After years of controversy, Gov. Ned Lamont plans to spend nearly $12 million to improve the state police shooting range in Simsbury, known for its frequent flooding.
The outdoor shooting range has been controversial for decades and several governors have attempted to find an alternative to the Nod Road location.
Now, the state bond commission is set to allocate $11.967 million at its Friday meeting for “priority infrastructure improvements” that will include “flood-resilient improvements to buildings and grounds.”
In 2021, Lamont moved forward when the bond commission approved his plan to spend $2 million to design improvements that would include “new flood-resistant structures” at the site.
“The funds are for renovation of the Connecticut State Police shooting range on Nod Road, adding new buildings and flood prevention,” said Rick Green, state police spokesman. “The project, which is still in the design phase, calls for elevating new buildings on the property above the floodplain. The new construction will be in approximately the same area as the existing buildings and will include a classroom, offices for field staff, secure storage and other facilities. The location of the shooting ranges on the property will remain the same.”
For years, the Simsbury Range has flooded regularly because it is directly across from the Farmington River. The property runs along Nod Road, a relatively narrow two-way street that connects Simsbury and Avon and is frequently closed in spring when the river overflows its banks.
Because of flooding, state police began searching years ago for a new site, which became highly controversial during Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s administration. Several proposals were considered in East Haven, East Windsor and East Lyme, but two others in rural areas became more prominent before being scrapped.
The property’s biggest opponent and closest neighbor is Robert Patricelli, a large landowner and former president of Cigna’s health care group who co-chaired a special commission in 2018 that sought solutions to the state government’s financial problems.
Patricelli was surprised to learn of the latest development when The Courant contacted him Tuesday.
“There was no notice to any of the adjoining landowners,” said Patricelli, who has lived near the area for more than 40 years.
Patricelli has threatened legal action in the past to stop the expansion, but said he now needs more information. State officials have talked in the past about constructing 10-foot-tall buildings to prevent frequent flooding.
“If it’s a major expansion of the shooting range, I would certainly be opposed,” Patricelli said. “I don’t know if there will be legal action until I review what is happening here. But I received no notification from the city and am completely uninformed about any plans to address the flooding issues. “All this is complete news to me.”
Kosta Diamantis
Patricelli told the legislature’s judiciary committee in 2022 that former deputy state budget director Kosta Diamantis had blocked his request to seek other locations for the field.
“I met with Kosta Diamantis in 2021, who was responsible for this project, and he just shut me down,” Patricelli previously said. “I wasn’t willing to consider anything else.”
Diamantis was recently charged by federal prosecutors in a 22-count indictment with bribery, extortion, conspiracy and lying to federal agents in connection with demanding payments from contractors who worked on state projects that Diamantis supervised. Three others pleaded guilty in the case to “conspiring to bribe Diamantis to obtain” business after working at several public schools in Hartford, Tolland and New Britain, and two of them agreed to cooperate with the government, prosecutors said.
John Woike / The Hartford Courant
Simsbury resident Robert Patricelli co-chaired a state committee tasked with finding ways to boost Connecticut’s competitiveness and improve state finances.
Long story
Neighbors complained bitterly about proposals to put a new stove in Willington in 2015 and Griswold in 2018. As the controversy gained more public attention, Lamont made a campaign promise during the 2018 race that he would abandon the 113 site acres in Griswold if he became governor. That plan called for a 55,000-square-foot training center, plus parking for 125 cars.
The Griswold Range would have been built on private property near a state forest, but neighbors complained about potential noise. The current range is within earshot of expensive homes in both Simsbury and Avon, as well as new apartments built across the river in the Weatogue section of Simsbury. Depending on the wind, gunshots can also sometimes be heard at Latimer Lane School, which is across the Farmington River.
Concerns have also been raised about the location of Simsbury Range, which is not centrally located or close to any major highways. As a result, soldiers from distant barracks in far-flung corners of the state can spend hours traveling to the range and then back home.
Mark Mirko/The Hartford Courant
Improvements are planned at the year-round Connecticut State Police shooting range in Simsbury to prevent flooding. The photo was taken in February 2022.
During the past controversy, state police said the Simsbury field had become inadequate.
“Even when rainfall is moderate, as has been the case, the prairie floods,” state police said on their website. “Repeated flooding and mold led to the condemnation and demolition of our classroom building on the property.”
Police added: “The 12.5-acre Simsbury property is too small to provide more training opportunities that police officers should have to keep up with the threats they increasingly face in the countryside, including eastern Connecticut, ranging widely from accidental opioid overdoses and an influx on rural drug trafficking routes to domestic violence situations where the partner is at imminent risk of harm and active shooter scenarios.”
Chloe Poisson / Hartford Courant
Sergeant. Shawn Corey, a member of the state police firearms unit, explains the difference between various military-style rifles to U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy in 2013 at the state police gun range in Simsbury. Sergeant. Later, Corey demonstrated several of the weapons to illustrate his power.
You can contact Christopher Keating at ckeating@courant.com
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