The sky is the limit

Southington officials are hoping to obtain state funding to expand the popular Rails to Trails, but the financial aid received could be far less than what the town had originally hoped for. This expansion, often called “Phase II,” would continue the trail from the center of Plantsville to the Cheshire border on the southern end of town.

Southington applied for a state grant back in March and one of the requirements for getting the grant was to hold a public hearing. The deadline to apply was originally March 31, so officials quickly arranged a hearing for a Town Council meeting. During the hearing, residents expressed enthusiastic support for building on Rails to Trails.

“Essentially, we’re in queue,” said Town Planner Mary Savage. “We already applied, but I heard back that the application date had been extended.” Laurie Giannotti, of the state’s Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), confirmed that the application period for this grant had been extended to September.

“They applied very early, but we wait until the deadline before we evaluate any of the grant requests,” she said. Any possible grants for Rails to Trails would be administered through the Recreational Trails Program, a national initiative conducted through the United States Department of Transportation. In Connecticut, the grants are administered through the DEP.

Southington had originally asked the state to cover roughly $2.5 million of the trail’s $2.8 million estimated cost, but Giannotti cautioned that they were unlikely to get this amount.

She said the department only had $1 million to split up among all recipients of these grants this year. Town Attorney Mark Sciota said he was disappointed by that news, but said there were other possible avenues the town could pursue.

“We could finance through the budget process or through a referendum, but this is all premature until we know for sure what we’re getting from the state,” Sciota said.

Whatever happens with the funding, at least $25,000 of the trail’s cost has already been paid for. Edward Jones, a national investment business, recently opened its 10,000th store on North Main Street in Southington. To celebrate the milestone, the company donated $25,000 to Rails to Trails.

John Bachmann, a senior partners at Edward Jones, was unavailable for comment. However, various press releases from the company noted that he is very fond of nature trails and felt such projects were vital for a community.

See GRANT, page 12

Shielding set for town treasures
An upcoming change at the Barnes Museum will make it much easier to preserve the thousands of artifacts inside for future generations. Later this month, the windows at the museum are set to be outfitted with protection against the sun’s ultraviolet (UV) rays. This shield takes the form of thin paper covering which will be placed over each window (and, in some cases, each window pane), blocking the UV rays, but not drastically reducing the amount of light entering the rooms.

“A lot of museums have this,” said Curator Marie Secondo. “It’s a way of preserving things and keeping them from fading.”

The former Bradley-

See BARNES, page 12