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Wilton group developing beautification plan for foot of lake

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WILTON – Selectmen met Tuesday evening to give their enthusiastic support to a local group’s plan to improve the area around the foot of Wilson Lake.

“To dress that whole area up,” John Black of Rocky Hill Landscaping said, “would be the idea.”

Rocky Hill Landscaping’s owners are just some of the 20 local people that have joined an action committee with the goal of developing a more positive community image for the town of Wilton. One aspect of this would be the planting of gardens near the Bass Park area, including the park itself, a segment near the boat landing and that strip of dirt parking abutting the Lake Road.

The group was started by 70-year resident Betty Shibles, who in April drove past the store windows of the downtown district and found many of them empty.

“I was concerned,” Shibles said, “Wilton is a very, very special place for me.”


Betty Shibles and CEO Paul Montague hang up a plan to beautify Wilson Lake.

Wilton CEO Paul Montague helps Betty Shibles put up her plan for beautifying Wilson Lake.

She notified some business owners that she wanted to design store window displays, as well as later develop an independent study program so Mt. Blue High School juniors or seniors could design them for the businesses in the future. She got a warm reception and noted that many business owners agreed that a more positive image of the downtown area would help the community.

The action group is working on a variety of possible ideas, including a trash clean-up day, as well as monthly events featuring entertainment, music and activities. The beautification project is just one of these ideas, designed to make the downtown more appealing and give people a place to enjoy their lunch break.

Black outlined some possibilities, such as planting trees, flowers and lawns in the dirt area between Wilson Lake and the Lake Road, moving the gazebo and some of the Bass Park playground equipment, and installing a line of granite posts linked by chains to serve as guardrails. Other than a few handicap parking spots, most parking needs could be redirected into the downtown or possibly into a small lot near Bass Park.

“It’s great thinking,” Selectman Irving Faunce said, “very exciting stuff.”

Selectmen were especially happy to hear that the action group is not looking for town money, merely permission to continue studying options. Black guessed the project may take roughly $20,000 in funding, which would be raised through donations, grants and fund raising efforts.

“This is the first time I’ve ever seen a group come forward looking to help and not asking taxpayers to pay for it,” Selectman Paul Gooch said. Gooch has attended several of the community action group’s meetings.

The timeline for the project remains up in the air, as the group looks to firm up plans. They will continue updating the selectmen as time goes on.

In other business, selectmen decided to seek more information on a proposal to implement LD 2202. That law allows towns to adopt a property tax benefit program for residents older than 60 years who work as volunteers. Those who qualified could do volunteer work in exchange for a reduction in their property taxes.

The idea was introduced by resident Carolyn Smith.

“Many programs would not run,” Smith said, “not run at all, if not for volunteers.”

The program would be tightly controlled, and selectmen wanted more information on what would qualify as volunteer work and what sort of limits

“We’d want to be rather specific,” Town Manager Peter Nielsen said, noting that a similar program in St. Agatha’s has yielded no one making use of the opportunity.

Selectmen instructed Nielsen to look into possible volunteer options, and what limits could be put on the program. Several noted that the program would need to be as “budget neutral” as possible, and not simply the creation of busy work.

Wilton Fire & Rescue Department Chief Sonny Dunham gave his quarterly report, with a special warning about the upcoming winter.

“I’ve been getting calls about how to burn wood,” Dunham said, “it’s pretty scary.”

His concern is for the people who won’t call, with high oil prices driving residents toward wood stoves for the first time. Improperly installed and insulated stoves can be dangerous fire hazards. The fire department provides free safety assessments of heating system installations and chimneys.

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1 Comment

  1. I grew up near Wilson Lake and spent untold hours on or near the water by the “rock wall”. And learned to swim when the town docks were located across from Bass Park. My father, Dr. Chet Mitchell, was the health officer and I helped him test the water in that area (it’s much healthier at Kineowatha due to better currents).
    And now to see local citizens wanting to improve and preserve that beautiful area makes me pleased, and to have my own daughter (Corey Black of Rocky Hill Landscaping) involved, makes me very proud.

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