Hubbell Appraiser Ready for Business

Believe it or not, the owners of Hubbell finally granted the town-hired appraiser permission to tour the property on Nov. 30.

That day, the appraiser and a couple of town representatives were allowed to walk anywhere on the property for a long as they wanted.

Selectman Joe Blake said the group went at least 1/3 of the way farther onto the land than the board members had been allowed to go.

At the last Board of Selectmen's meeting Selectman Mitch Goldblatt commented, "at least we're making progress."

He did question though, why the board would not receive the appraisal until February.

First Selectman Jim Zeoli said he wanted to present the board with a verbal account of the appraiser's thoughts before getting it in writing.

One of the concerns is that the appraiser does not have enough engineering information to thoroughly evaluate the property.

Evidently, Hubbell is not ready to sell the property yet. Neighbors on Yellow Brick Road recently have seen people doing testing on the land.

Also, Zeoli still hopes to get permission for a Kings Mark Environmental Study, — a review of the land under the auspices of the Department of Environmental Protection, which was requested of him by state Reps Paul Davis and Themis Klarides.

Since the study might help the town if it asks the state for financial assistance, he is asking Davis and Klarides to make their request directly to Hubbell.

What it all boils down to is that no matter what, the appraised value of the Hubbell property should be known in eight weeks.

After that, the town can begin negotiating with Hubbell again and possibly come to an agreement that would be put before the town for approval.