Home Care In Canton, CT

CANTON, CT— It’s still early, but if you’re planning to put up a live Christmas tree this year, it’s a good idea to scope out what will be available from Canton area tree growers.

Here are a few places to start:

• Barbourtown Tree & Maple Syrup Farm — 225 Barbourtown Road, Canton

• From the Woods Farm — 74 Bunker Hill Road, Canton, fromthewoodsfarm.com

• Karabin Farms — 894 Andrews St., Southington, karabinfarms.com

• DeMaria Family Farm — 1165 Edgewood Road, Berlin/ Kensington

Last year, the median price for trees purchased directly from a grower was about $93, according to PickYourOwnChristmasTree.org. About 26 million live trees were sold last year, compared to 27.4 million in 2018.

A survey by the American Christmas Tree Association, an industry trade group, shows that of the 94 percent of Americans who plan to put up a Christmas tree this year, 23 percent will display a live tree.

Last year, live tree prices increased about 10 percent, largely due to inflation and drought, according to industry experts.

Years of extreme weather — drought conditions in some parts of the country and excess moisture in others — are expected to translate to slightly higher 2023 Christmas tree prices, according to a report from Country Folks Grower, a business-to-business publication serving fresh market and ornamental crops.

“A lot can happen in a half dozen years that can change the outlook for a Christmas tree crop from one season to the next,” the report said. “Farmers will be facing challenges in the 2023 Christmas tree season brought about by developments over the past several years.”

At any given moment, about 350 million Christmas trees are growing on tree farms across the country.

It typically takes a tree between six and eight years to grow to the desirable height for decorating. Large trees — those 7 feet and taller — may be in short supply because sales of smaller trees have been strong in recent years, the report said. Also, people may need to settle for a different species than they’re accustomed to buying.

For more information from the Connecticut Christmas Tree Growers Association, click on this link.

CANTON — The town is considering creating an affordability requirement for new residential developments in an attempt to increase the number of affordable units in town.

Additionally, many of the existing deed restrictions on current affordable housing units have expiration dates, which would further reduce this inventory, Pade wrote.

"As a result, the Commission is seeking to implement a regulation intended to help maintain the current balance," he wrote.

And the concern about falling behind 8-30g's 10 percent goal has been a common topic at Planning and Zoning Commission meetings throughout the year.

"There’s a lot of demand to build residential housing in Canton — I think that’s great — but we want that to get us toward our goal," PZC member Michael Vogel said at a July 26 meeting. "I think 15 percent gets us toward our goal."

Nathaniel Jarvie, the assistant town planner, wrote in a report to the PZC earlier this year saying that while multifamily dwellings in Canton have increased, the vast majority of land remaining for new development is zoned for additional single-family homes on large lots.

“Some consideration should be given to potential standards that would promote, and or require, the inclusion of affordable housing units when possible,” Jarvie wrote in the memo.

And this 15 percent requirement is not intended to increase development, Pade wrote, but rather "increase the number of affordable-housing units created at the time market rate units are created through existing development interests."

Residents will have an opportunity to give their feedback on the proposal at a public hearing on Sept. 20.

But Canton resident Jane Latus, president of the citizen's group Canton Advocates for Responsible Expansion (CARE), said that she doesn’t expect there to be much controversy at the hearing.

Latus said that the group was in support of this new requirement, along with most people she knew. “I haven't even seen one negative comment about it,” she said.

She said that from what she could tell, the PZC seemed concerned with potentially having less say over the design and the size, and location of applications for new developments while Canton wasn’t at the 10 percent.

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"By requiring a certain threshold of future development be deed-restricted affordable, this would allow the town to catch up to this threshold and/or not fall further behind," Jarvie wrote.

Latus also brought up how the recent developments in Canton did not have an affordability component.

"We're going in the wrong direction," she said. "So that's the other concern of the commission and and also of CARE and residents, overall."

Jarvie also discussed in his memo that adding new, non-affordable dwelling units will decrease the percentage of current affordable housing stock. He did not respond to a request for comment.

And that's why Vogel thinks it's appropriate to put the requirement on the developers of multi-unit housing, he said at the July meeting.

"They are bringing us further away from that goal," Vogel said. "We’re going to be adding a lot of units that are not affordable units and our percentage is going down."

And while Latus said she wasn't concerned about this amendment being a deterrent to development, that aspect is something that the PZC is thinking about, and will likely be discussed further, Pade wrote.

"Adding a requirement that takes away a number of market rate units will certainly affect the pro forma of a development proposal," he wrote. "A potential result could be a reduction in market interests to those that specialize in financing and constructing housing developments with an affordability component, or perhaps, development groups large enough to absorb costs associated with constructing and managing affordability components."

But Pade emphasized that this proposal was intended to be a temporary measure in response to growing development pressures, that aims to ultimately give the PZC more time to consider how to address the community's housing needs under current market conditions.

CANTON — Local bike enthusiasts want a mountain bike playground at the wooded area along Lawton Road in an attempt to create an innovative, outdoor activity out of town property that has been unused for years.

But the proposal comes at a time when the town is working to increase its affordable housing inventory, and is located at a site that Planning and Zoning Commission members have tentatively discussed using specifically for potential affordable housing developments.

A Bike Pump and Skills Playground is proposed at 55 Lawton Road, a property that was meant to be used for soccer fields years ago, but nothing ever came to fruition.

Jan Tanner, co-owner of the 25-year-old local business Benidorm Bikes, who with other mountain bike enthusiasts pitched this idea to the PZC last week, said that the playground would finally make use of unused land while also bringing a unique feature and tourism attraction to town, as well as enhance Canton’s bike-friendly status.

"We have to work on trying to preserve land, use land in ways that keeps people engaged with it and wanting to be outdoors," Tanner said.

The property was identified in 2018 as a longstanding priority of the Parks and Recreation Commission and Department, according to the town’s Parks and Recreation Master Plan. "This particular site is one of the only town-owned sites that is conducive to active recreational development," according to the plan.

It will essentially be up to the Board of Selectmen to decide what to do with the Lawton Road property, and if it should be used for the bike playground or a potential affordable housing development, Tanner said.

At the Sept. 20 meeting, Tanner brought up the over 200 housing dwellings that have been approved in town recently, saying she hoped the PZC would support this site for the playground, and instead consider other vacant locations for housing developments.

"Canton is a gem of an area whether it's for recreational use, whether you're on the Farmington River, whether you're hiking on land trust properties, or you're on a bike path," she said. "My interests are for a community, accessible green space that provides different opportunities for the outdoors."

Some community members also sent emails to the PZC prior to the meeting expressing support for the proposal, including Canton resident Deborah Savino, who wrote in her email, "NO MORE APARTMENTS!!"

And with 75 percent wetlands, the land at 55 Lawton Road is worth preserving, Tanner said. So, a bike pump and skills playground would make sense in that spot, because they wouldn’t be clearing out trees or encroaching on the wetlands, but integrating the landscape into the playground, she said.

Pictures presented at the meeting showed bikers utilizing natural obstacles like boulders and logs as part of the course. The playground would use around three to four acres of a 17-acre property, and still leave open space for potential soccer fields, according to the conceptual site plan.

"We're just trying to preserve what's beautiful there and work with the terrain that is there," Tanner said.

But commission members brought up at the meeting how the need for affordable housing was something the town has been concerned about, and said they were cautious to fully support the use of this site as a bike playground when a housing development could also go here.

"I just feel like we’re already taking steps backward if we don’t at least make a case for it being affordable housing or partially affordable housing," said PZC member Elizabeth Vinick.

Despite her reluctancy, she and other commission members at the meeting did admit that something like this would be an asset to the town, but said it wasn't up to them to decide the use of the property.

Tanner listed multiple benefits of having a bike playground like this in Canton, including how its location is also easily accessible from the bike path, would serve as an activity for kids not involved in traditional sports teams or clubs and overall get the community out in nature.

Although it would be the first in the Farmington Valley region, this type of playground isn’t anything new to cyclists.

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"We have seen these skills parks, pump tracks, bike playgrounds come to fruition and build communities all across New England," said Mick Ferraro, regional director for New England Mountain Bike Association, at the Sept. 20 meeting. "It’s something that Connecticut is pining for and these local communities are really really in need of."

They are calling this project a "mountain bike playground," which essentially encompasses three different components: a pump track, a skills park, and a skills flow trail, said Deanna Smith at the meeting, who owns Pinnacle Trail Design and Construction.

A conceptual site plan shows that the project would consist of a beginner pump track of 0.3 acres, intermediate and advanced pump track of half an acre, skills zone of 1.25 acres, small community gathering area, skills track, and flow and skills trail. It would also feature a balance section or bridge and obstacle-based area.

"We hope that it will serve cyclists from all ages and abilities — down to 3-year-olds on strider bikes all the way up to the most seasoned, expert riders," Smith said at the meeting.

The trail structure will also be inclusive and adaptive-friendly to allow riders with physical limitations to enjoy mountain biking, Smith said.

The project is still in its earliest phases, but Tanner said she was looking forward to rallying supporters as they worked their way through town approvals, as they were not asking for town funding, but would use grants and fundraising to create this playground.

Tanner and other mountain bike enthusiasts plan to present the proposal to the Board of Selectmen on Oct. 25.

WETHERSFIELD — Top-seeded North Branford won its third consecutive Class S field hockey title, defeating second-seeded Canton 3-0 to hand the Warriors their lone loss of the season.

North Branford’s Keana Criscuolo had two goals and two assists to lead the Thunderbirds to their seventh title in program history. Sophia Toto and Alivia Schmidt scored the other two goals for North Branford.

“It means the world to all of us, especially since I’m a senior,” Criscuolo said. “We’ve been working hard all season. We knew that winning this game today would have such a big legacy for us. Three state championships in a row. It’s just unfathomable that we’re even here, honestly.”

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North Branford (22-0) moved to 7-2 all-time in championship games. It’s the second time the Thunderbirds went undefeated and won a division championship. The first was in 2017 when they went 21-0-1. Some players, like junior Alivia Schmidt, have won a CIAC title every year they’ve played on the team.

“It’s a team and a town victory,” longtime North Branford coach Babby Nuhn said. “So we’re thrilled with it.”

Canton (19-1) fought but couldn't overcome North Branford to hoist its first state championship since 1999, when it won its third straight Class S title. The Warriors were just as dominant as the Thunderbirds are now, winning six championships in the 1990s.

Canton has been strong on both sides of the field, outscoring opponents 61-9 this season. It, however, struggled to find the back of the goal against North Branford. It didn’t score until midway through the fourth quarter.

“We struggled to step to the ball,” Canton coach Margaret Bristol said “...We got some momentum but we just couldn’t get it in the net today for some reason.”

Sophomore Paige Sidrane scored the lone goal for the Warriors, who fell to 8-4 all-time in title games.

Player of the Game

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Keana Criscuolo, North Branford: Scored two goals and had two assists to lead the Thunderbirds to its seventh title in program history.

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“It’s a team and a town victory. So we’re thrilled with it.” — Babby Nuhn, North Branford head coach

North Branford 4, Canton 1

A property owner is proposing 54 apartments about a half-mile from Route 44 in Canton, with all to be rented at market rates.

Frank Zacchera appears to have come forward with his plan just a week before the town began requiring new multifamily housing projects to set aside units that qualify as affordable. The Planning and Zoning Commission will take up the proposal at its meeting Wednesday at 7 p.m. at the community center.

Zacchera, a Canton resident and president of Suburban Sanitation Service, wants to build on a vacant 3.1-acre lot along Dowd Avenue about a half-mile west of Route 44.

In a lengthy application filed Oct. 3 to the Planning and Zoning Commission, Zacchera and his representative, landscape architect Philip E. Doyle, do not mention the range of potential rents for the complex. But Doyle confirmed Monday that all 54 apartments would be leased at market rates.

As of Oct. 10, a new zoning regulation in town requires that any new multifamily projects set aside at least 15% of their units as affordable housing.

Projects already in the works before Oct. 10, however, are not subject to that rule.

The applicant and design team have been developing plans for this site for over a year,” Doyle wrote in a notice to the commission. “The application submittal date was selected well before the commission moved to approve a modification to the Canton zoning regulations requiring a portion of any residential development include affordable units.”

Doyle’s notice acknowledged that Zacchera believes affordable housing in his project would not be feasible, stating “Financing for this conforming development would not be possible with the inclusion of affordable units.”

Zacchera owns the two adjacent properties where he is proposing to build: 38 and 42 Dowd Ave. They are undeveloped and mostly light woods or fields.

His proposal is for 30 one-bedroom apartments and 24 two-bedroom units. Sizes would range from 858 square feet to 1,300 square feet. Doyle told commissioners that an apartment complex would be more suitable on the land than some of the alternative uses that are permitted, such as commercial or mixed-use development.

“The multi-family housing use will act as a transition to single-family homes further west,” he wrote.

Just to the east of the property is Canton Village Condominiums, and beyond that is the commercial plaza at 220 Albany Turnpike followed by further commercial development to the end of Dowd. But to the west of the site, the only development is single-family houses.

The new apartments would be spread between three buildings of two-and-a-half to three floors each. The project would have 84 parking spaces and four bike spaces, and its sidewalks would connect to the Dowd Avenue sidewalk, according to the plans.

Opposition to new multifamily housing often cites potentially costly increases in enrollment in local schools as well as traffic concerns.

The Dowd Avenue application projects that the 30 one-bedroom units would house no children, and that in total the 24 two-bedroom units would house three. In addition, it includes a report from East Granby-based F.A. Hesketh & Associates stating that local roads are able to absorb new traffic that the apartments would generate. The project would create 41 new vehicle trips during the morning peak hours, and 46 in the afternoon peaks, and concludes that would not stress that surrounding road network.