never heard of…