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The town is awaiting FEMA to update its flood plain maps to see if the proposed site in Tarriffville is now longer in a flood area.

SIMSBURY, CT — The town's recreation department is in a pickle ... make that a pickleball pickle regarding a planned expansion this year of pickleball court offerings.

And, as a result, local officials say they will have to postpone plans to add pickleball courts at Tariffville Park this season.

The situation came out of the Simsbury Board of Selectmen's budget workshop meeting March 11, as Simsbury Culture, Parks and Recreation Director Tom Tyburski spoke before selectmen to discuss budgetary requests for next fiscal year.

During those talks, the pickleball pickle came about.

Pickleball is the popular variant of tennis that is played on a smaller court using specially-made paddles for the sport as opposed to a tennis racquet.

Its popularity is increasing as the game is seen as good exercise for those less athletically inclined but still seeking a vigorous workout, nonetheless.

But, according to Simsbury First Selectman Wendy Mackstutis, plans to expand Tariffville Park's pickleball offerings have hit a roadblock, at least for this year.

That's because current Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) flood maps place the proposed location in the park — located at Simsbury's Main Street extension in Tariffville — directly in a floodway.

It means, according to Mackstutis, the town cannot build pickleball courts where it wants to, for now.

The town is waiting for FEMA to update its flood maps this year, she said in a report to selectmen earlier this week.

"We've been saying that we would have them, potentially, next spring but chances are fairly nil that that's going to happen," Mackstutis said.

David W. Bush, the chairman of the Simsbury Culture, Parks and Recreation Commission, said FEMA's latest updates likely will place the pickleball site out of a flood plain.

Once those maps are done, then Simsbury can proceed.

"Unfortunately, we're waiting for the federal government," Bush said at Saturday's budget workshop. "It really looks promising that its going to be next year."

He said if the town forged on trying to build before the maps come out, then it would have to spend $50,000 to $60,000 on hydraulic studies, making the delay a more fiscally prudent move.

To compensate for the pickleball pickle, Tyburski said he's adding stripes at the tennis courts at Simsbury Farms Park at 100 Old Farms Road to give pickleball players more places to play.

Tyburski said the flood mapping issue is, actually, impacting other proposed projects at Tarriffville Park.

"We're in a holding pattern, as you know, about the flood mapping there," Tyburski said before selectmen at the March 10 workshop. "As soon as that gets settled we'll be having pickleball courts, a new playground, a new pavilion over there."

"It was kind of a kick in the teeth to get that bad news, but in the long term, we'll have picklball courts," Tyburski said later in the meeting. "It's just we have to be a little more patient."

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SIMSBURY, CT — Memorial Day weekend is only a few weeks away, and Simsbury's Metacomet Post 1926, Veterans of Foreign Wars and American Legion Post 84 have several events planned.

The annual Memorial Day parades in Simsbury and Tariffville will return on Monday, May 30, and veterans will once again speak to students at Simsbury High School.

Here's a timeline of how the groups plan to mark the holiday:

Thursday, May 19

For the first time since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, veterans will speak to classes at Simsbury High School for the school's Veteran History Day.

Saturday, May 21

Members of Metacomet Post 1926 and American Legion Post 84, along with Simsbury Scout Troops 76B, 76G, 175 and 1175, will place American flags at the graves of military veterans in Simsbury's Center Cemetery and Tariffville's St. Bernard's Cemetery. The town provides the flags.

Friday-Sunday, May 20-22

The VFW will hold its annual Buddy Poppy Drive outside Fitzgerald's Foods (710 Hopmeadow St.) from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. each day. Volunteers will sell red cloth poppies, a symbol from World War I that is typically worn in a lapel (In 1914, American soldiers were engaged in a battle in Flanders Field, where poppies grew.)

Proceeds benefit veterans in need and programs that assist them around Farmington Valley, and anyone wishing to donate can make a check out to Simsbury VFW Post 1926 (with "Poppy Drive" on the memo line of the check) and mail it to:

Simsbury VFW Post 1926 P.O. Box 211 Simsbury, CT 06070

Monday, May 30

The two traditional Memorial Day parades will take place: Tariffville in the morning and Simsbury Center in the afternoon.

The first parade will begin at 9 a.m. from Winthrop Street in Tariffville and will end at St. Bernard Cemetery. Following the parade, a guest speaker will address the crowd and Taps will be played to honor the veterans buried there.

In case of inclement weather, the ceremony will take place at 9 a.m. inside Trinity Episcopal Church (11 Church St., Tariffville).

The second parade will begin at 1:30 p.m. at Owens Brook Boulevard and will end across from the Simsbury Library at Jim Gallagher Way. Following the parade, a ceremony will take place at the Simsbury Veterans Memorial (at the driveway entrance to the Simsbury Library, 725 Hopmeadow St.)

In case of inclement weather, a ceremony will take place at 1:30pm inside Eno Memorial Hall (754 Hopmeadow St., Simsbury).

Simsbury voters passed the town and Board of Education budgets on May 16, but that doesn’t mean everyone is happy with the $121.7 million spending plan, an increase of 6.44%, and a new mill rate of 31.82.

The town operations budget of $31.7 million passed by a 785-484 vote. The BOE budget of $81.6 million passed, 746-524.

Revaluation assessments, which were done last fall, were already an unpleasant surprise, and the mill rates will compound that pain, affecting many.

“These increases will lower property values, increase rents, and financially impact the business community,” said resident Joan Coe, at the Board of Selectmen’s meeting on May 23. “There definitely will be sticker shock, when the town tax [bills] are received by the taxpayers. These increases are unsustainable.”

Sarah Nielsen, executive director of the Simsbury Main Street Partnership, said her office has received an “unprecedented number of complaints” from businesses over the revaluation.

“They’ve already felt the cost of goods that have increased, the cost of utilities that have increased, they’ve suffered COVID losses, they’ve lost tenants, and now the reval has made things harder,” Nielsen said. “They’re feeling the pressure, because people are going to move out of Simsbury. We’re talking about millions of dollars.”

Nielsen said some property assessments have doubled, causing some businesses to begin lawsuits against the town.

“Something has to be done before the town spends all your money… to fight these battles,” Nielsen said. “We’re pricing Simsbury so high that people are going to move their businesses to another town.”

David Richmond, a resident who also owns several business properties in town, said costs are being passed along to renters.

“The increasing assessments force us to raise rents,” he said. “In this marketplace, we have increased maintenance costs, increased utility costs, paint, everything has gone up. So now when you increase assessments, you force us to increase our rents.”

Richmond said that for one of his properties, if put on the market for the assessed rate, would not sell.

“People aren’t buying office buildings in Simsbury today,” he said. “It’s very difficult.”

Steve Antonio said he was shocked when he received his assessment.

“The town assessor is saying that commercial properties increased 35.1% in value over the previous 60 months,” Antonio said, adding that there are many ways to value commercial property, but that comparable sales value, or what a business could be sold for, is the benchmark, and that his research concluded that increase to be 4.4%.

“As a result, we are shouldering more of the burden of operating the town we love,” Antonio said. “We are also being forced to sue ourselves, in as much as we are the Town of Simsbury.”

First Selectman Wendy Mackstutis said the town could talk to the finance director to see what can be done.

Selectman Chris Peterson said he was impressed with the business community speaking out.

“I realize how much I am part of your eco-system,” Peterson said, adding that he makes a point to support local businesses.

“I don’t think anyone up here wants to not respond to your requests, to the depth that we can,” he said. “I think that we want nothing other than to avoid something that is inequitable, embarrassing, and unnecessary.”

For more information, visit www.simsbury-ct.gov.

SIMSBURY, CT — Simsbury High School has announced the students on its honor roll for the third academic quarter.

Students could earn either "high honors" or "general honors."

High Honors

Paris Albrecht, Ellery Barcomb, Maximilian Berger, Margaret Berling, Audrey Chung, Nicholas Cordani, Sophie Coyle, Tatum DeSouza, Griffin DeVivo, Andrew Diviney, Aidan Driscoll, Cooper Dumont, Olivia Francis, Thomas Franklin, Lauren Fritz, Kiera Gabel, Amanda Gallagher, Lucas Gifford, Parker Golden-Jarrell, Olivia Jarvis, Yifan Jiang, Amanda Kelly, Ranganathan Kidambi, Mei Knight, Andrew Kowal, Suraya Looney, Sophia Luzietti, Charlotte MacQuattie, Paige Mahoney, Cristina Marchetti, Kate McNair, Angelia Meile, Cora Musser, Aidan O'Brien, Meaghan O'Connor, Aidan Ouellette, Kayleigh Papagelis, Marina Perevozchikova, Dwight Peterson, Matthew Picoult, Isabel Pringle, Brady Quinn, Matthew Reed-Brown, Max Rownin, Emma Rydzik, David Scoll, Connor Shaw, Ava Shiman, Abigail Slater, Ana Souza, Charles Steniger, Michaela Trinks, Bryson Tsogt-Erdene, Caroline Tubin, Emma Unsal, Tobias Van Wilgen, Chanel Victor, Mitchell Wallman, Tilden Wilder, Kevin Winkler, Erika Zdravkovic Ibarra, Christina Zhang

General Honors

Amanda Aldrich, Victoria Alvarez, Charles Ayers, Marc Beaulieu, Aiden Bono, Paige Bradley, Scarlet Brockert, Lily Broderick, Katelyn Burkett, Ella Ceneviva, Olivia Chandler, Leo Chen, Wilson Chen, Jacob Cohen, Lillian Collies, Joseph Coppinger, Rachel Cota, Alex Cotto, Lilian Cournoyer, Daniel Coyne, Edward Croke, Andrew Dacey, Sohani Das, Ryan Donohue, Ava Dunn, Luka Dwyer, Diana Dyakun, Cianna Ennis, Aviya Feliciano, Sofia Figueroa, Camden Fuller, Jared Gatmaitan, Jason George, John Goldberg, Lilia Gooch, Alexa Green, Madeline Griggs, Dylan Grossman, Nate Grossman, Wyatt Gwinn, Noah Herbek, Jacob Isabel, Nathan Kelly, Jihyeon Ko, Paul Kwarteng, Kate LaFleur, Rudy Langin, Gavin Leite, Benjamin Levinson, Crystal Lin, Nicholas Lombardi, Charles Mairano, Lorenzo Marcktell, Conor Martin, Vincent Matteo, Devon McArdle, Andrew McRavey, Sarah Medeika, Rachael Medina, Toby Mendes, Merrit Merriman, Riley Meyer, Parker Moody, Eiet Muthana, Cyrus Nash, Emily Ness, Muna Nwafor, Andrew Orosz, Vivian O'Sullivan, Jaiden Palazzo, Brenner Patrick, Thomas Pearlman, Megan Perissi, Ty Petras, Ryan Pilon, David Post, Matthew Raymond, Maeve Riordan, Cameron Ruzsbatzky, Aleksandra Schake, Devin Schetzel, Henry Schuck, Ruby Scudder, Madison Seymour, Venezia Sirianni, Joseph Smith, Cameron Swan, Isabella Thompson, Sophie Totten, Ginny Tucker, Thomas Veratti, Nathaniel Verbeke, Adam Vincent, Payton Wagner, Kaitlyn Watson, Andrew Westhaver, Colby Wilhelm, Kellen Wilson, Adam Winschel, Anne Wollmar, Ashwina Yoganandan

High Honors

Kelsey Alonzo, Elena Argibay, Katharine Batchelar, Jameson Bodenburg, Emilie Carroll, Akshita Choudhary, Paige Clarke, Ava Coutinho, Lia Crosby, Brody Derick, Rebecca Diaz-Matos, Jake Donahue, Jacob Dording, Sofia Duran, Payton Fenner, Lucia Flick, Jeslyn Gao, Michael Goldberg, Ashley Goodwin, John Grossman, Melissa Guerrero, Colin Harper, Cara Hodgson, Aiden Kalajian, Aidan King, Genevieve Knight, Elle Koff, Jenna Lee, Lea Leite, Kathleen Lepak, Raymond Li, Nathan Maker, Giovanni Marchetti, Kate Martin, Lucia Martin de la Fuente, Mikaela Martinez, Karis McDavid, Nathaly Medina-Elescano, Brennan Metz, Jolie Monier-Williams, Braden Moriarty, Grace Myers, Cecilia O'Dea, Molly Pane, Gabriel Park, Rohan Rajappan, Amelia Rogers, Jonas Schroder, Samantha Seepersad, Rachel Shenkman, Andrew Shipman, Jackson Smith, Luke Somers, Alexis Soucie, Libby Tennant, Jennise Torres-Phan, Adam Vasquez, Luke Williams, Reece Willison, Rachel Zhang

General Honors

Megan Alonzo, Austin Angelo, Emily Antonetti, Brynn Bailey-Gates, Ravi Bhamidipati, Skyler Bobinski, Elena Bontatibus, Gordon Breslav, Nicholas Brown, Reid Bulger, Dibo Cai, Jennifer Campagna, Clara Casabal, Mason Casale, Alexander Cash, Eliza Cirelli, Kiernan Connolly, James Cooper, Nathan Cournoyer, Garrett Dagenais, Madison de Groot, Leilani DeStefano, Riley DiFatta, Elijah Edwards, Victoria Francis, Kate Friedman-Morrissette, Kevin Gallagher, Noble Gongon, Hannah Granger, Thomas Gressier, Emmett Gworek, McKayla Halscheid, Gwendolyn Hardee, Aaron Harris, Camden Hegarty, Katelyn Howard, Moira Hughes, Nolan Hussey, Jake Isakoff, Tanner Jadovich, Alexa Jansen, Faye Kaplinski, Elizabeth Kellogg, Blase Kot, Elizabeth Lang, Lola Larsen, Shawn Lawlor, Owen Lawry, Josephine Lefranc, Ava Lis, Elijah Love, Brendan Lynch, Gabriella Makselon, Kelly Marella, Kellie Matteo, Caroline Matyczyk, Marleigh Maxon, Alexander McCook, Siddiq Mohaideen, Eli Mongeau, Sophie Moretta, Christopher Morrow, Heather Myers, Madeliene Orosz, Lauren Parker, Abigale Parr, Benjamin Pascavis, Emma Pastor, Nelson Perry, Brenna Piller, Emma Pulley, Veronica Punty, William Reynolds, Benjamin Roberts, Valery Rodriguez, Calvin Rutherford, Nicholas Ryan, Lauren Sabia, Matthew Savage, Samuel Schulitz, Anthony Shaw, Mira Shea, Braden Sheehan, Tanaya Shenvi Kuvelkar, Jordan Sher, Mallory Shumway, Tyler Sinatro, Hudson Sirois, William Smith, Serafina Snow, Charles Strayer, Daniel Sullivan, Maggie Sullivan, Raven Syed, Karley Sylvester, Jessica Symolon, John Taggard, Ella Terwilliger, Carmine Trovato, Taylor Truting, Noa Van Der Klis, Rhiannon Wallace, Luke Wang, Hannah Welton, Caitlin Wild

High Honors

Olivia Antidormi, Joshua Barrows, Julia Bautista, Nate Beizer, Nathan Bennett, Olivia Birney, Sierra Blume, Joshua Bogdan, Jessica Bosenberg, Nicholas Boswell, Devon Casale, Uladzimir Charniauski, Evan Chen, Francesca Cirielli, Idalia Colon, Olivia Creighton, Veronica Cummiskey, Matthew Dacey, Olivia Davis, Avery Dawe, Emily DeMaio, Amory Dempsey, Charlotte Derway, Erin Donahue, Kaya Dua, Gabrielle Essex, Benjamin Fabian, Ally Fiengo, Cael Finn, Olivia Gallo, Hailey Gamer, Jenna Gomez-Nieto, Nola Hallemeier, Sofia Hanna, Jacob Hart, Gretchen Helitzer, Jonathan Hoang, Ryan Hoffman, Samantha Hoffman, Jeremiah Hughes, Adam Ieraci, Kyle Jennings, Nicole Jimenez, Ann Jun, Joann Jun, Mary Keenan, Benjamin Knight, Eric Li, Riley Lill, Kyla Lorden, Mackenzie Lorden, Christopher Mackay, Donovan McArdle, Liam McGoldrick, Logan Miller, Aishee Mukherjee, Sofia Nelson, Amanda Pare, Alexander Pepper, Katherine Perlitz, Sarah Perlitz, Alexandra Peterson, Alexander Picoult, Jillian Pusch, Hannah Rabinowitz, Andrew Raymond, Berkley Reitz, Kristoffer Ridgeway, Korben Robinson, James Rogers, Carson Rohrer, Maksim Senchukov, Elizabeth Sennott, Faith Shores, Abigail Smith, Clara Steele, Sara Sullivan, Lucas Thompson, Alexander Vargas, John Williams, Keenan Willison, Matthew Wilson, Amanda Witt

General Honors

Elizabeth Ackels, Connor Aldrich, Janelle Alkire, Davis Anderson, Katherine Antonio, Kristina Ayvas, Jameson Beaver, Charlotte Berliner, William Boswell, Joshua Brock, Madeline Brooke, McKenna Brown, Kaitlyn Bruno, Addyson Bullen, Mason Burhoe, Kate Cardinal, Tamara Carlino, Mackenzie Chapman, Nolan Conderino, John Conners, William Coyle, Lilian Cremens, Jacob Daum, Annabel De La Cruz, Rachel Delgado Santiago, James DeVivo, Ana Clara Dias, Elianna Doron, Connor Drake, Lauren Driscoll, Christina Faraci, Lindsay Feeney, Ryan Finn, Andrew Flemming, Mykayla Fluster, John Galt, Jack Garrity, Mason Giannini, Sara Godbey, Jacob Goodwin, Hailey Grabinsky, Simon Green, Karla Guerra Posadas, Isabella Gutierrez, Silas Holloway, Lucy Humphreys, Ellis Hwang, Greyson Kellner, Patricia Kellogg, Max Kendrick, Jonathan Kerwin, Kaylaa Krahl, Willa Kulynych-Griffith, Dayanch Kulyyev, Roxy Kyd, Beau Labbe, Jadrien Lacedonia, Jacob Lammey, Nicole Loftus, James Love, Justin Loveland, Garrett Lynch, Caroline MacQuattie, Liam Maher, John Mairano, Aarushi Mohanty, Leah Mueller, Theodore Murphy, Cole Musser, Molly Naughton, Sasha Ochs, Liisa Olsson, Edward O'Sullivan, Catherine Pace, Megan Palms, Samuel Parenti, Vraj Patel, Mckena Pennington, Joshua Phillips, Cole Pirrello, Christopher Powers, Anuradha Rajesh, Aidan Riordan, Isaac Rivera, Madison Rivera, Meredith Rodney, Jonathan Roller, Klaudia Russo, Lucas Sanborn- Burch, Zakary Schwarz, Michaela Sherrill, Carter Sirois, Elijah Snider, Sydney Sutton, Christopher Taddio, Paige Tracy, Zachary Truting, Jay Tunara, Ryan Varney, Remy Vearil, Sydney Vlach, Linda Vorasane, Marina Wallman, Molly Walsh, Timothy Watson, Peyton Witkin, Steven Yoon, Zoya Zhulkovsky

The owner of a West Hartford liquor store is expanding into an old dry cleaner's space in Simsbury.

Patch Staff

SIMSBURY, CT — Local zoning officials this month approved a special exception permit for a developer to open a new liquor store, called "Harvest Wine and Spirits" in Simsbury Center.

The vote was 4-1, with commission members David Ryan (chairman), Bruce Elliott, Anne Erickson and Diane Madigan voting "yes" and Jackie Battos being the lone dissenter.

Approved was a 1,187-square-foot store in the Simsbury Center Zone in a shopping plaza at 710 Hopmeadow St.

The applicant for the permit was GPF Drake Hill LLC, which is owned by Neeraj Gupta, who presented the application at the June 5 Simsbury Zoning Commission meeting.

It will be located in the former Battiston's dry cleaning operation in the plaza there.

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Gupta is also the owner of "Harvest Wine and Spirits," which has multiple stores in West Hartford.

"We currently have multiple locations in West Hartford. They are very well rated, super nice buildouts, very high quality," Gupta said. "We intend of bringing the same kind of service to Simsbury."

The zoning board vote came after a brief public hearing in which only one person spoke about the plan.

Jim Pabich of West Street Wine & Spirits on West Street said there are eight liquor stores already in Simsbury, many within one mile of each other, including on Hopmeadow Street.

"I don't know how heavily that weighs in," Pabich said, expressing concern there are too many stores in too close an area in Simsbury.

"My concern is the proximity of too many stores in the center district," Pabich said, adding some stores in the area are struggling and questioned whether that was a good use of the site.

Commission members debated whether such a liquor store was a good use for the property and whether it was needed.

Some zoning board members said it's important to aid existing businesses in town.

"Within a mile, we have three package stores. I just don't know if that's what we want to do. It gives me pause," said Madigan, who ultimately voted in favor of the application, however.

Members said "yes" to the plan because members said their purview is not to determine a businesses' future, especially since this is a vacant spot in a shopping plaza, a plaza that once had a package store many years ago anyway.

"The market, to some extent, takes care of those things," said Ryan. "What our role is to determine if that is a safe place and whether it fits in the community. Not whether it's a good business decision and impacts somebody else."

For the minutes of the June 4 Simsbury Zoning Commission meeting, click on this link.

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