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Connecticut state police firing range will remain in Simsbury after years of searching for new site

Hartford Courant - 4/16/2021

After a statewide search and years of controversy over a new site, Gov. Ned Lamont said Friday that the state police firing range will remain in Simsbury and be improved with $2 million in upgrades.

The State Bond Commission voted unanimously to design and construct the improvements, which include “new flood resistant structures.’'

For years, the Simsbury range has flooded on a regular basis because it is across the street from the Farmington River. The property runs along Nod Road, a relatively narrow street that connects Simsbury and Avon that is often closed in the spring when the river floods.

Because of the flooding, state police began searching years ago for a new site, which became controversial under Gov. Dannel P. Malloy. Various proposals were considered in East Haven, East Windsor, and East Lyme, but two others in rural areas became more prominent.

Neighbors complained bitterly about proposals to put the range in Willington in 2015 and Griswold in 2018. As the controversy gained more public attention, Lamont made a campaign promise during the 2018 race for governor that he would drop the 113-acre site in Griswold if he became governor.

The Griswold range would have been built on private property near a state forest, but neighbors complained about the potential noise. The current range is within hearing distance of expensive homes in both Simsbury and Avon.

Even though many sites were considered, Lamont said, “Right now, I think we thought we could make the Simsbury range workable for our state police.’'

Lamont’s budget director, Melissa McCaw, said the state will be making “the minimal level of investment’' to keep the range operational in the near term with “an immediate infusion of funds’' to combat the flooding.

The long-term needs of the state police are “still under discussion,’' but “we know for certain that immediate actions need to take place,’' McCaw said, adding that contractors will be in place as soon as possible. “Are they going to be there tomorrow? No, but it’s certainly a top priority.’'

Under the circumstances, officials now say that keeping the current range is the best option.

During the controversy, state police have said the range had become unsuitable.

“Even when rainfall is moderate, as has been the case this year, the range floods,’' state police say on their web site. “Repeated flooding and mold led to condemnation and demolition of our classroom building on the property.”

Police added, “The Simsbury property, 12.5 acres, is too small to provide more of the training opportunities that troopers should have to keep pace with the threats that they increasingly face in the field, including eastern Connecticut, varying widely from accidental opioid overdoses and an influx in rural drug trafficking routes to domestic violence situations where the partner is at imminent risk of harm and active shooter scenarios.”

Christopher Keating can be reached at ckeating@courant.com

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