Home Care In Tolland, CT

TOLLAND, CT — The following students have been named to the first-quarter honor roll at Tolland High School for the 2023-24 academic year.

Grade 12

High Honors

Isabella Bagnall, Julia Beaulieu, Joshua Blanchard, Alyssa Boggis, Mia Bos, Lillian Byam, Aidan Cady, Kaida Cote, Kaleb Daun, McKenna Davis, Ethan Denis, Patrick Devine, Emma Gibbs, Noah Giordano, Conor Grady, Luke Griffin, Lenah Hellerich, Danica Himes, Sydney Holder, Jocelyn House, Malachi Johnson, Anna Klinowski, Maura Klinowski, Sophia Leach, Morgan McCarthy, Teagan McNamee, Nicholas Miller, Kaylin Necci, Abigail Odierna, Elena Palazzetti, Brynn Peters, Charlie Poulin, Kayla Poulin, Joshua Reid, Lindsey Savoie, Taresa Simmons, Jaemin Smith, Maddison Smith, Alaina Spadjinske, Ryan Stewart, Clarissa Surrette, Paige Syphers, Jenna Vaitses, Kyle VanDeventer, Mackenzie Wood, Varpu Ylanen, Sulan Zhang.

Honors

Cole Anderson, Jianna Artiaco, Maxwell Baldwin, Matthew Bernard, Jeremy Blanchard, Colby Bornstein, Ty Briggs, Benjamin Brochu, Garrett Bumps, Mya Chassanoff, Shay Coleman, Emma Condos, Leah Corne, Eugene Dolcelli, Caden Doubleday, Tyler Duchnowski, Quinn Ellis, Logan Flor, Robert Frazier, Jazmyn Freeman, Anna Gerow, Taylor Grant, Abigail Greene, Jasmine Haskell, Keira Hill, Caeli Hoffman, Tyler Hollenbach, Madison Jenkins, Kylee Johnson, Tobin Johnson, Cole Jolly, Elvita Klimaitis, Julia Kohl, Xeno Lemus, Owen LoVoi, Amelia Luetjen, Caroline Marcroft, Elsie Martin, Brendan McCloskey, Madyson McClure, Seeger McLarney, Erika Miller, Maximus Muhlhauser, Charlotte Pacheco, Ava Pagan, Caleb Patterson, Samuel Powell, Aiyanna Robles Sedano, Austin Roney, Kara Salisbury, Amanda Scheuy, Sarah Shaikh, Hannah Simpson, Maya Torres, Olivia Vale Da Serra, Lila Vallo, Paula Vazquez Vargas, Jarek Whitehouse, Cassidy Winter, Ian Wright, Marleta Zidovsky, Owen Zonghetti.

Grade 11

High Honors

Logan Baker, Eliana Barber, Ella Bojarski, Lacey Boutin, Gabrielle Bridgewater, Lillian Brody, Alyssa Castagna, Evan Clark, William Cofrancesco, Andrew Doyle, Emerson Foster, Julia Haberern, Carissa Kraft, Hadley Laprade, Joclyn Leary, Michaela Marchese, Ella Mathiau, Audrey McKown, Maryn Millington, Caitlin O'Brien, Jordan Pelland, Sara Poulin, Matthew Rusnak, Ethan Schwarz, Meerah Shaikh, Lilah Simon, Whitney Singer, Dillon Stoeffler, Gabriella Trovato, Cameron Urban.

Honors

Christopher Adadjo, Kathryn Ailes, Alaina Ambrosi, Athanasios Askitis, Sydney Baldwin, Indigo Bender, Katherine Bohon, Dylan Burney, Juliet Carey, Nicolas Carroll, Bryan Chavez Armenta, Sean Collins, Sophia Cunningham, Eshaal Din, Niyumi Dinapala, Tobias Dooley, Griffin Engle, Elizabeth Foy, Dylan Goldstein, Benjamin Gordon, Cole Graham, Ruby Graham, Lily Hotham, Adam Hryn, Madelyn Katzer, Ethan Kelley, Charlotte Kerschbaum, Lauren Laws, Dillion Lewis, Cameron Lumia, Nicholas Ly, Cora Manfre, Kayla Manfre, Elsie McCaffrey, Cailin McCann, Carson Merluzzo, Laura Myshrall, Graham Nagardeolekar, Brayden Necci, Brandon Noophan, Joshua Penta, Alexa Renduchintala, Jacob Ross, Adam Sadraoui, Colleen Saya, Aashvi Shah, Michael Shelby, Christian Steiner, Molly Stoltenberg, Taylor Sztaba, Ryan Walbridge, Cole Zabetakis.

Grade 10

High Honors

Jonathan Belair, Luke Broderick, Mason Byam, Bella Carlson, Danica Castonguay, Corey Culhane, Cassidy Flor, Ella Fluckiger, Tyler Himes, Lilly Kuhn, Carter Kupferschmid, Abigail Levesque, Camryn Mikulski, Kyler Moulin, Alexa O'Keefe, Reese Percy, Benjamin Russell, Maria Salemi, Kelsey Simler, Anne Singer, Juliana Sirois, Camden Soucy, Jarrod Spadjinske, Elisa Testa, Rachel Zonghetti.

Honors

Abby Abramo, Matsvei Azhohin, Reid Babcock, Kejari Belden Herrera, Alexander Blanchard, Evan Bos, Christopher Brown, Mason Bryant, Devon Bryden, David Buey, Gavin Cannizzaro, Keith Carleton, Cora Collins, Greta Cormier, Ava Culhane, Michaela DiCicco, Lidaou Dolou, Emma Dowgiewicz, Christopher Duberek, Donald Eaton, Brandon Fantry, Meah Frani, Andrew Freeman, Ella Gaskell, Reily Gaskell, Andrew George, Aron Gleichert, Penelope Harrold, Kaden Hodgkinson, Rex Hudson, Erica Kleinberg, Madison Levine, Hannah Marinaro, Cecilia Martens, John McGrath, Logan McGrew, Isabella Muhlhauser, William Murphy, Brooke Navratil, Camden Neyers, Cassidy O'Brien, Nicole Opinya, Victoria Polgun, Benjamin Pope, Anja Prifti, Kaydence Roper, Julia Roussey, Caleb Sadanowicz, Victoria Salerno, Daniel Santiago, Anna Silliman, Jackson Silvay, Olivia Skoczulek, Landon Smith, Symon Snyder, Katherine Sullivan, Asha Taylor, Molly Tyler, Jake Vegiard, Anthony Wells, Avery Wenk, Racquelle Winokur, Jack Wright, Andrew Yudichak, Nick Zocco.

Grade 9

High Honors

Jonathan Adadjo, Sophia Ash, Sebastian Bush, Thalia Cartagena Ortiz, Chrystalla Constantinou, Calvin Cordero, Luka Day-Lewis, Lincoln DiVenere, Sam Doster, Anna Fargo, Natalie Frechette, Kaylee Garritt, Maya Godi, Annabelle Greenberg, Zachary Guglielmone, Nikki Hang, Ivan Hramiak, Celine Kim, Kylie Krol, Adelaide Looney, Kayla McGee, Hannele McNulty-Krause, Anne Miller, Angela Murphy, Sophia Narkawicz, Kevin Niderno, Aaron Risley, Dayanna Rodriguez, Victoria Rozea, Cecilia Ruiz-Giro, Ava Sapere, Mackenzie Snow, Grace Vaitses, Patricia Vazquez Vargas, Nico Wine.

Honors

Nazim Adnane, Nadia Ali, Mia Artiaco, Lewis Bode, Shaelyn Bojarski, Piper Boutin, Erica Bretas, Carly Brutnell, Brendan Burney, Samantha Castagna, Olivia Clouser, Ryan Cofrancesco, John Costello, Eve Demand, Marissa Donath, Aehraan Dongare, Savanna D'Onofrio, Owen Enders, Caden Faith, Sarah Foley, Preston Gill, Quintin Gill, Ryan Herd, Devin Hollenbach, Amanda Itsou, Abigail Jagielo, Jadyn Jamieson, Braxton Jenkins, Julia Kasai, Alvina Khalifa, Rachel Kleinberg, Sophia Lamp, Rebecca Langlais, Tatyana Lines, Lauren Lockward, Liliana Longo, Benjamin Macaluso, Nicholas Malkov, Brady McCann, Logan Meluch, Robert Mikulski, Maliyah Nelson, Paxton Neyers, Julia Nowicki, Ella Paciga, Matthew Parker, Katalia Percy, Arvind Persaud, Aubrey Peters, Abigail Poulin, Miguel Rodriguez, Kaitlyn Rucki, Nora Russell, Jordyn Scott, Nadya Shapiro, Raighlee Shoaf, Selena Soto, Brooklynn Walls, Owen Walsh, Colleen White, Charles Wlodarczyk, Ella Wright, Ece Yildiz, Tianai Zhang.

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TOLLAND — Residents will soon have another reason to stop at the plaza at Fieldstone Commons.

A 2,400-square foot Starbucks — featuring a rarity in town, a drive-thru — was unanimously approved to be built at 33 Fieldstone Commons by the town's Planning & Zoning Commission at its meeting Monday.

"It was a clean process; they came well-prepared," PZC Chairman Andy Powell said. "Here's a major economic partner that wants to invest in the community. It's a competitor for Dunkin', but at the same time it's different."

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Tolland has long had rather restrictive regulations when it comes to drive-thru restaurants, with the nearby Dunkin' becoming one of the first in town when it added a drive-thru in recent years.

The applicant for this Starbucks, Prospect Enterprises, LLC, has told town officials it expects there to be 12 to 13 cars in the drive-thru at peak times.

Powell said that a Panera Bread restaurant had been proposed for the site in 2016, but officials from that chain ultimately decided that the area did not provide enough business for them.

"Lunch-time business drives profitability," Powell said.

Powell said that the Starbucks applicant, Prospect, must now work with the state Department of Transportation to look at the traffic pattern that will result from the new coffee shop.

"There's the concern of lighting timing at the gas station on Merrow Road," Powell said. "They have to look at the traffic pattern."

Powell said that a worse-case scenario may come Saturday mornings when there are a lot of people grocery shopping at Big Y as well as a line of cars at the nearby Starbucks.

"How does the timing work?" Powell said. "I'm not overly concerned."

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Powell said there was a concern over striping for a pedestrian walkway that would go from the sidewalk to a landscape island, which did not make sense to PZC members.

"You can't walk across the island, so Starbucks wanted striping, but when you look on the build plans, it didn't make sense," Powell said.

Powell said that a customer can get to the restaurant from the parking lot by walking to a 20-foot section of landscaped islands, and then onto the sidewalk to the entrance of the Starbucks, but it will be up to the applicant to keep or get rid of the striping.

Powell said he doesn't know when the construction will start, but that Prospect Enterprises, LLC is working with the Fieldstone Commons landowner.

The front of the building will be encased in a glass wall, while the bottom of the building facing Merrow Road will be a light-gray brick.

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TOLLAND — A broken collarbone ended Alex Backus' season with the Tolland football team in 2008. Little did he know then it would in a way the beginning of what's become a big part of his life.

"My junior year I broke my collarbone and lost my spot, essentially," Backus said. "The player that backed me up was in his first year at the position so I had a chance to teach him. I thought that I had a natural knack for teaching the game and my coaches told me that. They said, 'Look, you're good at this. Maybe you should pursue it.' That's how I started."

Backus became a volunteer coach at Stafford two months after graduating from Tolland in 2010 and — except for a break when he went back to school to work towards his doctorate in physical therapy, which he achieved in 2021 — has been coaching since.

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He begins his second tenure as Tolland's head coach on Thursday when the Eagles play host to Plainville.

"We've got a good group of kids," Backus said. "We're fortunate. We had a small senior class last year and we were young with a lot of starting sophomores and juniors who will hopefully make that leap to the next level."

Backus replaces Mitch Egazarian, who resigned after three seasons. The Eagles were 4-6 a year ago and 11-9 in Egazarian's tenure that included the COVID-19 canceled 2020 season.

He started coaching as a volunteer assistant at Stafford when he was 18, serving three seasons under Corey Bernier and one year under Paul Schumtz. He returned to Tolland as an assistant to Pat Cox in 2014 and was named the Eagles' head coach in 2016, compiling a 9-11 record in two seasons. He stepped down but remained on new coach Scott Cady's staff in 2018 and 2019 before taking time off to attend graduate school and returned as an assistant a year ago.

"Compared to my first time as a head coach, there's certainly been a learning curve," Backus said. "When I was hired the first time I was only about 24. I've had a lot of years as a head coach or an assistant coach since. I was part of different staffs and was able to take parts of all of them. I think I've learned and I'm going to try and not make the same mistakes twice.

"The game hasn't changed much. But having a few years and seeing how other staffs work were beneficial to me. My first year I tried to have my hands in everything and this year I have a larger staff that's comprised of former players of mine or guys I've played with or coached with. So we have that trust. They know my system so I'm ecstatic to have this opportunity."

Tolland returns seven starters on offense: junior quarterback Ryan Caminiti, receivers AJ Cady, a senior, and junior Matt Tybor, and four offensive linemen. But the Eagles must replace running backs Blake Alexander and Evan Wilson and center Antonio Rhodes.

Junior linebacker Ben Gordon (50 tackles, three interceptions) is the top returnee for a defense that returns seven starters but must replace graduated linebacker Connor Graham, who has moved on to Plymouth State.

"I've been playing with a lot of these guys since I was eight or nine years old," Gordon said. "We're tight, we're close knit and we want to win a lot of games and have fun."

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Tolland made four state playoff appearances in a 10-season stretch (1998-99 under coach Joe Bacewicz, 2006-07 under Cox) but hasn't played a postseason game since losing in the Class SS final to Seymour in Backus' sophomore year.

Two years ago, the Eagles won their last four games to go 7-3 but were eliminated from Class S consideration on Thanksgiving Eve and finished 11th in the rankings (top eight qualified).

"We want to make a run at the playoffs, but that's what everyone wants," Tybor said. "Last year we had a very young team. Now we're all juniors and seniors and we've improved on both sides of the ball. We have high expectations for ourselves and we feel them. It will come down to who wants to put in the work and who doesn't.

"Coach Backus is a good leader and he gets us in a straight line. Some of us would get down but he gets us right back up and working. If you slack off, he's on you. If you mess up, he lets you know."

Tolland will play three teams — East Catholic, Hartford Public, and Bloomfield — that reached the 2022 playoffs.

Six of the Class SS playoff teams from 2022 remain in the division including reigning champion Joel Barlow. New Fairfield, a Class S qualifier last year, has moved up to Class SS. It took at least an 8-2 record to get into the 2022 Class SS playoffs and Backus believes that might not change.

"In this division if you can't get to seven or eight wins you're probably not looking at a chance to make the playoffs," Backus said. "We're hoping to make a push. We've been a team that has been a five, six-win team looking to get over the hump to be an eight, nine-win team. Then you can establish yourself. You have success, you get some more athletes out. It's not just about this year, it's about the program moving forward."

The Eagles are buying in.

"I'd love to make the playoffs," Cady said. "But I also want this team to create a bond, not only for this year but for the future so that we become a team, a program, that continues to grow."

A previous version of this story incorrectly stated Backus' had a master's in phsyical therapy degree. It has been updated to say he earned his doctorate in physical therapy in 2021.

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TOLLAND — A recent study found that building additional multifamily housing could have a significant, positive impact on the town economically.

Director of Planning and Development David Corcoran said that the Economic Development Commission hired urban economics consulting firm Strategy 5 LLC to conduct an analysis of the town to explore the economic and fiscal impacts of additional multifamily housing after two multifamily projects were approved in recent years, the 83-unit College View Village behind Merrow Road and the 240-unit Fieldstone Ridge behind Big Y.

Both developments are currently under construction.

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The study found that Tolland businesses could expect to see between approximately $2.5 million and $5.8 million per year in expenditures from residents in new multifamily housing, with 15% of expenditure potential in the transportation sector and 50% in the food sector.

It also found that the additional housing would make more construction jobs available, with wages between $47,000 to $62,000 per worker per year, based on the average construction wages in Connecticut from current data.

"The intent of this study is to be hypothetical," said Corcoran. "Part of the intent of this study was to get a feel for what the market demand might be to help inform the Planning and Zoning Commission as they make decisions on how to zone for multifamily."

The study focused on the possibility of 250 additional units in multifamily complexes in town.

Currently, there are 630 units in town at Stone Pond, Crystal Springs, Tolland Meadows, Somerset Woods, and Ivy Woods Apartments, as well as College View Village and Fieldstone Ridge.

In the study, the additional homes could include dwellings at different price points, as well as duplexes, with a mix of one-, two- and three-bedroom units. Studios, live/work space, handicapped-accessible apartments, and other types of spaces could also be included.

The study estimates residents with an income between $60,000 and $140,000 per year would be most likely to reside in the homes.

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Economic Development Commission members reviewed the study at their meeting on Wednesday.

Adam Grossman said that residents would be more concerned about how much the additional homes would cost than how the town would benefit economically.

"The financial impact seems to be the concern when we talk about multifamily housing," Grossman said.

Corcoran said that the report is still being finalized, with a joint meeting of the EDC and the PZC scheduled for July 24, adding that a completed draft will be available on the town's website about a week and a half before the meeting.

Patch 2023 election profiles.

TOLLAND, CT — Robert Burns is running for a seat on the Tolland Zoning Board of Appeals in the 2023 election.

Name

Robert D Burns

How old will you be as of Election Day?

Decline to answer

Find out what's happening in Tollandwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Does your campaign have a website? If so, include the URL here.

https://www.tollandrepublicans...

What city or town do you live in?

Tolland

What office are you seeking?

Zoning Board of Appeals

If you are running in a district, you can specify the district here.

n/a

Please give us your party affiliation.

Republican

Education.

High School Diploma, Tolland High School; Manchester Community College, University of Connecticut

What is your occupation?

Logistics Manager

Do you have a family? If so, please tell us about them.

Lisa Burns, spouse; married for 22 yrs.

Does anyone in your family work in politics or government?

No

Have you ever held a public office, whether appointive or elective?

Current a Zoning Board of Appeals from 2018 to current

Now we'd like to ask a few questions about your reasons for running and your general views on politics and government. First, why are you seeking this office?

I am seeking this office because I want to give back to my community. I grew up in Tolland and lived her for most of my life.

Please complete this statement: The single most pressing issue facing my constituents is ___, and this is what I intend to do about it.

The single most pressing issue facing my constituents is affordable living in Tolland.

With increased taxes and demands on personal finances, it has been challenging to balance it all. As a ZBA commissioner, I serve my constituents by bringing my logistic management experience and a common sense approach to problem solving.

What are the major differences between you and the other candidates seeking this post?

The main difference is my many years of management experience. I’ve learned to listen fully and work to achieve a pathway to success where all parties are agreeable.

If you are challenging an incumbent, in what way has the current officeholder failed the community?

n/a

What other issues do you intend to address during your campaign?

Other issues that I’m concerned about are public safety and deregulation. First, the safety of our town should never be in question. Families should feel comfortable going to the store, gym or parks without worry. And secondly, I’m concerned about the deregulation agenda coming from the state. Towns should have a say in what happens within their neighborhoods.

What accomplishments in your past would you cite as evidence you can handle this job?

Again, my management experience and leadership training have helped me in negotiations, mediation and critical thinking.

What is the best advice anyone ever gave you?

My Dad was my biggest supporter. He was a Marine who told me “Never give up”.

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