Woodstock CT Café

Adopted: April 22, 1986
Effective: May 15, 1986

SECTION 1 Pursuant to the provisions of Section 7-149(a) of the Connecticut General Statutes (P.A. 81-401), the Planning Commission may designate town highways or portions of highways as scenic roads. No state highway or portion thereof may be designated as a scenic road under this ordinance.

SECTION 2 The Planning Commission shall consider designating as a scenic road only those town roads which are free of intensive commercial development and intensive vehicular traffic and which meet at lease one of the following criteria:

2.a It is unpaved,
2.b It is bordered by mature trees or stone walls,
2.c The travel portion is no more than 20 feet in width,
2.d It offers scenic views,
2.e It blends naturally into the surrounding terrain, or,
2.f It parallels or crosses over brooks, streams, lakes or ponds.

SECTION 3
3.a When a highway is to be considered for designation as a scenic road, the Planning Commission shall schedule a public hearing on the proposal. Hearing notices and deadlines will be in accordance with the provisions of Section 8-26(d) and (h) and 8-26(e) of the Connecticut General Statutes. The Planning commission shall notify the Selectmen, the highway foreman, and owners of lot frontage abutting the highway or portion of a highway of the proposed designation and scheduled public hearing.
3.b Following the public hearing, the Planning Commission shall vote on the proposed designation. No highway or portion of a highway may be designated as a scenic road under this section unless the owners of a majority of lot frontage abutting a highway or a portion of the highway agree to the designation by filing a written statement of approval with the Town Clerk of the Town of Woodstock. The designation shall become effective upon such date as the Planning Commission may establish.
3.c The scenic road designation may be rescinded by the Planning Commission, using the same procedures and having the written concurrence of the owners of a majority of lot frontage abutting the highway.
3.d Any person aggrieved by a designation of a highway or a portion of a highway as a scenic road pursuant to this Section by the Planning Commission may appeal such designation in the manner in utilizing the same standards of review provided for appeals from the decisions of Planning Commissions under Section 8-28.

SECTION 4
4.a No road which has been designated as a scenic road under this ordinance shall be altered or improved, including but not limited to, widening of the right of way or of the travel portion of the road, paving, changes of grade, removal of stone bridges, straightening, removal of stone walls, and removal of mature trees, except for good cause determined by the Planning Commission. Prior to the Planning Commission approving any alteration or improvement of a road designated as a scenic road under this ordinance. The Planning Commission shall schedule a public hearing on the proposed alteration or improvement. The Planning Commission shall notify the Selectmen, the highway supervisor, and owners of lot frontage abutting the highway or portion of the highway designated as a scenic road of the proposed alteration and improvement and scheduled public hearing. Hearing notices and deadlines shall be in accordance with the Provisions of Section 8-26D and 8-26E of the Connecticut General Statutes. Following the public hearing, the Planning Commission shall vote on the proposed future alterations and improvements and shall state the reasons for any such approved alterations or improvements in its minutes.
4.b Any highway or portion of any highway designated as a scenic road shall be maintained by the Town, in good and sufficient repair and is in passable condition. Nothing in this Section shall be deemed to prohibit a person owning or occupying land abutting a scenic road for maintaining and repairing the land which abuts the scenic road if the maintenance or repair occurs on land not within the right of way, paved or unpaved on the scenic road.

SECTION 5
This ordinance will become effective 15 days following its publication in a newspaper having circulation in the Town of Woodstock.

from Con

Wow, are you for real? If so, you parrot much of the simplistic, one-dimensional hyperbole I’ve been hearing since a black man was duly elected as our Nation’s President. You portray these bad people who will ruin your town more as caricatures than actual people.

Ironically, your rhetoric actually reflects a stunning lack of faith in The U.S. Constitution, an awesome document which has served, protected and given Justice to America and American Citizens for generations. I mean “…enjoy the freedom conservatism provides?” Where is the Freedom in denying others by prior restraint even the right to live in “your” town (if you had your way)? In campaign after campaign this year it seemed that those on The Right believed that merely SAYING the words “LIBERTY!” and/or “TYRANNY!” hides the irony that their Fear and Hate Mongering would effectively limit freedom (that’s what Fear does) and allow Tyranny (that’s what Hate does).

Do you no longer believe in your own Constitution? Have you come to believe, as so many on The Right have stated outright, that literally MILLIONS of your fellow Americans are all of the sudden “Enemies of America”? The tone of Fear-Mongering underlying your comment is indicative of an intolerance wholly inconsistent with fundamentally American Values, as expressed by our Founding Fathers in the formal and informal writings they produced: The Constitution, The Declaration of Independence to start, Federalist Papers, etc., etc.

You see, they advocate a notion new to the World at that time: Flat Out EQUALITY; that all humans are created Equal. Is that your understanding of your relative standing as an American Citizen as compared to any one of these “progressive/socialist”?

Are you also aware that the notion of PRIOR RESTRAINT (which is not limited to Speech or the 1st Amendment) is wholly UNCONSTITUTIONAL? Would you seek to punish and deny these people who, you just know in your heart, absolutely and without a doubt WILL seek to “destroy…values”? Would you have them interned before they have a chance to destroy such values?

AND where have they been hiding all these years!?! How in God’s name did they INFILTRATE this great Nation as, gasp!, American Citizens yet have failed to DESTROY this great nation until THIS YEAR!?! How is it that we face such an imminent and enormous threat and crisis from those who, it seems, simply have major disagreement with your politics and dared to elect that black man? Have they been laying in wait, all communicating surreptitiously until the very right moment presents itself and that moment is 2010? WHERE HAVE THEY BEEN UNTIL NOW and why haven’t you all done something about them before now?

Finally and again: How is it that you’ve seemingly lost ALL Faith in the U.S. Constitution, which is more than adequate to meet and defeat the purported danger of Socialism looming over us all. That awesome document has easily defeated far greater threats to this great Nation than the aggregated hyperbole of each and every Fear Monger we have heard from these past 2 years.

I certainly believe in our Constitution and know that there is an abundance of good, honest and upright American Citizens to enforce The Constitution with the same positive results – the defeat of any threat to America like Socialism – that we have seen and history has recorded all of these hundreds of years since it was given life through the consent of a UNITED group of American Citizens (who did not consider each other as enemies).

Or did I read too much into your comment about Real Estate and how ‘bad elements’ can simply ruin a town? Pompous as I sound, allow me to get even MORE haughty, as a counter point to your own righteous sub-text: When we hear the shouts of those who keep repeating “Take Back America!” we know they can only mean one thing: The America they want back is one where only they had meaningful power, voice, security – VISIBILITY, while many others were marginalized and kept invisible.

They yearn for those days when THEY alone had seats at The Table and A Voice in the halls of Power, when they used such power to deny others a Seat or a Voice. Today those groups do have a modicum of EQUALITY and through great struggle have taken their rightful Seats at The Table, a Voice granted them by Democracy. Disagreement with what they say is no grounds to demand we all go back to the days when no one listened to them, for they were all but invisible.

I know, I know – I went WAY too far, just one guy, but I guess so did you. Our bad.

You may not be aware of the following information, but it is important that you are aware and hopefully you will want to sign a petition asking the Town to stop putting pavement on our town’s on unpaved dedicated scenic roads.

In September the highway department used reclaimed asphalt on a section of Pulpit Rock Road near Smith’s farm claiming it was ‘maintenance activity’. The Scenic Road Ordinance is very clear about paving (and widening) scenic roads – it can not be done unless it is for ‘good cause’ or if everyone on the road is first notified and a public hearing is held. The activity was not for good cause and a preliminary meeting never happened. Since then the Board of Selectmen has decided that 3 more sections of the road will receive the same milled asphalt treatment, and all town unpaved roads, whether they have been designated scenic or otherwise, will be treated in this same manner.

Many neighbors and townspeople protested this decision in last month’s Planning and Zoning Commission meeting. The Conservation Commission asked the Woodstock Highway Department to stop the action. They were ignored.

As you know, Pulpit Rock Road is over 300 years old and has historical, environmental and archaeologic importance in our town. Many of us concerned with preserving history and our environment are astonished by this disregard for scenic roads and the town’s own ordinance.

Will you be willing to sign a petition asking our elected officials to stop the immediate practice? Attached is the language of the petition.  You can either call Norma Jean Loftus and she may be able to drive over to get your signatures. Better yet, would you consider helping to circulate the petition to your neighbors and other Woodstock friends?  Also attached is the Ordinance and the BOS minutes indicating further activity on the Pulpit Rock Road using the recycled asphalt.

Lastly, there will be another Planning and Zoning meeting this Thursday evening, November 18 beginning at 7:30 PM  in Town Hall to accept citizen’s comments and scenic roads are on the agenda again.  Please consider attending this meeting.  While the petition will ultimately be delivered to the Board of Selectmen, we would like to demonstrate vast support of this petition. 

Best regards,

Norma Jean Loftus 860-974-1155

Jean Pillo 860-974-3508

The petition: Petition to Preserve the Integrity of the Woodstock Scenic Road Ordinance (below) Read the rest of this entry »

The green arrow is in the same place in these two pictures. The top picture is looking north toward Barber Road from the fourth field down. The bottom picture is looking east up Barber Road.

This is from a 6:30 AM news conference today by the Mayor of Bridgeport, Bill Finch.

The delay in certifying the vote was initially caused by an insufficient number of ballots. The Mayor mobilized police to help Registrar of Voters’ staff in counting every ballot. The Bridgeport votes were hand counted last night.

17,800 for Malloy (D) – State-wide 566,178

4075 for Foley (R) – State-wide 560,862

Malloy wins Bridgeport by 13,725 votes. This gives Malloy 5316 more votes state-wide than Foley.

This vote does not include about 100 votes that were cast after 8PM.

Heidi Westover came in 32nd in the NYC, 13th among American women (shown in the thumbnail) with a time of 2:43:44. She would have placed 146th among the men and 174th out of 45,000 runners.

from John

I am going to tune into the New York Marathon on Sunday, November 7th, if I can find it on TV or on the Internet. I believe the Marathon will be televised at 9 AM on NBC. I have been planning this for months.

 Click to enlarge empty space to left

 Meg Westerling, my cousin, and I grew up together in Rowayton CT (Meg is eight years younger  than me). Tommy and Meg Westerling’s daughter, Heidi Westerling Westover, is 29 years old and running in the NYC Marathon this Sunday as an elite runner.
 ….

Video Interview of Heidi and the 2010 New York Half Marathon

From Running Times, November 2010: History of Heidi

• Graduated from Univ. of Rhode Island with BS in Physical Education and MS in elementary education.
• Atlantic 10 Conference Track star.
• Full time 5th grade school teacher.
• Takes her kids on a one hour walk each day rain or shine during her home room hour.
• Outfits her kids with Minuzos and winter running gear.
• Logs 200 miles a week in training in winter and 130 to 160 miles in the summer.
• Placed 13th in NYC marathon November 2009, fourth among American women.
• Placed 18th in the 2010 Boston Marathon in April 2010, fourth among American women.
• More recently won the Vermont City Marathon in 2hr:35min shattering her personal record by six minutes.

Typical Day

• 4:45 a. m. – on the treadmill at 9 miles per hour (6:40 per mile clip) for 20 minutes.
• Once ran 31 miles on the treadmill when school was cancelled because of snow.
• 8 a.m. to 2:45 p.m. – teaches 5th grade.
• 4:40 p. m. – local high school for 10 to 15 mile run at about a 6:30 pace with her coach.

On weekends

• 2.5 to 3.5 hours running each day.
  Runs half marathons and full marathons to work on speed and fitness. 

Goal

• To hit the Olympic Trials “A” standard of 2hrs:39mins in the NYC Marathon this Sunday November 7th.
• Doesn’t like the idea of abandoning her students to train full time for the 2012 Olympics.

My Goal is to watch the New York Marathon this Sunday.

Bob Monahan (TEEG Food Security Coordinator), Allan Walker (our 1st Selectman), and Stacy Rodecap (Community Services Manager) who loaded the food donations into trucks.

2010

Mike Alberts (R) – 2029 (63.5%), district-wide vote 5228 (58.9%)
Bill Loftus (D) – 1168 (36.5%), district-wide vote 3757 (41.1%)

2008

Mike Alberts (R) – 2466 (59.4%), district-wide vote 5901 (51.1%)
Sherri Vogt (D) – 1688 (40.6%), district-wide vote 5654 (48.9%)

2006

Mike Alberts (R) – 1752 (57.8%), district-wide vote 4444 (51.3%)
Sherri Vogt (D) – 1277 (42.2%), district-wide vote 4218 (48.7%)

We estimate that there are about 5100 registered voters in Woodstock. Here are the races with the highest voting in Woodstock:

State Representative (Alberts, Loftus) – 3197 or 63%
Judge of Probate (Schad, Adams) – 3190 or or 63%
US Congress (Courtney, Peckinpaugh) – 3172 or 62%
US Senator (Blumenthal, McMahon) – 3154 or 62%
Governor (Malloy, Foley) – 3146 or 62%

Dan Malloy (D) carried Bridgeport by a wide margin and is now ahead of Foley by about 1000 votes statewide according to NBC news (7:30 AM). 

Malloy(D) wins governor by 3100 votes.

“Secretary of State Susan Bysiewicz said this afternoon that her unofficial final numbers show that Dan Malloy will be the next governor, winning yesterday’s vote by a 3,103 vote margin.

“This would not trigger an automatic recount,” Bysiewicz said — even if the 500 votes cast between 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. were thrown out.

No word yet on whether Foley and Republicans plan to go to court to try to force a recount.”

from Richard Schad 

The unofficial totals we have for the Judge of Probate race are as follows:

Total Votes: Adams 6497; Schad 8348

Ashford: Adams 619; Schad 1042
Brooklyn: Adams 1023; Schad 1457
Eastford: Adams 390; Schad 351
Pomfret: Adams 647; Schad 1046
Putnam: Adams 991; Schad 1397
Thompson: Adams 1244; Schad 1466
Woodstock: Adams 1583; Schad 1589 (18 manual ballots outstanding)

At 8:44 PM, at 8:49 PM, at 8:54 PM, at 8:56 PM, at 9:06 PM, at 9:21 PM, 9:35 PM, 9:50 PM, and midnight. Admin

Blue is visitors and green is page clicks.

State Representative

• Mike Alberts (R) -               2029 and 5228 (ut)
• Bill Loftus (D) -                    1168 and 3757 (ut)

State Senator

• Tony Gugliemo (R) -           2016 and 23,988 (ut)
• Susan Eastwood (D) -        1142 and 13,912 (ut)

Judge of Probate

• Steve Adams (R) -               1583 and 6497 unofficial total (ut)
• Leah Schad (D) -                 1589 and 8348 unofficial total (ut)

Governor/LT Governor

• Foley/Boughton (R) -        1835 and 540,221
• Malloy/Wyman (D) -         1311 and 545,302

US Senator

Linda McMahon (R) -        1638 and 44.1% (ut)

Richard Blumenthal (D) - 1516 and 54.3% (ut)

Representative in Congress

• Janet Peckinpaugh (R) -    1625 and 88,325 (ut)
• Joe Courtney (D) -              1547 and 138,657 (ut)

Secretary of State

• Jerry Farrell, Jr. (R) -          1568 and 440,780 (ut)
• Denise Merrill (D) -            1431 and 513,285 (ut)

Treasurer

Comptroller

• Jack Orchulli (R) -               1602 and 413,186 (ut)
• Kevin Lembo (D) -              1298 and 507,445 (ut)

Attorney General

• Martha Dean (R) -              1726 and 434,652 (ut)
• George Jepsen (D) -           1263 and 518,132 (ut)

Registrar of Voters

• Mary Alice Place (R) -        1579
• Suzanne Woodward (D) – 1500 + something

from a Woodstock Couple 

All Politics is Local. They’re personal too. The good work of the Café is in publishing our personal/public views. Adding our two cents on the eve of this election, we endorse Bill Loftus. Here’s why.

Mike Alberts denounces Stimulus spending programs enacted by this national Democratic administration. However, the well thought-of Woodstock Academy will build a 2.4 million dollar athletic stadium in 2010-11 as a direct result of a loan from USDA Stimulus funds. Would Mike Alberts refuse that loan based on his stated principles? We doubt it.

We are elders. Our children are grown and gone. We believe in strong education in our community and we are willing to support that through our property taxes. But, we feel that this expenditure by the Academy in light of local fiscal circumstances that include dwindling enrollment and cuts in staff at the school does not uphold values we support. We do not object to expenditures that will have positive impact on the academic development of many students town-wide. Based on what we’ve watched in job performance of Mike Alberts in comparison to what we know of Bill Loftus’ contributions to the community, we believe Loftus will do a better job of protecting strong education for all students in Woodstock. 

from Newcomer

Just as there have been periods of religious fervor, there have been periods of secular fervor. I would say we’re in the midst of such a period now. Some, like Kos, see it completely differently. My point has been to agree that our government should not align itself with a particular religion, but also to state that the government should not align itself with atheism or anti-religion. When we seek to completely eradicate God from every facet of public life, we risk falling into anti-religion status. That’s a bad trap to allow ourselves to fall into because then, people become objects that can come to be considered expendable. This is one argument for Euthanasia. If someone is elderly with a poor “quality of life”, isn’t it better to put them out of their misery? If we legislate that as an acceptable standard, then gradually over time, you’ll see the bar being lowered so that we aren’t just talking about someone on their death bed. The definition of legal euthanasia could also be expanded to include those with profound disabilities. Then if particular groups of people are legally eligible for euthanasia, insurance companies could make a legal case to deny to pay for treatments for folks in those categories – even if those folks would prefer to try to extend their life.

One aspect of the divisiveness in our country today is exactly what we see in some comments here at the Cafe and it’s happening throughout the country. There is no longer just a debate between conservative and liberal. There are personal attacks and there is now an all-out war between them. President Obama has even used war-like language from time to time to describe it this way in political terms. But in practical terms, and for the common person, the political battle has lined up the religious on the right versus the secularists on the left. At times it feels like it’s religion versus atheism. Neither can be allowed to prevail to the point of aligning with the government and suppressing the other. That completely betrays the separation of church and state. It’s as I said earlier in this thread. A separation of church and state is healthy. An elimination of church in favor of the state is oppression. You fear religion taking over and I fear it going the other way and atheism takes over. Hopefully, neither of our fears will be realized.

A key to preventing one side from prevailing over the other is to make compromises and reasonable accomodations that allow me to worship my God, allow a Hindu to worship Vishnu, and allow an atheist not to worship. Just because God’s name is on our money instead of Vishnu, Allah, Yahweh, or Great Spirit does not automatically mean that our government makes it’s law in accordance with Christian doctrine. If that were true, we wouldn’t be having a debate about abortion here to begin with.