Enfield Town Council Denies Winstanley Tax Abatement Request

ENFIELD, CT — Nearly three dozen town residents spoke for more than two hours at a town council meeting against a proposed tax abatement being considered for Winstanley Enterprises on its half-million square foot industrial building currently under construction at 113 North Maple Street. Ultimately, the majority of councilors listened to the taxpayers, rejecting the proposal in a party-line vote.

Due to an anticipated crowd larger than the Council Chambers at town hall could handle, the meeting was held in the auditorium of the former Enrico Fermi High School building - ironically, directly across the street from where Winstanley is building a distribution center.

The construction project on former farmland met with considerable opposition from neighbors in the adjacent Misty Meadow subdivision when it was proposed in 2020. A grassroots effort to prevent construction was unsuccessful, though the project did not get underway until nearly a year after originally planned. Completion is expected by the end of August.

Massachusetts-based Winstanley Enterprises applied for a 10-year tax abatement on the property, originally appraised at $50 million. Under terms of a resolution on the meeting agenda, the appraised value would be adjusted to $39 million, and assessed at $27,300,000, for a seven-year period.

Part of the agreement between Winstanley and the town, included in the resolution, reads:

"The tax assessment on the Facility shall be fixed in the following manner:

1. The assessments for October 1, 2022 and October 1, 2023 shall be fixed at $5,460,000 (80% abatement of taxes on the Facility).
2. The assessments for October 1, 2024 and October 1, 2025 shall be fixed at $10,920,000 (60% abatement of taxes on the Facility).\
3. The assessments for October 1, 2026 and October 1, 2027 shall be fixed at $16,380,000 (40% abatement of taxes on the Facility).
4. The assessment for October 1, 2028 shall be fixed at $19,110,000 (30% abatement of taxes on the Facility)."

Owner Adam Winstanley told the council when he bought the former Hallmark Cards property on Bacon Road in 2016, he was offered 50 percent off taxes from then-town manager Bryan Chodkowski. Likewise, a similar offer was made in 2020 by Chodkowski's replacement, Chris Bromson, on the North Maple Street new construction project.

"This is not a tax abatement; this is a phase-in of taxes," Winstanley said. "I want a fair deal because that's what's been given to me by two different administrations. I can't help it if the town manager quits and then everybody is new on the council."

"You are mad, and I'm mad too," councilor John Santanella, one of five new council members elected in November, said prior to the vote. "How this happened is absolutely unacceptable. This is not our mess we created, but we are going to fix it."

Councilor Marie Pyznar said, "The abatement that is in the packet is not the abatement I originally saw. I don't like the abatement in the packet. I'm not against abatements, I'm not against Mr. Winstanley building in our town. I am all for negotiating a good abatement. I don't think the one in the packet is good, so I will abstain."

In a roll-call vote, the seven Democratic councilors voted against the abatement, while the three Republicans abstained. Councilor Joe Bosco was not present.

The complete meeting may be viewed here.