Thomaston has scheduled a public vote on a plan to add a greenway project to road construction after over 30 residents submitted a petition. The Thomaston Board of Selectmen (BOS) voted to allow town residents to weigh in on a plan to develop a greenway trail along Elm Street during an October 22 town meeting after voting during a September 16 meeting to approve the project, despite that vote not appearing on the meeting agenda.
The plan to add a greenway trail along Elm Street is part of the larger Naugatuck Greenway, a 44-mile multiuse trail that runs along the Naugatuck River between Derby and Torrington. The 10 to 12 foot wide trail is intended to be accessible for all pedestrians and non-motorized traffic, paved or covered with stone dust, and separate from roadways whenever possible.
A routing study conducted by Thomaston in 2019 identified Elm Street as the preferred route for the greenway trail. The greenway project is currently an item of public discussion due to poor road conditions on the road that the town is looking to fix. A construction project, which would be paid for via the state through the Local Transportation Capital Improvement Program (LOTCIP), would add the greenway trail at the same time work on Elm Street is done to improve existing sidewalk issues, define the road boundary and parking spaces, and fix drainage, among other issues.
The project has been under discussion for over a year. But public input in the project has been a source of contention as Elm Street residents generally oppose the greenway construction.
At a September 2 meeting, the BOS voted unanimously to put the question of which of two design plans the town should move forward with to a town vote. Minutes from the meeting note that Elm Street residents were generally in favor of a plan that preserved existing on-street parking and amenities such as streetlights and landscaping, but did not support the inclusion of the greenway.
But at a September 16 meeting, the BOS voted unanimously to adopt that design plan—with the greenway included—and “proceed directly to engineering.” The agenda for that meeting listed only the discussion of holding a potential town meeting on the project under old business. It did not indicate the board intended to discuss or vote on the proposals.
Under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), public bodies are required to file agendas that inform the public of the business they will be conducting at least 24 hours prior to the meeting’s start time.
FOIA does allow boards to add agenda items that were not listed prior to a meeting’s start, but they must vote by a two-thirds majority to add an item to an agenda prior to discussing or voting on that item. Minutes from the September 16 meeting do not mention the BOS voting to add a discussion of adopting a plan for the greenway to the meeting.
Residents then circulated a petition asking the BOS to convene a special town meeting to ask residents whether the town should approve construction of the greenway trail on Elm Street. The petition garnered 33 signatures, 32 of which were verified.
State statute requires town meetings to be held annually, but allows town residents to petition to hold a special town meeting. Towns are required to respond to petitions that receive at least 20 signatures.
On October 1, the BOS held a special meeting to discuss the petition.
While the BOS ultimately voted to add the question to an existing town meeting scheduled for October 22, where residents will vote on various appropriations, residents raised objections to a difference in wording between the petition and what the BOS approved.
The petition circulated among residents asked, “Shall the Town of Thomaston approve the construction of the Greenway Trail on Elm Street?”
The wording the BOS added to the town meeting asked, “Shall the greenway portion of the Elm Street LOTCIP project, as depicted on the most recent plans from Tight & Bond, be rescinded and omitted from that project?”
First Selectman Edmond Mone stated that the wording on the petition was too general and had been drafted through the town attorney, as required by the town’s protocol, to bring “greater clarity.”
A vote on the approved language will happen at 7 p.m. on October 22 in the Lena Morton Art Gallery. Residents will vote on whether to approve construction of the greenway on Elm Street and roughly $867,000 in appropriations.
Elm Street resident Matt DeLong has filed a complaint with the Freedom of Information Commission over the BOS’ September 16 vote to approve a plan for the greenway.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to remove a reference to a town charter.