New Date Set For Town Meeting On Potential Guilford Mooring Property Purchase

GUILFORD, CT — Guilford will hold a town meeting on Wednesday, Feb. 12, at 7 p.m. to vote on whether or not to purchase the property at 505 Whitfield St., the former home of the Guilford Mooring restaurant.

The meeting, which was postponed late last month after the Community Center reached capacity, will now take place in the Guilford High School auditorium. The Board of Selectmen voted on the new date during its regularly scheduled meeting on Monday.

"Hopefully, the auditorium will accommodate the crowd. I don't think we're going to have access to the gymnasium because there are events going on almost every night during these weeks. If that becomes a challenge, we might have to figure out somewhere else," First Selectman Matt Hoey said.

The purchase price for the property is $3 million, and it's intended to be funded using municipal bonds and potential funding through FEMA, CT-DEEP grants, and state bonding, according to the town, which noted that the Guilford Planning and Zoning Commission has "favorably reviewed" the purchase and the Board of Finance unanimously approved using bond funds for the purchase.

Residents are urged to attend the town meeting to have their voices heard and vote on the purchase.

Hoey said the decision to postpone the meeting because of capacity issues has brought up concerns about what would happen if the town had "a wildly successful town meeting and 20 percent of the eligible voters showed up."

"[Town] counsel Peter Barrett and I have been talking about that and a number of issues related to a potential Charter revision that I think we could take a look at," Hoey said.

More information on the potential property purchase can be found here.