Enfield Town Council Meeting To Change Locations Monday

ENFIELD, CT — With residents expected to turn out in large numbers for Monday's Enfield Town Council meeting - which includes a resolution for a controversial tax abatement for Winstanley Enterprises on a new construction project on North Maple Street - the meeting will be conducted in the auditorium of the former Enrico Fermi High School building at 124 North Maple Street, directly across the street from where the half-million square foot distribution center is being built.

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).

The resolution states from 2022 to 2028, "the town will not increase the assessment of the facility."

Dale Butrymowicz, who helped spearhead opposition to the project since its inception, emailed neighbors Friday, "This vote will occur even though no council members or town staff have been able to tell us how Enfield will benefit." He encouraged as many residents as possible to speak during the public communication portion of the meeting, which is early in the agenda.